A world filled with peace and friendship

Look at the glass half full” is an old saying. It means: fill your heart and mind with positive thoughts, stay hopeful, and choose light over darkness. As an immigrant from Iran, when I look at the lives of Jewish immigrants in Australia, what inspires me most is their resilience and creativity rebuilding their communities, preserving their cultural identity, and contributing to the new society while carrying the memories and scars of their history.

The history of nations is filled with complex and sometimes painful events whose echoes can still be felt in collective memory. Ancient accounts, including those found in Islamic historical sources, describe tragic incidents such as the sorrowful fate of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza.

These were people who simply wished to remain faithful to their religion and live on their ancestral land, yet they became victims of a tense political climate, suspicion, and shifting alliances. This story, which is also mentioned in the Qur’an as a warning to those who turn away from justice and refers to them as “disbelievers” (kafar), is painful precisely because it shows how a community can become a target of violence when tolerance and coexistence collapse.

The suffering endured by the Jewish people has lasted for more than 15 centuries, forming a long chain of exile, discrimination and violence. In this sense, their perseverance mirrors the experience of many Iranians, who have also repeatedly faced turmoil, displacement and the struggle to preserve their identity. Yet the Jewish community has been able to overcome even the harshest periods by rebuilding their lives, cultivating land, constructing fortresses, preserving traditions, and strengthening family bonds.

Throughout history, many Jewish families found safety in Iran, which became a refuge during periods of instability and threat. After World War II, under the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran once again opened its doors to Jewish migrants and provided a place of stability at a time when antisemitism was rising elsewhere.