Jews and Iranians unite for Persian New Year
More than 500 people attend ‘Jews and Iranians Unite’ Nowruz event at Glen Eira Town Hall.
More than 500 people gathered at Glen Eira Town Hall on Sunday for a unity event bringing together Melbourne’s Jewish and Iranian communities, timed to coincide with Nowruz, the Persian new year.
The Jews and Iranians Unite event featured Persian and Jewish music, Israeli and Iranian food, cultural dancing, comedy and entertainment. Jewish community activist Sharon Kuper, who organised the event in just 12 days, said she had hoped for between 200 and 300 guests. Final registrations reached 570.
“The atmosphere was actually exhilarating,” Kuper told The AJN. “The energy, goodwill, community integration and camaraderie was palpable.”
Kuper said the idea came from a conversation with her friend Omid about Nowruz and its meaning of “new beginning”. She told the crowd the two communities were “all victims of the same fanatical, savage, terrorist regime”.
Barrister Ek Taghdir, from Melbourne’s Iranian community, said the event reflected a bond rooted in ancient history. He drew a parallel between Cyrus the Great’s protection of the Jewish people under Babylonian oppression and what he described as Israel now coming to the aid of Iranians suffering under the Islamic Republic.
“It’s an ancient bond that is founded in a sense of protection, survival and love between two neighbours,” he said. “We’re cousins. We’re almost families.”
Taghdir was insistent on precise terminology, rejecting the phrase “Iranian regime” as a mischaracterisation. “There’s no such thing as an Iranian regime. Their real name is the Islamic Republic regime,” he said. “That is a common enemy between the Jewish people, the Israelis, and Iranian people, who have been occupied by the Islamic regime for the past 47 years.”
On the question of Iran’s political future, Taghdir said Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi commanded overwhelming trust among Iranians at home and in the diaspora. “The only person we trust to deliver a secular democracy and to bring back the Lion and Sun flag is His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince,” he said.
The Liberal member for Goldstein, Tim Wilson, attended to show solidarity with both communities.
“The foundation of what brings the two communities together is a common cause,” he said, describing that cause as opposition to “radical Islamist regimes that just want to oppress people”.
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