The lions of Zion and Persia rise up

It feels as though we are living in biblical times: a moment so vast, so historic, that it is difficult to fully grasp. We are witnessing one of the most significant turning points for the Jewish people since the founding of the State of Israel.

If someone had told me just two years ago that millions of Iranians would one day march in the streets waving Israeli flags and declaring their love for Israel, I would have dismissed it as fantasy.

For decades, we were taught that the Iranian people were our sworn enemies – the same people who chanted “Death to Israel,” whose regime armed and financed Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, and whose leaders spread antisemitic hatred across the globe.

The same regime that unleashed its proxy armies on Israel on October 7, 2023 in an attempt to carry out a second genocide against the Jewish people.

And yet here we are, in March 2026.

Across Iran and throughout the diaspora, ordinary Iranians are raising their voices not in hatred, but in solidarity.

They are making clear what many have long known: the Iranian people are not the regime.

The hostility that defined relations between our nations was imposed from above – manufactured, enforced, and sustained through repression and propaganda.

The visit of Prince Reza Pahlavi to the Kotel – Judaism’s holiest accessible site – was more than symbolic. It was a gesture of respect, reconciliation and shared history.

His public expressions of friendship toward Israel reflect a deeper truth: the bond between Jews and Persians predates the modern conflict by millennia. From the days of Cyrus the Great, who enabled the Jewish return to Jerusalem, our peoples have shared moments of connection.

What has changed is not history, but awareness. Through the internet and the vast Iranian diaspora scattered across the globe, millions of Iranians have gained access to perspectives long denied to them. After witnessing the horrors of October 7 and then enduring their own national trauma in January – when tens of thousands of civilians were brutally murdered by the Islamic regime – many Iranians recognised that their true struggle is not with Israel, but with the regime that has oppressed them for nearly five decades.

An old saying holds that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. But what is emerging feels deeper than strategy. It is the rediscovery of an ancient relationship buried under years of forced hostility.

The regime understands the power of this potential alliance. A free Iranian people and a secure Jewish state, cooperating rather than confronting one another, would fundamentally reshape the region. It is no surprise that efforts to demonise and sabotage this growing solidarity have intensified.

And so the story continues to unfold.

In moments like this, history feels biblical not because it is mythic, but because it forces us to confront questions of destiny, justice and moral courage.

As Israelis endure missile fire and continued fear and uncertainty, and as Iranians risk their lives demanding freedom, both peoples are writing a new chapter – one defined not by imposed hatred, but by chosen partnership.

How does it end? That remains unwritten. But perhaps the most remarkable development of all is this: what once seemed impossible now feels inevitable – that Jews and Persians, after decades of enmity driven by tyranny, may once again stand not as adversaries, but as allies.

If that happens, it will not only reshape the Middle East. It will remind the world that regimes can manufacture hatred, but they cannot extinguish the deeper bonds between peoples.

Anna Pasternak is the director of The AJN.