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The History of Iran and Israel · Gil I Am

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  Speaker 1: Iran and Israel a tale of alliance, ideology, and rivalry.
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  Speaker 1: The histories of Iran and Israel trace back to some
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  Speaker 1: of the earliest civilizations. Persia under the Achaemenid Empire was
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  Speaker 1: a vast, multicultural empire that included the region of Judea,
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  Speaker 1: where Jews lived. In five three nine v CE, Cyrus
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  Speaker 1: the Great, a Persian king, liberated the Jews from Babylonian captivity,
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  Speaker 1: allowing them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple.
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  Speaker 1: This act, recorded in the Hebrew Bible Ezratu one eight,
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  Speaker 1: fostered a historical memory of Persian benevolence among Jews. Israel's
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  Speaker 1: ancient identity meanwhile, crystallized around the monotheistic traditions of Judaism,
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  Speaker 1: tied to the covenant with God and the land promised
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  Speaker 1: to Abraham's descendants. Despite their distinct religious and cultural trajectories,
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  Speaker 1: early interactions were marked by coexistence rather than conflict. Two
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  Speaker 1: questions persisted, what might it mean for modern Iran and
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  Speaker 1: Israel to carry these ancient identities? How could a shared
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  Speaker 1: history of coexistence influence their perceptions today? Fast forward to
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  Speaker 1: the twentieth century, when modern nation states emerged. Uran under
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  Speaker 1: the Pavali dynasty and Israel, established in nineteen forty eight,
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  Speaker 1: initially shared strategic interests. Both were non Arab states in
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  Speaker 1: a predominantly Arab region, aligned with the West during the
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  Speaker 1: Cold War, and wary of Soviet influence. Uran under Shah
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  Speaker 1: Mohammed Rezipavali recognized Israel in nineteen fifty, making it one
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  Speaker 1: of the first Muslim majority countries to do so. The
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  Speaker 1: two nations collaborated on intelligence, trade, and even oil exports,
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  Speaker 1: with Iran supplying much of Israel's energy needs. This partnership, however,
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  Speaker 1: was fragile, rooted in pragmatism rather than deep ideological alignment.
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  Speaker 1: In Iran, public sentiment often diverged from the Shah's pro
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  Speaker 1: Western policies, with many viewing Israel as a colonial outpost. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: Israel prioritized its security navigateading a region where Arab nationalism,
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  Speaker 1: fueled by the Palestinian Cause, posed existential threats. The turning
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  Speaker 1: point was the nineteen seventy nine Iranian Revolution, which overthrew
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  Speaker 1: the Shah and established an Islamic republic under Iaetola Ruhalakomane,
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  Speaker 1: marked a seismic shift. The new regime embraced anti imperialism
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  Speaker 1: and anti Zionism. Viewing Israel as an illegitimate state tied
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  Speaker 1: to Western hegemony, Iran severed diplomatic ties, transformed Israel's embassy
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  Speaker 1: in Tehran into a Palestinian one, and began supporting groups
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  Speaker 1: like Hesbelah in Lebanon, which fought against Israeli forces. Israel,
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  Speaker 1: in turn, perceived revolutionary Iran as a growing threat. The
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  Speaker 1: rhetoric of Iran's leaders calling for Israel's destruction, coupled with
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  Speaker 1: their support for anti Israel militias, deepened mistrust. The one
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  Speaker 1: nine eight oh one nine eight eight Iran Iraq wore
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  Speaker 1: further complicated dynamics, as Israel quietly backed Iraq to counter
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  Speaker 1: Iran's regional ambitions despite Iraq's hostility toward Israel. In the
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  Speaker 1: twenty first century, the Iran Israel rivalry has centered on
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  Speaker 1: Iran's nuclear program and proxy conflicts across the Middle East.
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  Speaker 1: Israel views a nuclear armed Iran as an existential threat,
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  Speaker 1: given Iran support for groups like Hamas and Hesbalah and
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  Speaker 1: its lda's hostile rhetoric. Uran meanwhile, insists its nuclear program
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  Speaker 1: as peaceful, framing Israel's opposition as part of a broader
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  Speaker 1: Western campaign to suppress its sovereignty. The rivalry plays out
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  Speaker 1: through proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, where Iran
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  Speaker 1: backs militias and Israel conducts air strikes to curb their influence.
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  Speaker 1: Cyber attacks, assassinations of Iranian scientists, and sabotage of nuclear facilities,
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  Speaker 1: often attributed to Israel, have escalated tensions. RAN's support for
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  Speaker 1: Palestinian groups during conflicts like the twenty twenty one Gaza
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  Speaker 1: War further fuels the cycle of hostility. Beyond geopolitics, cultural
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  Speaker 1: and religious factors deepen the rift. Iran's theocratic regime draws
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  Speaker 1: on in Shia Islam's emphasis on resistance against depression, framing
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  Speaker 1: Israel as an oppressor of Palestinians. Israel, rooted in Jewish
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  Speaker 1: self determination, sees itself as a haven for a historically
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  Speaker 1: persecuted people, viewing Iran's rhetoric as echoing past threats of annihilation.
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  Speaker 1: Yet beneath the hostility there are complexities. Oran is home
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  Speaker 1: to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Muslim world,
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  Speaker 1: though their numbers have dwindled since nineteen seventy nine. Some
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  Speaker 1: Iranians and Israelis particularly in diaspora communities express curiosity about
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  Speaker 1: each other's cultures, hinting at a latent potential for reconciliation.
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  Speaker 1: Today June twenty third, twenty twenty five, Uran and Israel
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  Speaker 1: remain locked in a cold war, with occasional flare ups
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  Speaker 1: threatening broader conflict. Diplomatic efforts like the twenty fifteen Iran
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  Speaker 1: Nuclear Deal JCPOA briefly reduced tensions, but its collapse in
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen and subsequent U S sanctions on Iran have
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  Speaker 1: hardened positions. Israel's normalization of agreements with Arab states Abraham
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  Speaker 1: Accords have isolated Iran further, while Iran's deepening ties with
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  Speaker 1: Russia and China signal a shift in global alignments. Could
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  Speaker 1: dialogue ever replace confrontation. Confidence building measures like back channel
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  Speaker 1: talks or economic incentives might reduce mistrust, but deep ideological
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  Speaker 1: divides and domestic pressures in both nations make this challenging. Alternatively,
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  Speaker 1: miscalculations such as a preempt of Israeli strike on Iran's
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  Speaker 1: nuclear sites could ignite a devastating regional war. The backstory
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  Speaker 1: of Iran and Israel as a tapestry of ancient coexistence
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  Speaker 1: modern alliances and ideological rupture. Their rivalry reflects not just
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  Speaker 1: bilateral grievances, but the broader currents of Middle Eastern geopolitics,
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  Speaker 1: where power, faith, and survival intertwine. Understanding this history requires
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  Speaker 1: grappling with both nations fears and aspirations, asking whether their
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  Speaker 1: shared past could ever inspire a shared future. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: listening this as GIL. See you next time.