This article originally appeared in the Times of Israel.
By Dan Illouz and Mariam Memarsadeghi, July 2, 2025
On June 13, 2025, Israeli fighter jets sliced through the night sky, striking deep into Iranian territory. Operation Rising Lion dismantled key components of Iran’s nuclear program and military command in a matter of hours. But this war is not about uranium or missile silos alone.
It is about people. Two ancient civilizations, the Jewish people and the Iranian people, are both being terrorized by the same radical regime. It’s time the world recognized: we are not enemies. We are partners in defiance.
We write these words not only as public figures – one, a member of Israel’s Knesset, the other, an Iranian-American advocate for democracy — but as individuals shaped by history. One of us lives under the threat of Iranian missiles. The other fled Iran as a child, watching the regime turn its own people into prisoners. But we have come to the same conclusion: the Islamic Republic must be confronted, not only for the threat it poses to Israel and the West, but for the war it wages against its own citizens.
The Iranian people are the regime’s first victims. Israel is the second. And the rest of the world is on its list. The Islamic Republic’s ambitions extend far beyond the Middle East. Through proxy militias and terror groups, it fuels violence in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. It supplies drones to Russia for use against civilians in Ukraine. It has plotted assassinations of dissidents and American officials. It chants “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” while enriching uranium and testing long-range missiles.
The regime’s bullets are aimed at its own citizens. Its missiles target Israel. But its ultimate goal is global confrontation. The world cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the 20th century. Nazi Germany also sought domination through fear and murder, first of its own, then of the world. Appeasement failed then. It will fail now. After the October 7th massacre – publicly praised by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei – no one should have illusions about the regime’s intentions.
Inside Iran, cruelty is routine. Women are beaten in public for refusing the mandatory hijab. Schoolgirls have reportedly been poisoned after joining protests. Teenagers have been arrested, tortured, and executed for dissent. Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was arrested in 2022 for allegedly violating hijab rules and died in custody. Her death sparked mass protests. Over 500 protesters were killed, including children. More than 20,000 were arrested. Trials lacked due process. Executions were carried out quickly and often secretly.
This is not governance. It is tyranny and hostage taking on a national scale. The regime fears its own people more than it fears any army. And so, it lashes out, daily, brutally, and without remorse.
Israel, for its part, has absorbed threats for decades. But no nation can wait forever while a genocidal enemy builds nuclear weapons. Operation Rising Lion was not vengeance; it was preemptive self-defense. It neutralized military targets and sent a clear message: Israel will not wait for another catastrophe.
Even so, Israel has always made a critical distinction: its struggle is not with the people of Iran, but with the regime that oppresses them. We know what Iran once was – and could be again.
The Jewish people remember Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who freed our ancestors from Babylonian exile and enabled the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Before 1979, Iran and Israel cooperated in science, trade, and defense. Iranian Jews flourished. Tel Aviv and Tehran were connected by direct flights, not threats.
The Iranian people carry a civilization of immense depth, from the poetry of Rumi and Hafez to the science of Avicenna. Persian music, architecture, and philosophy shaped much of the ancient world. So too did Jewish civilization, from biblical ethics to modern contributions in medicine and human rights. These are not rival legacies. They are complementary beacons of cultural pride and creative spirit.
Imagine a free Iran – not the Islamic Republic, but the real Iran – joining Israel to lead the region in science, technology, and peace. Researchers collaborating to cure disease. Artists reviving ancient traditions. Entrepreneurs solving water scarcity and food insecurity.
The Abraham Accords have already shown that what once seemed impossible can become real. With courage and vision, a post-regime Iran could join that circle, not under Khamenei’s shadow, but as a partner in peace. We call that future the Cyrus Accords.
Some in the West still advocate engagement with Tehran’s rulers. But one cannot reason with those who hang teenagers and poison children. One cannot negotiate with a regime that funds terror abroad and silences dissent at home. The Jewish people have learned, again and again, the cost of ignoring genocidal threats. This time, we will not be silent.
If the free world still believes in freedom, now is the time to act, not only for Israel’s security or global stability, but for the millions of Iranians still living under tyranny.
The Jewish people and the Iranian people stand together. We have both suffered at the hands of the same regime. We both understand what is at stake. And we both know: the future does not belong to those who rule through fear, it belongs to those who build with hope.
Dan Illouz is a Member of the Israeli Knesset for the ruling Likud Party and the Chairman of the Abraham Accords Caucus.
Mariam Memarsadeghi is an Iranian-American democracy activist, the founder of the Cyrus Forum for Iran’s Future, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and co-founder of Tavaana, a civic education platform for a free Iran.
