To understand situation in Israel now, one has to understand the role of Iran. Most people know that Iran is the center of all the terrorist activities directed at Israel by its proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Some of the terrorist actions originating from the West Bank do not have a direct linkage to the Iranians.

Why does Iran, a country located more than a thousand miles from Israel, and 80 times larger, hate it so much and want to destroy it? Do they care about the Palestinians, who are Sunni Arabs, while Iran is Shiite (think Catholic and Protestant but much more extreme)?

We have to go back to before 1979 and the Iranian Revolution. At that time, about 100,000 Jews lived in Iran, one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. Today, there are less than 10,000. Before the revolution, they were very successful and played a major role in Iran. Most moved to the United States, particularly LA, where they were highly successful.

Iran had been a big supporter of Israel when it was formed. It was the second Muslim country to recognize the state of Israel. The first state was Turkey.

Israel and Iran had a strategic relationship, including cooperation in military activities. Israel provided security services for Iran’s ruler, the Shaw.

Before the revolution in 1979, I lived in Israel and visited Iran several times for business. I loved Tehran. Everything changed with the revolution. There is so much history here, but too much for me to relate. The relationship between the USA and Iran became very combative. The new ultra-religious government blamed the USA for many things that happened in the past. In Nov 1979, militant Iranian students took over the American Embassy and held 55 Americans Hostages for 444 days. Jim Carter was president, and this was a critical factor in his losing his second term.

The Iranian leaders show the USA as the Great Satan and Israel as the Little Satan. Iran had many issues with its neighbor, Iraq. This resulted in a war that lasted between 1980 and 1988. This conflict and continuing problems with Iraq served to keep Iran in check. All this was changed by one of the greatest blunders made in modern times—the attack on Iraq by the USA in March of 2003. Removing Iran’s strategic enemy created the mess we now have. We can thank George Bush for that. We can also thank Saudi Arabia for 9/11.

In the late 80s, Iran started to support Palestinian resistance to Israel, including Hamas, which is a Sunni group. I suppose that the Iranian government, led by religious zealots, could not stand the idea that Jews would live anywhere in the Middle East, but mostly, they saw Israel as the ally of the USA. Hezbollah started in 1982 in response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. They are a Shiite group.

We can only imagine what would have happened if Iran had ended up with a government more like Turkey. The Iranians are a charming people. With a different government, the country would have prospered. The country was blessed with an abundance of oil.

Iran is also in a cold war with Saudi Arabia, which is also seen as a US ally.

I believe there will be no peace in the Middle East until the current Iranian government is overthrown.

The government under Netanyahu has focused on Iran as an existential threat to Israel. In that, he is correct. By the way, I think he is a horrible person. He has sought to get the USA to take action that would lead to a regime change in Iran, but the US has not been willing to go that far. However, I think it will end up there. It should take action now before Iran has atomic weapons.

Please consider the impact the Iranians have had on the Palestinians. How has that worked out? And how has the hatred of Israel worked out for the Iranians? There are only losers in this conflict.