Tehran wants you to forget: The Israelis and Iranians were once friends

Walk through a diaspora protest in London, Los Angeles, or Toronto, and you will spot something that shatters decades of state propaganda. Right beside the ancient Persian Lion and Sun flag flies the Star of David. This isn’t a cheap political stunt. It’s a raw, spontaneous nod to a shared history stretching back thousands of years. The people holding those flags are entirely ignoring the modern borders and religious ideologies designed to keep them apart.

The numbers tell part of the story. Today, over 135,000 Israelis claim Iranian descent — and some count closer to a quarter-million if you include multigenerational families. Many, including former Israeli President Moshe Katsav (born in Yazd), still consider Iran their cultural home.