The phrase “ما با شما هستیم” - “We are with you” - has appeared repeatedly in recent years in messages directed from Israelis toward Iranian citizens. These words are not a political slogan or a call for confrontation, but rather an expression of solidarity rooted in history, culture, and shared experiences. Understanding why many Israelis feel a connection to the Iranian people requires looking beyond contemporary geopolitics and into the deeper historical and social ties between the two nations.
The Jewish people and the Iranian people are among the world’s most ancient civilizations. Both possess rich cultural traditions, literary canons, and collective memories that stretch back thousands of years. In Jewish tradition, the Persian Empire occupies a unique and positive place. Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire, is remembered as the ruler who allowed Jewish exiles in Babylon to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. This act earned him a rare honor in Jewish texts, where he is portrayed as a divinely appointed leader who recognized the rights of a subjugated people.
Beyond this historical episode, there are broader cultural parallels. Persian epic literature, particularly Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, often centers on heroic figures who carry the fate of an entire nation, sometimes achieving redemption and sometimes meeting tragic ends. This narrative structure echoes biblical stories familiar to Jewish tradition, where individual leaders rise, fall, and sacrifice themselves for the survival of the people. These shared storytelling patterns reflect a deeper similarity in how both cultures understand history, morality, and collective identity.
Another crucial point of connection lies in the experience of survival under foreign rule. For centuries, both Jews and Iranians lived under successive empires and occupations — Greek, Arab, Mongol, Ottoman, and others. These periods of domination shaped social behaviors, community structures, and adaptive strategies. Both peoples learned how to preserve identity, language, and tradition even when political power was denied to them. This long history of endurance under pressure is often cited by Israelis as a reason they recognize and empathize with the struggles of ordinary Iranians today.
In the modern era, however, the paths of the two societies diverged significantly. Jewish communities, particularly after the devastation of the Holocaust, increasingly embraced political self-determination and, in many cases, liberal democratic values. The establishment of the State of Israel allowed Jews to translate centuries of cultural survival into sovereign governance. Iranian society, by contrast, underwent a different transformation following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Political power became concentrated in the hands of a religious establishment, which has exercised strict control over public life, dissent, and personal freedoms.
It is important to distinguish between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people. Many Israelis explicitly emphasize this distinction. Messages such as:
ما با شما هستیم
ما مردم ایران را میبینیم
مبارزه شما برای آزادی عادلانه است
صدای شما شنیده میشود
We see the citizens of Iran.
Your struggle for freedom is just.
Your voice is heard.”
are directed not at the state, but at civilians who face repression, economic hardship, and limited political rights. This framing reflects an understanding that governments do not always represent their populations, especially under authoritarian systems.
Israeli expressions of solidarity are also shaped by a belief that supporting the Iranian people has broader regional implications. From an explanatory perspective, weakening the narrative that portrays Israel as an eternal enemy of Iran undermines the ideological foundation used by the Iranian regime to justify hostility, militarization, and proxy violence. When Israelis publicly affirm their support for Iranian civilians, they challenge the notion of an inevitable civilizational conflict and highlight the difference between state propaganda and popular sentiment.
This approach is often described as a form of “people-to-people” diplomacy. Rather than focusing on formal agreements or military deterrence, it emphasizes shared humanity and historical memory. The reference to Cyrus the Great is symbolic in this context: just as a Persian king once enabled Jewish freedom, many Israelis see moral value in expressing support for Iranians seeking greater liberty today. Whether symbolic or practical, such gestures are understood as part of a long historical continuum rather than a tactical move.
Ultimately, the connection Israelis feel toward the Iranian people is shaped by history, culture, and parallel experiences of survival under oppression. It is an acknowledgment of shared roots and shared challenges, combined with a recognition of how differently the two societies have evolved in the modern age. The call from Iranian streets - “ما با شما هستیم” - invites a response not of confrontation, but of recognition. For many Israelis, answering that call is less about politics and more about history remembering itself.
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