Friend or Foe

Submitted by Anon (United States), Apr 23, 2022 at 10:07

Regarding "the majority of the region's states are basically friendly." This is true at the leader level but not true at the ground level except ironically in Iran. There is intense hatred for Israel even among many Israeli Arabs who enjoy the benefits of living in a democracy that protects their rights. Iran's leaders may engage in theater with scary chants and flag stomping but its citizens by and large are quite pro western and not anti semitic. There is a reason Iran has a Jewish population while the other countries in the region do not. There are even Jewish schools in Tehran where Hebrew is taught. Even alcohol is permitted for religious Jews in Iran. In addition the irony that synagogues in Tehran do not have armed guards outside them while synagogues in Europe need 24/7 protections (from both native and imported anti semitism) is a good indicator of the ground level complexities.
In fact in a poll from a few years ago, Iran ranked better than Greece a country in Western Europe when it came to anti semitism. Its hard to imagine a better outcome in the middle east than Israel and Iran becoming allies. And of course the Arab states don't want that to happen.

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