[PDF] Prayer For The Annihilation And Assassination Of My Enemies
Berenice Pretlow
The relations between Iran and Israel are divided into four major phases: the ambivalent period from 1947 to 1953, the friendly period during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty from 1953 to 1979, the worsening period following the Iranian Revolution from 1979 to 1990, and the ongoing period of open hostility since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. In 1947, Iran was among 13 countries that voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for the British Mandate of Palestine. Two years later, Iran also voted against Israel's admission to the United Nations.
Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as a sovereign state after Turkey.[1] After the 1953 coup d'tat, which reinstalled the pro-Western leader Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as the Shah of Iran,[2] relations between the two countries significantly improved.[1]
[PDF] Prayer For The Annihilation and Assassination Of My Enemies
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After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran severed all diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, and its theocratic government does not recognize the legitimacy of Israel as a state. The turn from cold peace to open hostility began in the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War, after which relative power in the Middle East shifted to Iran and Israel. The conflict escalated in the early 1990s, as Yitzhak Rabin's government adopted a more aggressive posture on Iran.[3] Rhetorical conflict heated up during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who made inflammatory statements against Israel. Other factors that have contributed to the escalation of bilateral tensions include Iran's development of nuclear technology relative to Israel's long-stated Begin Doctrine, Iran's funding of Islamist groups such as Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, as well as alleged involvement in terrorist attacks such as the 1992 attack on Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 AMIA bombing, and Israel's alleged support for militant groups such as the People's Mujahedin of Iran and Jundallah as well as alleged covert Israeli operations in Iran including multiple assassinations and bombings.[4]
Since 1985, Iran and Israel have been engaged in an ongoing proxy conflict that has greatly affected the geopolitics of the Middle East, and has included direct military confrontations between Iranian and Israeli organizations, such as in the 2006 Lebanon War. The conflict has played out in various ways, including through support for opposing factions in conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Iran has provided support to the Syrian government, while Israel has supported opposition groups. In Yemen, Iran has provided support to the Houthi rebels, while Israel has provided support to the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels. The conflict has also involved cyber attacks and sabotage against each other's infrastructure, including attacks on nuclear facilities and oil tankers. Overall, the Iran-Israel proxy conflict is a complex and ongoing conflict that has had a significant impact on the political and security dynamics of the Middle East.
The beginnings of Jewish history in Iran dates from late Biblical times. The biblical books of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, and Esther contain references to the life and experiences of Jews in Persia. In the book of Ezra, the Persian king Cyrus the Great is credited with permitting and enabling the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple; its reconstruction was carried out "according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). This is said to have taken place in the late sixth century BC, by which time there was a well-established and influential Jewish community in Persia. Persian Jews have lived in the territories of today's Iran for over 2,700 years, since the first Jewish diaspora when Shalmaneser V conquered the (Northern) Kingdom of Israel (722 BC) and sent the Israelites into captivity at Khorasan. In 586 BC, the Babylonians expelled large populations of Jews from Judea to the Babylonian captivity. Jews who migrated to ancient Persia mostly lived in their own communities.
According to the Bible, Cyrus ordered rebuilding the Second Temple in the same place as the first; he died before it was completed. Darius the Great came to power in the Persian empire and ordered the completion of the temple. According to the Bible, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah urged this work. The temple was ready for consecration in the spring of 515 BCE, more than twenty years after the Jews' return to Jerusalem.
According to the Book of Esther, during the reign of Persian King Ahasuerus, generally identified as Xerxes the Great (son of Darius the Great) in 6th century BCE,[8] the vizier Haman instigated a plot to kill all the Jews of ancient Persia. The plot was thwarted by Queen Esther who ordered the hanging of Haman and his ten sons. This event is celebrated as the holiday of Purim.
In 1947, Iran was one of the 11 members that formed the Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) charged to investigate the cause of the conflict in Palestine Mandate, and, if possible, devise a solution. After much deliberation the committee presented a Partition Plan for Palestine, which had the support of 8 of the 11 members of UNSCOP. Iran along with India and Yugoslavia opposed the plan, predicting it would lead to an escalation of violence. Arguing that peace could only be established through a single federal state, Iran voted against the partition plan when it was adopted by the UN General Assembly. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi predicted that the partition would lead to generations of fighting.
After the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, Israel and Iran maintained close ties. Iran was the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel[10] as a sovereign state after Turkey.[11][12] Israel viewed Iran as a natural ally as a non-Arab power on the edge of the Arab world, in accordance with David Ben Gurion's concept of an alliance of the periphery. Israel had a permanent delegation in Tehran which served as a de facto embassy, before Ambassadors were exchanged in the late 1970s.[13][14] Ayotallah Abol-Ghasem Kashani criticized his government's decision to recognize Israel. Kashani, who had supported anti-colonial movements in Egypt and Tunisia, saw Israel as a colonial outpost.[15]
In 1949, Ayotallah Taleghani also criticized the Iranian government's diplomatic relations with Israel[16] and lamented that the Iranian government restricted pro-Palestinian meetings.[16] SAVAK documents show the Iranian public was sympathetic to Palestinians,[17] and Iranians often donated their zakat to Palestinians.[17] By 1970, the Iranian government tried to prevent such fundraising efforts.[18] SAVAK detained and surveilled Ayotallah Motahhari and pressured him to stop fundraising, but Motahhari refused.[19]
As at 1979, Israel owed about a billion dollars to Iran for business conducted before the Iranian revolution. Some of the debt arose from oil purchased by Israel, and a larger amount from the operation of the Trans-Israel oil pipeline and associated port facilities, which were a joint venture between Israeli companies and the National Iranian Oil Company. Israel decided against paying the debt at a meeting in 1979 and granted legal indemnity to Israeli companies which owed it. At least one Israeli bank account is known to hold $250 million owed to Iran.
Since the 1980s, Iran has been suing in the European courts for payment of the debts and has won several cases. Payment of the debts is legally complicated by the international sanctions against Iran and by the fact that Israel classifies Iran as an enemy state.[27] In May 2015, a Swiss court ordered the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company to pay $1.1 billion to Iran, which Israel refuses to do.[28]
Following the Iranian Revolution and the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, Iran adopted a sharp anti-Israel stance. Iran cut off all official relations with Israel;[29] official statements, state institutes, and events. Iran ceased to accept Israeli passports, and the holders of Iranian passports were banned from travelling to "the occupied Palestine".[30] The Israeli Embassy in Tehran was closed and handed over to the PLO.[31] Ayatollah Khomeini declared Israel an "enemy of Islam" and the "Little Satan".[32] The United States was called the "Great Satan" while the Soviet Union was called the "Lesser Satan".
According to Trita Parsi, Iran's strategic imperatives compelled the Khomeini government to maintain clandestine ties to Israel, while hope that the periphery doctrine could be resurrected motivated the Jewish State's assistance to Iran.[33] At the same time, Iran provided support for Islamist-Shia Lebanese parties, helping to consolidate them into a single political and military organization, Hezbollah, and providing them the ideological indoctrination, military training and equipment to attack Israeli and American targets.[34]
Israel sold Iran US$75 million worth of arms from stocks of Israel Military Industries, Israel Aircraft Industries and Israel Defense Forces stockpiles, in their Operation Seashell in 1981.[35] Material included 150 M-40 antitank guns with 24,000 shells for each gun, spare parts for tank and aircraft engines, 106 mm, 130 mm, 203 mm and 175 mm shells and TOW missiles. This material was transported first by air by Argentine airline Transporte Areo Rioplatense and then by ship. The same year Israel provided active military support against Iraq by destroying the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad, which the Iranians themselves had previously targeted, but the doctrine established by the attack would increase potential conflict in future years.
Arms sales to Iran that totaled an estimated $500 million from 1981 to 1983 according to the Jafe Institute for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. Most of it was paid for by Iranian oil delivered to Israel. "According to Ahmad Haidari, "an Iranian arms dealer working for the Khomeini government, roughly 80% of the weaponry bought by Tehran" immediately after the onset of the war originated in Israel.[36]
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