Iran is home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Diaspora, documented in the biblical books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Despite severe persecution since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it is also the largest Jewish community in the Middle East. The regime claims that its Jews flourish, are loyal citizens, and share in official hostility to Israel. Reality, writes Tammy Reznik, is somewhat different:

In a stranger-than-fiction moment, earlier this month, a small group of Jews gathered in a synagogue in the heart of Tehran to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Iran’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. . . . A similarly curious moment occurred in April when the Jewish community “chose” to cancel its traditional end-of-Passover celebrations (Mimouna) in favor of “celebrating” al-Quds Day, [during which the regime publicly fantasizes about the cleansing of Jerusalem of Jews]—which happened to fall on the same day this year. In fact, the single Jewish representative in the Iranian parliament, Homayoun Sameyah, very publicly joined in the annual al-Quds Day march demanding Israel’s destruction.

What these events illustrate is the precarious position that the 9,000 or so remaining Jews of Iran find themselves in on a daily basis.

Another consistent trend has been the promotion of Holocaust denial. Beni Sabti, [an Israeli Iran specialist who emigrated from the country as a teenager], says the promotion of Nazi ideology was endemic to the education he received in Iran. “They would hand out copies of Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion for free in mosques, and translated copies in Farsi online.”

Sabti says that, with everything else, Iran’s remaining Jews are forced to use code words when discussing Israel. They often even find ways to visit by circumventing the borders and exiting Iran via a third country. The community is tight, and information on how to travel to Israel secretly is shared.

Israel’s goals of freeing the hostages and defeating Hamas (the latter necessary to prevent further hostage taking) are to some extent contradictory, since Yahya Sinwar, the ruler of the Gaza Strip, will only turn over hostages in exchange for concessions. But Jacob Nagel remains convinced that Jerusalem should continue to pursue both goals:

Only consistent military pressure on Hamas can lead to the hostages’ release, either through negotiation or military operation. There’s little chance of reaching a deal with Hamas using current approaches, including the latest Egyptian proposal. Israeli concessions would only encourage further pressure from Hamas.

There is no incentive for Hamas to agree to a deal, especially since it believes it can achieve its full objectives without one. Unfortunately, many contribute to this belief, mainly from outside of Israel, but also from within.

Recent months saw Israel mistakenly refraining from entering Rafah for several reasons. Initially, the main [reason was to try] to negotiate a deal with Hamas. However, as it became clear that Hamas was uninterested, and its only goal was to return to its situation before October 7—where Hamas and its leadership control Gaza, Israeli forces are out, and there are no changes in the borders—the deal didn’t mature.