How Iran’s 1979 Revolution Targeted Jews—and Threatened Global Stability
As recent events demonstrate both the weakness and brutality of the Islamic regime of Iran, they point to the hope—and urgent need—to bring about its fall. In this context, it is appropriate to step back and examine the impact this regime has had over four decades on the world at large and the Jewish people.
It is safe to say that the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has been one of the most destabilizing events the world has experienced in the last 50 years.
Its impact has had both direct and indirect costs for the lives of millions. Islamist extremism had been a marginal phenomenon before the revolution. It exploded over the years into one of the greatest threats to stability and security around the globe. The terrorism of September 11 and October 7 cannot truly be understood without the context of the Iranian Revolution.
While Al Qaeda’s operational links to Iran remain debated, the environment of legitimacy for Islamist extremism that emerged once the Islamic Revolution took hold is undeniable. The rise of such extremism, particularly in the Middle East, followed what took place in Iran. The price in human lives since 1979 is immense, and the psychological impact throughout the world on individual security is profound.
Added to that were the terror proxies Iran established through military, financial, and political support. The Islamic Republic of Iran, through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its elite Quds Force, has cultivated and financed a vast network of terror proxies across the Middle East. Notable in this respect is Hezbollah in Lebanon, which essentially took over the country and led it into destructive wars; the Houthis in Yemen, directly linked to Iran; and Hamas, a Sunni group that, despite ideological differences with the Shia Islamic Republic, became increasingly allied with and supported by Iran over the years.
On top of all this was Iran’s development of a nuclear capability, which threatened not only Israel but acted as a destabilizing force throughout the Middle East, frightening Arab states and raising the specter of nuclear proliferation in the region.
And, of course, the impact of the revolution on the people of Iran—a revolution many participated in without foreseeing its consequences—was devastating. In so many areas of society, normal freedoms were abolished. The regime systematically persecutes religious, ethnic, gender and sexual orientation minorities as well as political dissidents. Security forces routinely arrest, torture and execute regime critics and activists under vague charges such as “spreading corruption on earth.” Most significantly, as we are seeing in the most unambiguous form today, the willingness of the regime to slaughter its own citizens to stay in power distinguishes it from other authoritarian governments. The Islamic Revolution was a disaster for the people of Iran.
While the Iranian danger affected nearly all parties in the Middle East and beyond, the impact on Israel and the Jewish people was most profound. Let us start with the Iranian Jewish community, one of the oldest surviving Jewish communities from ancient times. Over 100,000 Jews lived normal lives in pre-1979 Iran.
With the revolution, Jewish life in Iran was transformed; the vast majority of Jews managed to leave the country. Today only a few thousand Jews remain, and they live in circumscribed conditions, cautiously avoiding even a breath of anti-regime politics or attitudes. A great history evaporated almost overnight.
As for Jews worldwide, including in Israel, the Islamic Republic has become enemy number one. As Israel grew stronger through the years, there was hesitation about speaking of existential threats to the Jewish state, reckoning that such language was no longer appropriate for a country with such a strong military and economy. Such concerns, however, regained their power and relevance as Iran moved toward nuclear capability. The realization that if Iran reached that stage—given its hostility toward Israel, its extremist ideology, and its irrational leadership—a nuclear attack on the small state of Israel could happen revived the reality of an existential threat. Which is why Israel’s military actions targeting Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure, following decades of IAEA-confirmed violations by the Iranian regime, were such significant moments in Israel’s security.
Unfortunately, the list of Jewish casualties directly or indirectly connected to Iran’s ideology is long: the wars and attacks by Hezbollah over the years, a direct Iranian proxy; the massacre of October 7 by Hamas, in which Iranian funding and coordination with Hamas are not fully told stories; the 1994 AMIA bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which has been proven to have been organized and committed by Iranian agents; and the antisemitic propaganda disseminated through the years by the Islamic regime, playing an important role in the surge of antisemitism in today’s world.
The world has suffered immensely because of the 1979 revolution, and the Jewish people have paid a particularly high price.
That is why the current weakening of the regime in the face of popular uprising, together with evidence of its brutality against its own people even beyond what could have been imagined, make clear both the urgent need and hope that change is possible and more necessary than ever.
The world would benefit immensely. The Jewish people would as well.
