Fear, Humiliation, and Trump: Why Iran’s Regime Could Fall
As anti-government protests gain momentum in Iran, one question looms above all else: Will the latest round of protests finally topple the country’s theocratic regime, which has ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly half a century? Or will the government once again use force to snuff out this hint of revolution? On […]
The Maccabees of the American Revolution
Every Hanukkah, Jews retell the story of the Maccabees, the ancient heroes of the second century BCE, who wrested Jerusalem from the tyranny of the Greek empire. This year was no different. But as Hanukkah draws to an end, we near ever closer to the 250th birthday of the United States—which gives us reason to tell […]
Iran’s Silent Revolution
Whisper it, but there’s a revolution happening in Iran. The Islamic Republic and the Ayatollah may both still be in place, but right now, away from the world’s attention, Iranian women are quietly rebelling. On the streets of the nation’s major cities, where the regime murdered hundreds of protesters and imprisoned more than 20,000 Iranians in […]
The Precarious Position of Iranian Jews
Last month, as she took her usual morning walk on Santa Monica Beach, near her home in Los Angeles, Nazila received an unusual text message. It was ominously brief: “We’re okay. Don’t call! Don’t text!” Since June 12, when Israel started bombing Iran, Nazila—an Iranian Jewish expatriate who asked me to withhold her last name […]
The Professor, His Nemesis, and a Scandal at Oberlin
On 28 November 2023, the profile of a tenured professor at Oberlin College disappeared from the school’s website. Only a day earlier, typing Mohammad Jafar Mahallati’s name into the site’s search box returned a page with an extensive biography and links to several of his posts and videos. His photograph was there, too: a bearded […]
Ebrahim Raisi Has Blood on His Hands
Last week, the Council on Foreign Relations invited me to a roundtable discussion it will be hosting Tuesday with the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, who will be in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. As a longtime member of the council, I wrote back to decline the invitation and published a brief statement about […]
Letter to an Anti-Zionist Idealist
Dear J, If the proper study of mankind begins with man, as the poet Alexander Pope once put it, then it seems reasonable that the proper study of Israel should begin with the Jew. This, by way of permitting myself to stand in as that Jew and start with a personal tale: One afternoon in […]
Justice in Stockholm
Thirty-four years after the massacre of political prisoners in Iran, the conviction of Hamid Noury in Sweden has been a victory for accountability and for the truth. I. The tale of the dead In January 2023, the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm, Sweden, began hearing the appeal of an exceptional case—one dealing with crimes […]
The Real Reason Iran Says It’s Canceling the Morality Police
Don’t be fooled that this is meaningful reform. It’s about regime self-preservation. Last week, Iranian Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri announced that the Guidance Patrol, widely known as the Morality Police because it enforces the Islamic Republic’s laws on personal behavior and dress, will be suspended. Though Montazeri quickly added that the judiciary will continue […]
Why the Iranians’ Fight Is the Same as Ukraine’s
The goal is liberty. The United States should be able to see that. If, at this very moment, George Washington could choose the most rightful heirs to his legacy, I like to think he would pick the people of Ukraine and Iran. As divided as Americans currently are in their great experiment with democracy, Ukrainians […]