Thoughts On Israel and Iran

If everything stays on track, I should have my first book on the market within two weeks, give or take a day or two. The name of the book is The Borisov Dilemma and the plot uses the animosity between Israel and Iran as the catalyst for the actors in the novel.

I did a fair amount of research for the book and the one thing that stands out in the historical context between the two nations is that they should not be enemies.  God used ancient Persia for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Cyrus the Great released the Jewish people from bondage and sent them back to their homeland.  In more recent times Iran was part of the escape route for Jews fleeing Hitler and Europe. In the Arab-Israeli Wars of the late 60’s and early 70’s the Iranians stayed out of the fray. The sold oil to Israel and Israel reciprocated by being a conduit for military supplies to the Iranians. There are over 200,000 Iranian Jews in Israel today. And yes, there are Jews and Christians in Iran where they are free to worship, just not free to spread Judaism or the Gospel.

So why are both of these historic friends so close to war?  A large part of the reason is because of whom their friends are. We support Israel while Russia and her allies support Iran. But I believe the deeper reason is one that our diplomats, presidents, and foreign prime ministers refuse to see. Their countries base their existence on spirituality. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are the bonds that hold them together. Islam is probably the only singularity between Arabs and Persians and the increasing radicalization of the new Arab Spring countries accentuates the animosity toward Israel. Syria will fall apart within a few weeks and then another radical Islamist-leaning group will agitate for power. There are already extremist groups in Jordan pushing for a harder stance against Israel. If Jordan follows the path of the rest of the Arab world, then Israel will be surrounded by nations who espouse a return to an ancient Caliphate and the destruction of Israel. If the United States and Israel could get Iran out of that extremist camp, it would deprive the Arab world of a powerful ally. We should keep the Christians in Iran in our daily prayers and hope for their influence to be felt in Tehran. We also need to pray for the Christians in Syria. They generally backed Assad because he was tolerant of their worship. When Assad leaves, it will be hard on them.