Recently they took a stand against their government's support of Palestinian terror. (via lgf comments, which incidentally have been kick-ass for the last few weeks, as sober intelligent people have flocked to the site, outnumbering the neanderthals.) How refreshing, and what a contrast to American campus politics, which may be moving Iranian students in the opposite direction. The recent attack of Iranian Muslims against Iranian Jews in Los Angeles shocked the large Iranian immigrant community there:
People on both sides insist that Iranian Muslims and Jews get along well in the Los Angeles area, home to one of the largest Iranian Jewish communities in the United States. Some added that the unfortunate incident occurred as Iranian Jews and Muslims appeared to be mixing freely, a sign of their relative comfort with each other.
and some blamed the beating on the influence of American campus politics:
Jimmy Delshad, an Iranian Jew and former president of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles . . . said. "Youth — especially at universities, who are very much against Israel and Jews — are very influenced and take things upon themselves," said Delshad, who added that he believes these misguided youth were not targeting Iranian Jews specifically, but Jews in general.
A bit of historical perspective: The Jewish connection to the country now known as Iran dates to the 6th c. BCE, when Cyrus of Persia conquered the Babylonians (now Iraq) and allowed the Jews who had been captured and exiled there to return home to rebuild their Temple (an event commemorated in Psalm 126, which many Jews know by heart because it is often sung as a prologue to the full Blessing After Meals).
The Jews who stayed in Persia and Babylonia developed strong communities which persisted until the re-establishment of the State of Israel (when most Islamic countries either kicked out their Jewish populations or persecuted them with such vigor that they fled to Israel or the USA). The Babylonian community established academies of Jewish law and learning which produced the definitive version of the Talmud by the 7th century CE ("Talmud" in Hebrew means "the Learning"), which made post-Temple Judaism what it is today.
Bukharan Jews (so many of whom have settled in a borough of New York that people jokingly refer to it as "Queensistan") also trace their roots to the Persian conquest. (I heard this group play traditional Persian court music last spring - very cool. If you like ethnic music check them out.)
I would like to think that Iranian activists are sympathetic to Israel, not only to oppose any position taken by the Islamic regime, but because of their ancient ties to Jews and the free and close relationships of Jewish and Muslim Iranians in the US.
UPDATE: While rocking to the Shashmaqam CD, cook up some Jewish Iraqi dishes.
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