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Harold Rhode

Harold Rhode

Harold Rhode served as a specialist on Islamic culture and the Middle East in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1982 to 2010. He studied at a university in Iran during the early and mid-stages of the Islamic Revolution. He is currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute in New York, as well as a Senior Fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. See his website at: harold-rhode.com.

Supporting Iranian Protesters
Opinion
The before and after in ‘negotiating’ with Iran
Leaders of the Islamic Republic do not think or talk like Western nations; to believe that they do is a recipe for disasters, as history recounts.
Feb. 23, 2026
Harold Rhode
Persepolis Stairs of the Apadana
Opinion
The fall is not the end: Why Iran’s greatest danger comes after the regime
Feb. 2, 2026
Harold Rhode
John Kerry and Leaders, Iran Nuclear Deal
Opinion
Strategies Iranians use to trick Westerners into accepting what they want
Aug. 20, 2025
Harold Rhode
The Middle East as seen from 250 miles above in this April 14, 2016 photo from the International Space Station. Countries seen, from left, along the Mediterranean coast include Egypt, Gaza, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. Credit: NASA via Wikimedia Commons.
Opinion
The history of non-aggression pacts in Islam
Does it matter that Muslim Arabs cannot sign a true peace agreement with Israel? Not as long as Israel recognizes it must remain militarily strong and resolute in defending its culture and borders.
Feb. 16, 2020
Harold Rhode
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas (center) delivers a speech on the new Middle East peace plan at P.A. headquarters in Ramallah, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo by Flash90.
Opinion
Understanding the ‘deal of the century’ from a Muslim perspective
Bravo to President Donald Trump and his team, and to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team, who clearly understand how P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders think.
Feb. 2, 2020
Harold Rhode
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York on Sept. 24, 2019. Credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak.
Opinion
Iranians want Trump to do more to take down the regime
The Iranian regime is blaming America for the protests shaking the country, but the Iranians are having none of it.
Dec. 5, 2019
Harold Rhode
Professor Bernard Lewis with Dr. Harold Rhode. Photo courtesy of Harold Rhode.
Opinion
My thoughts at the funeral of Bernard Lewis
In Judaism, there are no coincidences, and it came to my mind that Lewis was born on Jerusalem Day (Iyar 28)—exactly 51 years before Israel reunited the capital city of Jerusalem in 1967—and died just days after the 51-year anniversary of Jerusalem Day, the very year the United States officially recognized Jewish sovereignty over its eternal capital.
May. 30, 2018
Harold Rhode
File photo: Hezbollah-owned Iranian anti-tank missiles that were captured by Israel Defense Forces in southern Lebanon in 2006. Credit: IDF.
Opinion
Iranians need to own their future
We should look for ways to unite the Iranian opposition and support those who support liberal values.
May. 11, 2018
Harold Rhode
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exposes files that prove Iran’s nuclear program in a press conference at the Kirya government headquarters in Tel Aviv on April 30, 2018. Credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90.
Opinion
History proves how Iranians react when confronted with force
The Iranian government is quaking in its boots. Now is the time to reassure the Iranian people that we stand with them against their brutal rulers.
May. 2, 2018
Harold Rhode
Opinion
Did the US strike Syria hard enough?
If the United States did not react forcefully to the use of chemical weapons, then a message would have been sent to Iran, North Korea and other dictators that they, too, could use chemical weapons against their enemies with little worry that the international community would lift a finger against them.
Apr. 15, 2018
Harold Rhode
Jews from all over the world participate in the annual March of the Living program on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, as Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 16, 2015. Photo by Yossi Zeliger/Flash90.
Opinion
How the Holocaust became part of Israel’s mixed Jewish identity
Today, it is rare to find Israeli Jews in their 20s and younger who don’t share ancestors from both the Ashkenazi and Sephardic worlds. Israelis are so intermarried that the memory of the Holocaust has become part of the collective historical memory of the entire Jewish population of Israel.
Apr. 12, 2018
Harold Rhode
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