The President of the World Jewish Congress in Israel met Sunday with Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi in Paris and expressed the hope that the Iranian people will topple the Islamic regime and that there will soon be an Israeli embassy in Tehran.
The meeting, which addressed the historic connection between the two peoples, comes amid a lull in nearly two weeks of fighting in the Gulf between the U.S. and Iran following the collapse of the ceasefire.
“We discussed our hope for the freedom and liberation of the long-suffering Iranian people, who are starving for freedom,” Sylvan Adams said. “I believe this will happen in the very near future. The Jewish people entirely support your vision of a free, pluralistic, representative and democratic Iran, and we will be standing with you shoulder to shoulder.”
“What we are contemplating for the 21st century started 25 centuries ago,” Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said. “Iran and Israel are the only two countries on this planet that have a biblical relationship.”
“Thousands of Iranians have been killed recently,” Pahlavi continued. “They didn’t die for a strait to remain open or for a nuclear deal. They died for liberty. We have always had the support of Jews around the world and Israelis for Iranian freedom, and we appreciate that very, very much.”
Israel and Iran had close relations before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, including direct flights between the two countries.
The son of the late Shah has emerged as the leading voice of Iranian opposition over the last couple years.
The Canadian-Israeli entrepreneur and philanthropist presented the exiled Iranian Crown Prince with two traditional Jewish doorpost markers, or mezuzahs, crafted from Jerusalem stone, intended for the future Embassy of Israel in Tehran and the other for the future Embassy of Iran in Jerusalem.
“I’m a real estate man. This is how I made my living,” Adams said. “My hope is to come to Tehran in the very near future and look for a piece of real estate on which will sit the Israeli embassy in Tehran. I brought two mezuzahs, one which I hope to hang with you at the Israeli embassy in Tehran, and the second which will be at the Iranian embassy in Jerusalem.”
