Jerusalem:

Iranian-Israelis are torn between nostalgia for their homeland and anger at its leader after Tehran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel last weekend. Many believe now is not the time for Israeli retaliation.

“I hope we don’t have to attack Iran now, it’s not the time. Let them worry,” said Zion Hasid, chairman of the Central Organization of Iranian Immigrants, which claims to represent 300,000 Iranian Jews.

On Wednesday, he gathered his friends and members of the organization’s administrative committee in Jerusalem for a dinner ahead of next week’s Jewish Passover holiday.

Many observers now believe that Israel will respond to an Iranian attack only after a religious holiday.

Hasid, a businessman with fond memories of Iran, said he “felt bad” since Tehran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel on April 13.

The attack won widespread support from Israel’s Western allies as Israel’s ongoing attacks in the Gaza Strip face growing opposition, including from staunch ally the United States.

Like others in Israel, Hasidim fear a harsh response could spark a violent backlash.

“I hope Israel will act wisely and calmly. Then, with God’s help, we can achieve victory,” he said.

Iran, a major backer of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, launched the attack in retaliation for an April 1 attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that was widely blamed on Israel.

With the help of the United States and other allies, Israel has intercepted nearly all Iranian missiles and drones. Despite calls to prevent escalation in the Middle East, Israel has vowed to respond.

‘Blessed’

Iran’s Jewish community has long been the largest in the Muslim world. Many of the country’s Jews have emigrated to seek a better life elsewhere.

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the fall of the Shah, although Jews were protected by the constitution, others followed suit. Many settled in the United States or Israel.

Hasidim have lived in Israel since 1964. His business card features the Israeli and Iranian flags – the latter with a lion at the center, just like before the revolution.

“If the king had been in power, none of this would have happened. The current regime wants to show the world its dominance over the Middle East,” he said.

After the establishment of the state in 1948, Israel and Iran had close relations. But the revolution of 1979 dramatically ended this friendship, and they went from staunch allies to sworn enemies.

Members of the Central Organization of Iranian Immigrants, who sometimes converse in Farsi, all talk with equal affection about their country of birth and the shah’s “happy” era, when Iran-Israel relations were at their peak.

hostage

The cousin of 75-year-old Yehezkiel Yegana was killed by Hamas militants on October 7. He said he often thinks about the Israeli prisoners taken to Gaza by militants.

Israel estimates that 129 of the 250 hostages remain in Gaza, 34 of whom have died.

But Yagana also did not forget what he called “the Jewish hostages in Iran.”

Iran still has a Jewish community of between 8,000 and 10,000 people who have reserved seats in Iran’s parliament but complain of mistrust from authorities in the face of hostile relations between the two governments.

“The entire Iranian people are being held hostage by extremist groups and will one day be freed from this,” he said.

Yagana said the issue of the protracted war between the two countries was “complex”.

“If we attack, it could trigger conflict on multiple fronts,” he said. “If we don’t attack, we’re going to be seen as weak.”

But Yagana believes the Islamic Republic’s days are numbered.

“We have never been so close to the moment when we will be able to return to our country and visit the cities and forests of our childhood,” he said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)