Iran's season of judgement

By Jonathan Feldstein

Outside of Iran’s remaining several thousand member Jewish community, few Iranians will be engaged in prayers this weekend beseeching God for a year of health, happiness, prosperity, much less freedom. According to the ancient Jewish liturgy, on Rosh Hashanah for millennia Jews have prayed to be inscribed into the Book of Life. Part of the liturgy is that we understand our fate is in God’s hands, and it is His decision who shall live, and who shall die, who by fire, who by water, and even who are at the hands of Iran’s evil Islamic regime and their puppets, the “morality police.”

While average Iranians will not be engaged in two days of prayer for Rosh Hashanah, all Iranians are concerned about their fate at this season, particularly as Rosh Hashanah coincides with the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish Iranian woman, who was murdered at the hands of the Iranian “morality police” allegedly for not having her hair covered properly.

In order to protect their own security, the leadership of the remaining Iranian Jewish community issued a statement that they have coordinated with the police not to engage in public gatherings during this holiday season that might be mistaken for protests against the regime. This is not new. Iranian Jews are often held hostage by the regime and are compelled to issue public statements in support of their evil Islamic rulers, and against Israel and “the Zionists.”

Yet millions, if not tens of millions, of Iranians have had enough. The murder of Mahsa Amini a year ago, sparked organic protests throughout Iran, initially led by women, but which grew wider with men joining as well. A revolution against the Islamic regime does not happen overnight, but according to Iranian American, Marziyeh Amirizadeh (Marzi), a revolution is underway for sure.

Marzi was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to death by hanging because she converted to Christianity in Iran. During her brutal imprisonment, she witnessed the hopeful signs of what could have been the overthrow of the Iranian regime when masses of Iranians protested electoral fraud.

The response of the Iranian regime was to harshly brutalize the protesters, arresting thousands, and wantonly murdering thousands more, many of whom were buried in hidden graves that are still not known today. As she sat in prison, she witnessed the failure of the U.S. Obama administration, which abandoned the Iranian people and took away their hope.

Shortly after her release, Marzi’s closest friend, Shirin Alam Hooli, also a young Kurdish woman, was executed by the regime. Mahsa Amini’s murder last year brings back haunting memories of Shirin’s torture and death which she writes about in “A Love Journey With God.” Learn more about Marzi and her experiences at http://www.Marzisjourney.com

Today, she sees a scary parallel. Iranians are demonstrating for their freedom against the Islamic regime, organically, as they have never before. They need to be supported at all costs. Yet at the same time as the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s murder, we have seen the Biden administration agree to release several billion dollars in ransom in order to free several dual American Iranian citizens who have been held hostage.

Marzi is clear about what needs to happen: Rather than funding the Islamic regime at all, the Islamic regime needs to be removed.

Marzi believes that the Iranian regime is on its last legs. While a revolution does not take place overnight, it is disheartening to see the west, led by the United States, pumping billions of dollars into and propping up the Iranian regime. This will be used to expand its nuclear weapons program and further it’s global terrorist activities, like the tentacles of a poisonous octopus.

Growing up in Iran from a very young age, Marzi along with all Iranian children were brainwashed to believe that America and Israel are evil, the enemies of Iran and the world. They were forced to repeatedly chant “death to America,” and “death to Israel.” These are not mere words, but a game plan about which the regime is deadly serious. They are building a nuclear weapons program, as well as supporting other terrorist entities, in order to achieve their evil goals.

Upon becoming a Christian and reading the Bible, she understood that she had been fed lies by the regime all her life, and Israel and the United States were not only not enemies of Iran, but that the Islamic regime is the enemy of the Iranian people.

Earlier this year, Marzi visited Israel for the first time where she fell in love with the Land and the people, recognizing that this is where God promised his chosen people to have their eternal home and the Land through which God’s blessings and promises would be fulfilled. That Jesus was a Jew made her feel even closer to Israel and the Jewish people.

Through several media interviews, as well as a religious pilgrimage for herself, Marzi shared with the Israeli public that the Iranian people are not Israel’s enemy, but that Iranian regime is the enemy of both Israel and the Iranian people.

Iranians’ protests against what they’re calling the #iranransomdeal are being undermined by the agreement to transfer $6 billion to Iran, money that will continue to fund their inhuman and evil agenda.

At this anniversary of the murder of Mahsa Amini, empowering, enabling, and funding, the Iranian regime is the last thing that should be happening. At this season of Rosh Hashanah, one of deep introspection and prayer, let us all pray that God will embolden the Iranian people protesting the regime, that they will succeed in overthrowing the evil Islamic leaders who have hijacked their country for decades, and that those who have committed crimes against Iran and the Iranian people for all these years will, indeed be held to God’s judgment.

Jonathan Feldstein is president of the Genesis 123 Foundation and RunforZion.com, building bridges between Jews and Christians. He is the host of the “Inspiration from Zion” podcast, and editor of the forthcoming book “Israel the Miracle.” He and his family made moved to Israel in 2004. He can be reached at FirstPersonIsrael@gmail.com.