On 17 June 2025, I received a video message from a woman in Tehran. Her face was hidden and her voice disguised. She said, “Even while Israel is bombing, I feel more threatened by the Islamic Republic than by Israel.”

She isn’t alone in these feelings. I run a Persian YouTube channel with viewers across Iran. I recently asked people to send in messages for Israelis. Within hours, my Telegram blew up with voice notes and video clips. People were filming their carpets, their shadows, their screens—whatever wouldn’t get them caught. They sent the videos to me so that I could translate them into English for our Israeli audience on my English YouTube channel. The messages came from schoolteachers, students, parents, couples, and even a soldier. These people were speaking directly to Israel—and they were saying “thank you.”

I’ve lived half my life in Iran. Since I left, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to people still stuck living under the regime. I’ve been part of activist networks for years. In addition to my Persian and English YouTube channels, I run an active Persian Telegram channel and a Persian Discord community, all focused on activism against the Islamic Republic. I talk to Israelis on my English platforms and Iranians on the Persian ones. In addition, I have travelled to both Israel and Palestine and have a close connection to many Israelis. 

People in the West often forget that Israel didn’t start this war. The Islamic Republic has been waging war on Iranians and Israelis since 1979. There have been mass executions and public hangings. Children have been shot in the streets. Women have been raped in detention. Protesters have been blinded. And all the while, the government has been promising to annihilate Israel—unprovoked—since its founding.

One woman who messaged me thanked Israel for taking out the killers of nine-year-old Kian Pirfalak. Another woman said, “What Israel did in days, we couldn’t do in 46 years.”

Protesters in Iran have been trying to bring the regime down for decades. They’ve been gunned down in the streets for it. In 2019, the regime killed over 1,500 people in three days and yet faced no accountability and no justice. But still people kept going. Now, for the first time, they’re seeing the men who ordered the killings—the generals, the commanders—taken out. Not by hashtags or UN resolutions, but by actual airstrikes. By Israel. And they’re grateful.

The regime didn’t build a single public air raid shelter. There have been no sirens or alerts. They did nothing to warn people when the bombs started falling. Instead, they cut off internet access. Just when people needed to know where the bombs were falling, where to evacuate to, and where to find food and fuel, the government blacked out the entire country. They are so afraid of protests that they’d rather people die confused in the dark than risk another uprising. One man called my channel to say, “It’s amazing you [Israel] tell us where to evacuate before you strike. Our own rulers don’t even do that.”

Here are a few things people actually said directly, addressed to Israelis:

• “This is not a war between Israel and Iran. It’s a war between Israel and the Islamic Republic.”
• “Cyrus freed the Jews from Babylon. Now the Jews are freeing us from our own tyrants.”
• “Thank you, Bibi. Keep going.”
• “Cut the head off the snake. We’ll take care of the rest.”
• “We are your natural allies. From Tehran to Tel Aviv.”