As Iranians rise against their Islamist oppressors, the Jewish state strikes from the skies—empowering new freedom for the long-suffering Persian people, starting on the same Hebrew date that Haman’s downfall began.

by Reuven Koret

In 539 BCE, King Cyrus of Persia issued an edict that allowed the Jewish people, exiled in Babylon for some fifty years, to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. That act of imperial mercy is etched in Jewish memory as the first true “foreign policy miracle” of antiquity—a gentile king who recognized the God of Israel and facilitated the rebirth of Jewish sovereignty.

Now, nearly 2,500 years later, that same Jewish people—restored to their land and reborn as the State of Israel—may be returning the favor.

With the skies over Iran filled with the roar of Israeli fighter jets and the streets below echoing with the cries of defiant Iranian civilians, the arc of history appears to have bent back toward Persia. Israel’s campaign, Operation Rising Lion, launched in response to years of escalating threats, missile attacks, and nuclear brinkmanship, has so far devastated key IRGC and regime infrastructure. But it’s not just a military operation. It is a signal—to the world, and to the Iranian people themselves.

“Cyrus freed the Jews. Today, perhaps the Jews will free the Persians,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week, in a carefully crafted address broadcast via satellite and social media platforms into Iran. In another message to the Iranian people, he added: “A light has been lit—carry it to freedom.”

The symbolism is not lost on Israel’s leaders, or Biblical believers.

Once again, Persia stands at a civilizational crossroads. And once again, a Jewish voice is calling forth liberty—not for conquest, but for restoration.

Iran is in turmoil. Banks shuttered. Prisons breached. Protesters in cities from Mashhad to Isfahan chant not only against the regime, but for their lost heritage. Flags from before the Islamic Revolution are waving in Tehran. Some crowds even displayed Israeli flags—a heresy unthinkable just a year ago.

The Ayatollah’s empire is cracking.

Netanyahu has drawn a bold line between the Islamic Republic and the Iranian people. “Our war is not with Iran,” he said, “but with the regime that holds it hostage, that tortures it, that lies to it, that steals its soul.”

He went further, referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as a “modern Hitler,” and estimating that 80% of Iranians despise the regime. It was a stunning break from traditional diplomatic caution—and it resonated.

Among religious Jews, the moment is being viewed with theological depth. Rav Mordechai Eliyahu’s son, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, spoke this week about the “return of the Koresh cycle”—the idea that history brings souls and nations back to their moral roles. “Once, Persia gave the Jews back their home. Now, we give Persia back its own.”

And remarkably, this moment is unfolding on a day of biblical significance. According to the Book of Esther (Esther 8:9), the reversal of Haman’s genocidal decree began on the 23rd of Sivan. This year, that date falls on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

That was the day when Mordechai and Esther, having exposed Haman’s plot, sent out new scrolls to the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire, authorizing the Jews to rise and defend themselves.

It was not just a bureaucratic act. It was a spiritual pivot—from fear to strength, from death to defiance.

Today, Jews are again defending themselves. But now, they are also extending a hand—to the descendants of Cyrus. Not with scrolls, but with sorties. Not with ink, but with the cutting precision of justice.

This is not about revenge. This is not about domination.

This is about honor repaid.

In a world where alliances are fragile and history often feels like a chaotic swirl of forgotten names, Israel’s war over Iran has cracked open something ancient—something rooted in destiny.

Where Cyrus once blessed the Jews and enabled their return, the Jews may now be blessing Persia with the possibility of its own return: to dignity, to truth, and to freedom.

History remembers favors.

So does Israel.

And on this day—23 Sivan—that’s tomorrow—perhaps it will be the turn of Persia’s long suffering people to begin regain their freedom..