Sold down the river

Betrayal and abandonment are situations that have regularly confronted Jews over the last two thousand years.

Promises of safety and security vanished like the desert mirages as local and national political rulers reneged on solemn promises to defend their Jewish minorities.

Theologically inspired libels guaranteed a steady stream of enmity which resulted in pogroms, expulsions and murder.

For most of the last two millennia, legislation ensured an inferior status to Jewish communities in Europe. Unsurprisingly, even when emancipation promised equality under the law, the virulent virus of hate seethed and erupted at regular intervals.

The starkest and most lethal manifestation of betrayal and abandonment occurred in the years prior to and during the Shoah.

Nations closed their gates to fleeing Jews, and a collective disconnect from what was happening to Jews in Germany from 1933 onwards set the scene for subsequent catastrophe.

Promises were made and broken in quick succession. Rhetoric flowed like water, but not one country came to the aid and rescue of the Reich’s beleaguered Jews.

None of the democracies wanted to intervene when they had the opportunity to defeat and prevent the looming genocide. The United States retreated into an isolationist mode tinged with antisemitism generated by Nazi sympathisers, political “American firsters”, and those profiting from trade with Germany.

If you think this all sounds eerily familiar to what is happening today, you would be 100% correct.

Iran, like Nazi Germany, has been allowed to literally get away with murder. Over the last forty-five years, the Islamic occupiers have targeted political opponents, non-Islamic minorities and women in a ruthless campaign of suppression and elimination.

The rump of a once large and flourishing Jewish community has been reduced to terrified stooges who are trotted out from time to time for the media. Their obviously coerced script of hate against Israel and Zionists, and their participation in pro-regime demonstrations, fool only the gullible and hate-programmed individuals.

The similarities between events in Germany from 1933 and in Iran from 1979 are clear.

Especially noteworthy is the fact that the agenda is identical.

The Nazis had a plan to eliminate Jews from the continent of Europe.

The Iranian Islamic regime has made no secret of its plan to eliminate the Jewish nation and also Jews who support Israel worldwide.

Neither the Nazis nor the Mullahs have made any secret of their ultimate intentions. The former laid out their plans in Mein Kampf and confirmed the details at the Wannsee Conference. The latter have taken every opportunity via media outlets to confirm their “final solution.”

The civilised world community back in the 1930s refused to take the Germans seriously and preferred instead to appease and accommodate. Today, the same hypocrites pretend to be concerned but, in reality, give Tehran a pass at every available opportunity.

In 1936, as Berlin hosted the Olympic Games, the German authorities undertook a massive campaign of deception. They scrubbed all the Jew hate graffiti and signs from the streets, shop windows and buildings. They covered up any manifestations of incitement against Jews, and the media obediently followed suit.

One year before the Olympics, the Nuremberg Laws had deprived German Jews of citizenship, thus making them stateless and easier targets for discrimination, arrests and ultimately murder.

Despite all these facts, the IOC and the international community allowed the Games to proceed. The events took place with Hitler and Nazi officials attending as though nothing was amiss. Competitors and Olympic officials saw no signs of any anti-Jewish activity and, like the International Red Cross representatives at the Theresienstadt concentration camp a few years later, remained oblivious to the real truth.

I mention these events because what is unfolding these days is disgustingly similar.

Human rights abuses, arbitrary arrests, and torture have been occurring in Iran for many years. Since the latest civil revolts erupted, Iranian doctors claim that more than 16,500 protesters have been killed. Thanks to social media and other means of communication, the full horror of regime repression has been exposed.

Unsurprisingly, all those who writhed in righteous indignation over Israel’s response to Islamic terror from Gaza are now strangely silent and mute. The UN and its officials have lapsed into a comatose-like silence, and demonstrations against Iranian crimes have been strangely absent from the streets of most countries. True to form, the Iranian Mullahs have blamed the Zionist entity and the USA for any loss of life. This classic tactic to shift blame failed to excite the mainstream media, which, for the most part, ignored the massacres taking place.

In pre-Shoah days, not one democracy made any attempt to counter the mounting abuses by Germany against Jews. Today, the same sordid situation prevails. Sanctions are being thwarted by the usual suspects, China and Russia.

Washington “trumpeted” a perceived clarion call urging protesters to continue their opposition to the regime and declaring that “help was on the way.” This was followed by a threat that if any demonstrators were killed, “there would be hell to pay.” This was subsequently modified to “if any more protesters were killed, retribution would follow.”  Just when everyone believed that at long last someone had the integrity and guts to do something, the script was flipped.

The regime knows full well that all it has to do is muddy the waters and sow doubt. They do this by issuing threats of massive retaliation against Israel and its allies in the Gulf. They also know that bluff and bluster will scare off the faint hearted which are looking for any tenuous excuse to prevaricate and surrender.

Lo and behold, no sooner had threats been issued against American bases in the Gulf than the evacuation of US military personnel started. Bullies usually take note of their opponents’ lack of determination, and sure enough, the Islamic rulers of Iran intensified their murderous retaliation against their own citizens. They also noted that virtually no one else intended to stop them in their tracks.

Suddenly, Trump announced that “a reliable source,” presumably the Iranian Foreign Minister, had advised that no executions were taking place. This “proved” apparently that military intervention was no longer an urgent necessity and that the cavalry which had been on its way to save the Iranian people could now vanish like a desert mirage.

Back in 1938, Hitler assured Chamberlain that Germany had no further ambitions in Europe and that a glorious era of peace in our time had dawned.

Fast forward to 2026, and the Iranian regime has pulled the same old rabbit out of the hat to confuse appeasers.

The question remains.

Is Trump engaging in a clever campaign of disinformation and subterfuge, or has his interest now waned?

Having been rejected for the Nobel Peace Prize after allegedly claiming to bring peace to the Middle East for the “first time in 3,000 years”, his focus is now on conquering Greenland. This seems a far more attractive goal than rescuing the threatened Iranian people who are dying for a free Iran.

What are likely to be the inevitable repercussions of this latest failure to confront rogue regimes?

Without a doubt, the Chinese. North Korean and Russian authorities will be monitoring the situation and drawing inevitable conclusions.

The Iranian protests and their repression started at the end of December 2025. We are now approaching the end of January 2026, and no meaningful international response has materialised.

When the Communist Chinese attack Taiwan, they can be assured that by the time the White House decides on any action, if any, their invasion will have succeeded.

Likewise, when North Korea inevitably employs nuclear blackmail against South Korea, craven responses will guarantee that once again years of inaction pay off handsomely for international bullies and despots.

Ukraine is already suffering from a dithering Washington response to Russian aggression.

Israel needs to take heed because the lessons couldn’t be clearer.

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.