‘This war is not about the people:’ Iranian-Americans in Seattle show support for Israelis

Iran launched almost 200 missiles at Tel Aviv, Israel Tuesday evening, causing scattered damage and fires from falling shrapnel, reported The Associated Press, but Israeli authorities said there were no injuries. An Israeli security official said most of the missiles were intercepted, though some managed to land.

Israeli officials said Iran would pay a price for the strike.

The missile attack came after Israel said ground troops crossed into Lebanon overnight, launching what the military described as a limited operation to root out Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure.

Israeli military: Iran fires missiles into Israel

Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it saw no sign of Israeli forces and that its troops were ready to confront them.

KIRO Newsradio spoke with local Jewish community leaders and Iranian-Americans on Tuesday about the attack.

Randy Kessler, Regional Director of StandWithUs Northwest — “an international, non-partisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism,” according to its website —  told KIRO Newsradio he sat thousands of miles away, watching footage of the missiles rain down on Tel Aviv.

“I’m looking at my screen, seeing an intense meteor shower but it’s not meteors, every single one of those is a rocket,” he said.

Kessler described his immediate feelings.

“My heart’s beating fast, I’m stressed, I’m tense, it’s a really awful feeling,” he said.

Kessler said he has many friends in Israel and he worries for their safety.

“They’re in bomb shelters right now, those that I’m following on social media, everyone’s taking it with the best of Israeli humor but it’s a very serious time,” he said.

Kessler and Regina Sassoon Friedland, Regional Director for the American Jewish Committee in Seattle, both have friends in Israel.

“This is the second time that Iran has directly attacked Israel in the past year,” she told KIRO Newsradio.

Friedland described Iran’s government as a “fundamentalist regime” fixated on destroying Israel because it is the one Jewish state in the world, pointing out that nearly half of all Jews in the world live there.

Senior Rabbi at Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Bellevue Rabbi Daniel Weiner said some predicted conflict.

“I think there’s a real sense that this conflict with Hezbollah and conflict with Iran have been inevitable and the timing is excruciating, to say the least,” he explained.

Weiner urged everyone to pray for Jews in Israel and all people around the world and to ask God that there be a peaceful, diplomatic solution.

Iranian officials claimed the barrage was retribution for Israel’s killing of leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.

However, local Iranian-Americans, Leyla and Amir Farange were highly critical of the Iranian regime. They told KIRO Newsradio the Iranian people don’t want this war.

“The war is not about the people, it’s about the government fighting each other and not getting along,” Amir Farange said.

He said it’s sad innocent people are killed because governments are fighting. He is not surprised though, as he mentioned that since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Middle East has never been stable.

“It’s sad for the innocent people who are caught in between, and it’s the Middle East, the Middle East has never been stable, especially since Shah left Iran or was kicked out of Iran,” Amir Farange said.

Leyla Farange said she’s spoken with her Jewish friends in Seattle since the attack, and they know “I stand with Israelis 100%” but she lamented how many innocent people are getting killed in the crossfire.

“I myself stand with Israelis 100% and I support Israelis and the government killing all these Hamas, Hezbollah leaders but the sad thing about this is innocent people are getting killed, children, women who have nothing to do with this, that’s the sad part,” she said.

Upon first seeing the news of Iran’s attack on Israel, Leyla Farange said it made her sick and that she immediately checked in with her family.

“It was sickening, right away I had to connect with my family in Iran, make sure everybody’s OK,” she said. “They saw missles going out of Iran.”

MyNorthwest politics: Are there legal consequences for politicians who lie even after they’ve been caught lying?

In speaking to American listeners, she repeatedly described the Iranian government as an unpopular regime who did not act on the popular will of the Iranian people.

“They are not representing Iranians and they are taking 80 million people of Iran hostage and they’re doing whatever they want to do,” Leyla Farange said.

On what bothers her about the “nonsense” violence, she said innocent people could be killed, including her own family stuck in Iran.

“Everything right now is unknown because they have to wait and see what Israel is going to do, what United States is going to do to Iran,” she said,

Additionally, Leyla Farange addressed reports of celebrations in Tehran about the attack, dismissing supporters of the Ayatollah and the regime as paid actors and few in number.

Contributing: The Associated Press and Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest

Sam Campbell is a reporter, editor and anchor at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of Sam’s stories here. Follow Sam on X, or email him here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/HeySamCampbell