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It is with humility and privilege that I am proud to introduce our next speaker. This is a man who, on the surface, might not seem an obvious choice for a program celebrating Israel’s 75 years. Yet he is an individual of remarkable vision who repeatedly has displayed the kind of courage that is rarely seen on the world stage.
His royal highness the Crown Prince of Iran, truly is a historic figure. He is the eldest son of the former Shah of Iran, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who left Iran in 1979, and whose country has suffered ever since, subject to the brutality and oppression of the Islamic regime. Iran today is ruled by a tyrannical government whose revolutionary creed compels them, not only to crush the will of their own people, but to export their maximalist, violent brand of political Islam across the region, throughout the Middle East to Europe and around the world.
It is an extremist regime with an ideology as dangerous as Al Qaeda because it is unwilling to reconcile with open societies, a kleptocracy that cannot abide by the rule of law, and an Islamist dictatorship that refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy a Jewish democracy. It is an armed militia that has focused, not on feeding its own people, but on subjugating its citizens and spreading terror across the region. Iran is leading state-sponsor of terror around the world and a country whose #1 export is antisemitism.
And so, for all these reasons, we need to appreciate the significance of the Crown Prince.
For decades, living in exile in the United States, the Crown Prince has been one of the most prominent and often lonely public voices calling attention to the excesses of the Islamic Republic. Whereas some here inside the Beltway have engaged in an endless debate about the merits of reformers or hardliners, the Crown Prince long has understood that this is a false choice, that these are two sides of the same coin, and that what Iran need is an alternative path that aligns with the rest of the world — that Iran should be a free, secular democracy.
My friends, it is hard to describe the danger that he has lived with for decades because of this vision and because he is a symbol of everything that the regime detests — a connection to a prosperous secular past that once again appears possible. It is the hope of this attainable future that sustains the girls, women and millions of ordinary people risking their lives every day in protests across Iran, a pro-democracy movement that remains vibrant and vital even if the Western press fails to give it the coverage that it deserves and our political leaders lack the courage to embrace them.
Today, it is indisputable that the regime has lost the plot. Their greatest weapons – intimidation and fear — have been exhausted. Women are no longer afraid to drop their hijabs. Students are no longer afraid to walk out on classes. Businesses are no longer afraid to strike. The days are numbered for the Islamic Republic. It is not a matter of if but when.
And so, just two weeks ago, Mr. Pahlavi did something audacious, courageous, and historic — he traveled to the Jewish state. He extended his hand in peace and solidarity and met with a range of Israeli leaders and public figures. He attended a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at Yad Vashem. He prayed at the Kotel. He visited the Bahaii gardens. He paid a condolence call to the Dee family, following the terrorist murder of mother Lucy, and sisters Maia and Rina. He spoke of renewing ties between Iran and Israel and “working toward the peaceful and prosperous future that the people of our region deserve.”
Taken together, there is nothing that the regime fears more — a future where girls drop their hijabs, a future where every vote counts, a future where all religions coexist in harmony, a future where the country no longer is at war with its Jewish neighbor — this is a future that terrifies the regime because it is one where the Islamic Republic has lost is raison d’etre.
The Crown Prince is that future, not as king but as the catalyst for a free, democratic and secular Iran one at peace with its own people, one at peace with Israel, one at peace with the world.
Please join me in welcoming to the stage High Royal Highness Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.