The Gulf attacks this spring made one thing painfully clear: Tehran treats Arabs, Jews and others as interchangeable targets, and the West must stop giving the mullahs what they want by blaming Jewish communities for Iran’s aggression. This piece argues that Iran’s export of hate fuels antisemitism in the West, and that the Abraham Accords and life in the United Arab Emirates offer a powerful, practical rebuttal to the regime’s lies.
When missiles and drones rained across the Gulf, they did not ask who was Arab and who was Jewish. They struck capitals and killed civilians inside the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and in Israel, showing Tehran’s contempt for human life across ethnic and religious lines. That brutal indifference should change how the world names the enemy.
Instead, far too many Western streets and campuses have answered with hostility toward Jewish communities rather than toward the regime that launched the violence. Within days antisemitic incidents spiked globally, with attacks on synagogues, schools and charities recorded from London to North America. That is exactly the outcome Tehran wants, because it amplifies division without spending a dime.
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The ayatollahs have long weaponized antisemitism as a tool of strategy and chaos. Blaming Jewish people for the actions of Iran is not only immoral, it is a strategic gift to Tehran. Every vandalized synagogue and every threat to Jewish institutions plays right into the IRGC’s hands and helps spread the very hatred the regime exports.
Look to the UAE for a different story. In Dubai and Abu Dhabi you can see rabbis in hotel lobbies, kosher restaurants, Jewish day schools and the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue standing beside a mosque and a church. That coexistence is not a photo op; it is everyday life where communities live, work and prosper side by side.
The UAE hosts more than 200 nationalities and tens of thousands of Iranians who choose to live and thrive there. Jewish entrepreneurs and Emirati partners sign deals in Hebrew, Arabic and English in the same day, building businesses and creating jobs. That kind of normal interaction unravels the argument that Jews and Muslims must be eternal enemies.
Iran targeted the Emirates not because we were fragile or naive but because coexistence threatens its whole worldview. Coexistence undermines a regime dependent on painting neighbors as enemies. The Abraham Accords showed a new path and the ayatollahs have never forgiven countries that choose partnership over perpetual conflict.
Critics once said the Accords would collapse at the first test. The opposite happened. Trade remained strong, partnership deepened, and under fire the relationships proved durable. That resilience is a rebuke to those who promote division while pretending to fight injustice.
When I see chants against Jews in Western capitals framed as solidarity with a cause, I think of the people actually building a shared future in the Middle East. The real friends of the region are those who support peace, commerce and coexistence, not those who echo a Tehran script of hatred. Standing with the mob today is the same as standing with the regime that kills Arabs, Jews and Persians alike.
The choice is simple. There is the Tehran model: militias, missiles, conspiracy and ruin. And there is the Abu Dhabi model: synagogues beside mosques, commerce instead of chaos, neighbors who chose each other when it would have been easier not to. The region has chosen; the West should stop letting street mobs decide its stance for it.
