Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a direct appeal to the people of Iran, calling on them to rise against what he described as an “evil and oppressive regime”. His remarks come as Israel continues to pound Iranian military sites and residences in an ongoing operation being watched around the world.

Speaking in an English-language video, reported by The Times of Israel, Netanyahu said: “The time has come for the Iranian people to unite around its flag and its historic legacy, by standing up for your freedom from the evil and oppressive regime. The Islamic regime, which has oppressed you for almost 50 years, threatens to destroy our country.”

He described Israel’s ongoing Operation Rising Lion as “one of the greatest military operations in history”, expressing hope that it would “clear the path for you (Iranians) to achieve your freedom”.

History of repression

The Israeli leader’s remarks are likely to inflame an already volatile situation in the region – at least at first. While the geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel are longstanding, Netanyahu’s appeal to ordinary Iranians taps into deeply rooted frustration within the Islamic Republic against an oppressive leadership.

Iranian civil society has for decades suffered under state-imposed restrictions on basic freedoms, especially for women and the LGBT community. The country’s morality police enforce strict dress codes viewed as ridiculous elsewhere, most infamously the compulsory hijab for women. Violations have been met with harassment, imprisonment and, in many cases, death.

The 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who died under suspicious circumstances in police custody after being arrested for allegedly breaching hijab rules, sparked one of the largest waves of protest in recent Iranian history. The slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” reverberated across cities in defiance of the state. The regime’s response was – as expected from a regime with little value for human rights - violent and unrelenting.

Similarly, the LGBT community in Iran continues to live under constant threat, with same-sex relations criminalised and punishable by death. Government rhetoric and legal codes deny homosexual Iranians the right to exist openly and safely, forcing many into exile or secrecy.

It is within this context that Netanyahu’s message likely finds resonance for some Iranians, particularly those yearning for democratic reform or an end to clerical rule.

And reclaiming their country is precisely what tens of thousands of Taiwanese achieved, albeit in death, between 1949 when the Chinese Nationalist forces of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek landed on the island and March 1996 when the first direct presidential elections were held; a period almost exactly as long as the time since the 1979 revolution in Iran.

What is to stop Iran's 90.6mn population doing the same?

Taiwan and Iran's nemesis Israel find common ground

In East Asia, Middle East Eye reports that an Israeli parliamentary delegation visited Taiwan in April 2024, underscoring the strengthening ties between the two entities - both of which exist under constant geopolitical pressure from neighbours and without full international recognition.

The visit a year ago marked the second such cross-party Israeli delegation to Taiwan in under 12 months. Although the two do not maintain official diplomatic relations, they have grown closer through what analysts call “shared existential experiences” and Taiwan is home to a small but thriving Jewish community.

“Israel was founded in 1948 and Taiwan was founded in 1949. Both serve as sanctuaries for their respective political projects,” the same Middle East Eye report notes.

The relationship has notably deepened since the terrorist group Hamas led an attack on Israel on October 7 2023, which killed more than 1,100 people. In response, Taipei donated over $500,000 to Israel to support soldiers and their families, and to bolster municipal services.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has of course since drawn international condemnation due to the numbers of Palestinians that have been killed. This in turn has led to accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice. Nevertheless, Taiwan has remained steadfast in its support of Israel.

Commenting on this dynamic, China expert Arnaud Bertrand told Middle East Eye: “It was Mao Zedong who said, ‘Israel and Taiwan are bases of operation for imperialism in Asia. They created Israel for the Arabs and Taiwan for us (China). They both have the same objective’. So almost automatically, if China supports a side, then Taiwan will support the other.”

Bertrand added: “In Taiwan, much like in Israel, a very large percentage of the population is relatively new to the territory as they arrived during the 20th century.”

Beijing has long supported the Palestinian cause, much to Israel’s dismay. Yet this opposition has helped bring Taiwan and Israel closer together. Over the past five decades, the two have signed dozens of agreements aimed at deepening bilateral relations. In 2022 alone, trade between the two reached $2.67bn compared to just $83mn in bilateral trade between Taiwan and Iran in 2022, and around $50mn a year later.

Bertrand emphasised that the survival of both Israel and Taiwan hinges on a single actor: the United States. “The glue that binds them and their existence together depends almost entirely on US support,” he said. “In a way, they are kindred spirits. They are each well aware that the fall of one would make the position of the other more fragile, as it would set a precedent.”

Iran’s road ahead

As such, while regional geopolitics continues to shift and both Israel and Taiwan are safe for now, the plight of ordinary Iranians remains dire. Netanyahu’s call may ring hollow to some, coming from a leader embroiled in his own domestic controversies and facing mounting global criticism for Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Nevertheless, the call to action, however politically charged, points to an undeniable truth: after nearly 50-years of religious authoritarianism, economic mismanagement, and societal repression, many Iranians are hungry for change. Taiwanese under Chiang Kai-shek experienced a similar half century, albeit for the most part lacking the religious aspect. Jews pre-1948 suffered more than most.

Standing up to any regime, and in particular that now ruling Iran with an iron fist has historically come at a terrible cost, yet it is often through the acts of personal courage - especially by Iranian women and the LGBT community - that Iran’s future will ultimately be shaped. True freedom cannot be delivered by foreign military operations alone, but by a people reclaiming their voice, dignity, and right to self-determination.

To this end, as long as millions of Iranian men opt to sit in silence, knowingly oppressed, year after year, nothing will change.

But as the world watches events unfold in Iran, the international community must also do more than offer rhetorical support and meaningless ‘thoughts and prayers’. Practical solidarity with those risking their lives for liberty is no less urgent today than it was during the darkest days of apartheid or military dictatorship elsewhere.

Iranians deserve a future free of fear - one in which personal freedom, gender equality, and human dignity are not crimes but birthrights.

Taiwanese earned that birthright the hard way. Do Iranians want to follow suit?