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Lions and Roses: an Interpretive History of Israeli-Iranian Relations" (2007)

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Lions and Roses: an Interpretive History of Israeli-Iranian Relations Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 11-13-2007 Lions and Roses: An Interpretive History of Israeli- Iranian Relations Marsha B. Cohen Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI08081510 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the International Relations Commons Recommended Citation Cohen, Marsha B., "Lions and Roses: An Interpretive History of Israeli-Iranian Relations" (2007). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida LIONS AND ROSES: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY OF ISRAELI-IRANIAN RELATIONS A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS by Marsha B. Cohen 2007 To: Interim Dean Mark Szuchman College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Marsha B. Cohen, and entitled Lions and Roses: An Interpretive History of Israeli-Iranian Relations, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Charles MacDonald _______________________________________ Lesley Northup _______________________________________ Nicholas Onuf _______________________________________ Mohiaddin Mesbahi, Major Professor Date of Defense: November 13, 2007 The dissertation of Marsha B. Cohen is approved. _______________________________________ Interim Dean Mark Szuchman College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean George Walker University Graduate School Florida International University, 2007 ii © Copyright 2007 by Marsha B. Cohen All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION To my parents, Simon (of blessed memory) and Leah Ball, with love and appreciation. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the members of my Dissertation Committee. Dr. Mohiaddin Mesbahi, my Major Professor, has been a source of extraordinary support and encouragement. It is to him that I owe the Graduate Assistantship that enabled me to begin my graduate work in International Relations. There are no words to convey my gratitude for the decade of his guidance and encouragement that has brought this dissertation to fruition. I also want to express my appreciation to Dr. Nick Onuf, Dr. Lesley Northup, and Dr. Charles MacDonald for their interest and involvement in my work. Each of my Committee members is a highly respected scholar, outstanding teacher, generous spirited mentor, and an open-hearted human being. It has truly been a privilege working with four such exceptional professors. I truly am grateful to them for their time, their faith in me, and all of their suggestions. My thanks also go to the International Relations Dept. Chair, Dr. John Clark. I shall very much miss Kathleen Hasselbach, the I.R. Dept. office assistant who has just retired, and I thank her assistance and for her many kindnesses over the year. I also want to express my appreciation to my colleague Hamid Serri for his friendship and assistance. I am grateful to my mother, to whom this dissertation is dedicated, for being so understanding about the demands of this project on my time. I thank my husband David for “giving me space,” and my son, Ian, for his dedicated expert proofreading and computer debugging. I deeply appreciate the love and support of my dearest friends Reza Green and Moshe Silver. Finally, I thank my students in the Florence Melton Adult Mini- School Graduate class for providing me with a forum to experiment with and to share new approaches in the study and teaching of biblical texts. v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION LIONS AND ROSES: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY OF ISRAELI-IRANIAN RELATIONS by Marsha B. Cohen Florida International University, 2007 Miami, Florida Professor Mohiaddin Mesbahi, Major Professor This multi-disciplinary research project explores the religious and cultural foundations within the “master commemorative narratives” that frame Israeli and Iranian political discourse. In articulating their grievances against one another, Israeli and Iranian leaders express the tensions between religion, nationalism, and modernity in their own societies. The theoretical and methodological approach of this dissertation is constructivist- interpretivist. The concept of “master commemorative narratives” is adapted from Yael Zerubavel’s study of ritualized remembrance in Israeli political culture, and applied to both Israeli and Iranian foreign policy. Israel’s master commemorative narrative draws heavily upon the language of the Hebrew Bible, situating foreign policy discourse within a paradigm of covenantal patrimony, exile, and return, despite the unrelenting hostility of eternal enemies and “the nations.” Iran’s master commemorative narrative expresses Iranian suspicion of foreign encroachment and interference, and of the internal corruption that they engender, sacralizing resistance to the forces of evil in the figurative language and myths of pre-Islamic tradition and of Shi‘a Islam. Using a constructivist-interpretive vi methodological approach, this research offers a unique interpretive analysis of the parallels between these narratives, where they intersect, and where they come into conflict. It highlights both the broad appeal and the diverse challenges to the components of these “master” narratives within Israeli and Iranian politics and society. The conclusion of this study explains the ways in which the recognition of religious and cultural conflicts through the optic of master commemorative narratives can complement the perspectives of other theoretical approaches and challenge the conventions of Security Studies. It also suggests some of the potential practical applications of this research in devising more effective international diplomacy. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. COMPARING THE INCOMPARABLE…..…………………………………………1 Introduction…………….…………………………………..……….……………………1 Problem.……….……………………………..….…………………………………….....4 Purpose...………………………………………………………………….…………...…6 Theory and Method………..………………………………….….……………………18 Literature Review………………..……………………………………………….….…23 Significance of Research……………………………………………………...…….…30 Chapter Outline…………………………………………………….…………………..36 On the Title “Lions and Roses”………...…………………………………………….40 II. USES OF THE PAST: TEXTS AND CONTEXTS.……………………………….48 Cyrus: the Man and the Myth……………………………….…………………….….48 Ancient Babylon Sources……………………………………..…………………….…49 Classical Greece: “Inventing the Barbarian”………………….………….…..…….53 Jewish Text and Tradition: “Cyrus, My Servant”....……………………………....63 Christian Emancipators and Restorationists: Cyrus Redivivus................................74 Israel’s Peripheral Vision……………………………………….…..............................84 From Zoroaster to the Islamic Republic.....……………..…………………………....87 Summary………………………………………....…………….…….………….....106 III. CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS SOURCES OF FOREIGN POLICY..……….108 Introduction..…………………….…...…………...……………………………..….....108 Israel: A People That Dwells Alone.……………….…..………………..………….110 Iran: The “Karbala Paradigm”……...........................................…….…….…..…….146 Summary……………………………………..………………….……………………..172 IV. ISRAEL, IRAN AND THE “WAR ON TERROR”: MASTER COMMEMORATIVE NARRATIVES IN PRACTICE…..…………174 Introduction…………………………………………….………………………………….….174 The Clash of Narratives….…………………………………………………………..177 Summary…………………………………………..…………………………………..222 V. CONCLUSIONS: FROM NARRATIVE TO POLICY……………….…………224 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………..…………………………………237 VITA…………....…....…………………..…..…………………………………………………252 viii CHAPTER I COMPARING THE INCOMPARABLE Introduction Iran and Israel share no common border and have no irredentist claims on one another’s territory. Both have long been regarded by their neighbors as perpetual outsiders in the largely Sunni Arab Middle East, yet each considers itself to be at the center of the universe.1 Both have highly factionalized political systems in which the right and the power to impute value to the actions of the state, to enunciate the state’s transcendent political vision, and to articulate the grievances of the state in the international political arena are all strongly contested.2 Each asserts the conviction of its own cultural uniqueness and superiority, based upon its continuity with an ancient culture that first formulated and nurtured the highest ideals of civilization. Each views its history through an optic of victimization en route to redemption that mandates exemption from—even defiance of—cosmopolitan ideals and universal norms.3 Fueled and justified by narratives of grievance and betrayal in the past 1. According to Jewish legend, the foundation stone (even ha-shatiya) of the universe is located within the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, over which. Solomon’s Temple was built. It is presently beneath the Dome of the Rock. See Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism (Oxford and New York: Oxford, 2004), 96-98. Cf. Graham E. Fuller, The “Center of the Universe”: The Geopolitics of Iran (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999),
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