The Bridge Builders

The people carrying the conversation

Peace is not signed by states alone — it is carried by people who refuse to hate. These are some of the Iranians and Israelis keeping the conversation alive.

Iranian voices

Many of Iran's bridge-builders cannot be named — to name them is to endanger them. These are Iranians, most of them in exile, who chose to stand in the open.

Elica Le Bon

الیکا لبن · אליקה לה בון

British-born Iranian-American lawyer and activist · a leading Iranian voice for Israel

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Hamed Fard, a young man with dark hair, light stubble and sunglasses, wearing a dark jacket over a white T-shirt, standing in an ornate interior.
Photo courtesy of Hamed Fard (official SoundCloud @hamedfardmusic)

Hamed Fard

حامد فرد · חאמד פארד

Iranian rapper in exile · trilingual peace songs with Israeli artists

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Portrait of Hooman Khalili, a man with greying dark hair in a black blazer over an open white shirt with a clip-on microphone, smiling as he looks to one side against a bright interior.
Photo courtesy of Hooman Khalili (hooman.tv)

Hooman Khalili

هومن خلیلی · הומן ח'לילי

Iranian-American artist and muralist · painted the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ murals across Israel

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Masih Alinejad

مسیح علی‌نژاد · מסיח עלינז'אד

Iranian-American journalist and women's-rights activist — a target of the regime's kidnap and murder plots

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Saeed Ghasseminejad, a bearded man in a dark pinstriped suit and striped tie, speaks during a video interview, with the Lion-and-Sun Iranian flag and the United States flag behind him, 2025.
Photo: Voice of America (VOA Persian) · public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Saeed Ghasseminejad

سعید قاسمی‌نژاد · סעיד קאסמינז'אד

Iranian-American Iran analyst · senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies

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Vahid Beheshti

وحید بهشتی · ואהיד בהשתי

London-based Iranian human-rights activist · first Iranian opposition figure to address the Knesset

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Israeli voices

Israelis who speak past the regime, directly to the Iranian people — ministers, journalists, artists and scholars, among them the author of the Cyrus Accords (پیمان کوروش).

Close official portrait of Amichai Chikli, a man with short dark hair in a dark blazer over a light-blue shirt, looking at the camera against a dark grey background, 2022.
Photo: Reuven Kupitzinski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Amichai Chikli

آمیخای چیکلی · עמיחי שיקלי

Israel's Minister of Diaspora Affairs & Combating Antisemitism

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Close portrait of Beni Sabti, a smiling man with grey hair and a grey-and-white beard in a denim shirt, a friend's hand on his shoulder and an Israeli flag behind him, 2025.
Photo: Yair HaNavut · CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Beni Sabti

بنی سبتی · בני סבתי

Tehran-born Israeli Iran researcher at INSS · built the IDF's Persian voice to Iranians

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Studio portrait of Emily Schrader, a woman with blonde hair swept to one side, wearing a bright pink blazer over a white blouse against a plain grey background, 2024.
Photo: Asaf Drori, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Emily Schrader

امیلی شریدر · אמילי שריידר

Israeli-American journalist · founder of the Iran Israel Alliance

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Official Knesset portrait of Gila Gamliel, smiling in a black jacket with a white flower and a blue-and-white ribbon, against a plain background.
Photo: Ronen Horesh / Knesset Archives · CC BY-SA 4.0

Gila Gamliel

گیلا گملیئل · גילה גמליאל

Israeli Minister of Innovation, Science & Technology · author of the Cyrus Accords

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Liraz Charhi on an outdoor festival stage, arms raised holding a sparkling silver shawl over her head, a tambourine at her waist, 2023.
Photo: Ninara · CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Liraz Charhi

لیراز چرخی · לירז צ'רחי

Israeli-Iranian singer and actress · records Persian music in secret with artists inside Iran

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Menashe Amir, an elderly man in headphones at the Israel Radio Persian broadcast desk; behind him hang Persian music album covers and the pre-1979 Lion-and-Sun flag of Iran, 2009.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons user חובבשירה · public domain

Menashe Amir

منشه امیر · מנשה אמיר

Tehran-born Israeli broadcaster — the Persian voice of Israel Radio to Iran for over half a century

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Official portrait of Naftali Bennett, a man wearing a knitted kippah, a dark suit and a blue tie, standing before the Israeli flag and a bookshelf, June 2021.
Photo: Avi Ohayon / Government Press Office of Israel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Naftali Bennett

نفتالی بنت · נפתלי בנט

Former Prime Minister of Israel · a direct voice to the Iranian people

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Rita on stage in Jerusalem, seated and singing into a microphone under blue stage light, 2009.
Photo: Itzik Edri · CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rita Yahan-Farouz

ریتا جهان‌فروز · ריטה יהן-פרוז

Tehran-born Israeli pop icon — a cultural ambassador between Iranians and Israelis

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Read on

The Cyrus Accords

The real Israel–Iran framework these builders are working toward — written, sourced, dated.

The Voice from Jerusalem

Menashe Amir broadcast to Iran in Persian from Jerusalem for six decades — a builder before the word.

Hearts & Minds

What Iranians and Israelis actually say about one another — in their own words.