David Levyan is a well-known figure among Persian immigrants in Israel

Photos: Menachem Kalish, AP Images, and courtesy of the interviewee 

Nearly half a century after kneeling at Mehrabad Airport to kiss the shoes of the departing Shah on his way to exile, after fleeing for his life from the revolution that devoured his homeland and rebuilding himself in Israel while waiting for history to turn, David-Ardeshir Levyan sees the unthinkable unfolding. Is the end turning into a new beginning?

When David-Ardeshir Levyan watches the footage now — smoke over Tehran, crowds flooding the streets, young people burning the pictures of the mullahs and daring to shout what once meant prison or death — he doesn’t hide his tears. He’s seen protests before. He’s watched hope rise and be crushed. But this time, with the confirmed deaths of Ayatollah Khamenei and much of his top brass during the unprecedented US-aided Israel assault, he’s finally feeling personally vindicated.

David (Ardeshir is his Farsi name) Levyan is a well-known figure among Persian immigrants in Israel. He’s been broadcasting on “Radio Ran,” Israel’s Persian-language station, for years, hosting current affairs programs and speaking about virtually everything of interest to his listeners. Yet few know his personal history. His deep Persian accent and halting Hebrew hints at his origins, but he was never quick to share the saga of his life and the reason he’s so invested in finally seeing a regime change.

Levyan was born in Tehran in 1958 to a deeply rooted Jewish family. “My father, Khalil Levyan, owned a large printing house,” he says. “I grew up in a warm, loving home. The Jews of Tehran enjoyed a good life under the Shah’s rule, before the Revolution in 1979. We were proud Jews, happy in our Judaism, and we also loved Iran deeply.”

His father felt especially tied to the Land of Israel. “Every Independence Day, my father traveled from Tehran to Eretz Yisrael,” Levyan says, remembering the days when travel between the two countries was permitted. “Every single year. We were too young to join him, but it was sacred to him — to come and rejoice in the miracle of a Jewish state.”

David-Ardeshir studied at the Alliance school in Tehran, where he learned some basic Hebrew and garnered general Jewish knowledge. Back then, he says, “Our neighbors respected us. Persians and Jews share thousands of years of history, and there was mutual kavod. We grew up alongside Persian neighbors in friendship and brotherhood.”

At 18, he enlisted in the Shah’s army. “I set my sights on one unit — the King’s Guard,” he says. “Its mission was to protect the royal family, and for me, there was no greater honor.”

He enlisted, got into an officer’s training course, worked hard, and achieved his goal, eventually serving as an officer in the Guard.

Two years into his service, though, the winds of revolution began to sweep the country. The revolution was fueled by widespread perceptions of the Shah’s regime as corrupt, repressive, and overly reliant on foreign powers, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, although the country was prosperous and the economy solid. But a wave of religious fervor and frenzy had taken hold, and the pro-Western monarchy was quickly replaced by a totalitarian Islamic republic, in which the destruction of Israel became a core objective.

Before the 1979 revolution, the Shah’s regime ruled with a heavy hand, and protests were often met with force. Though he attempted reforms and agreed to constitutional changes, unrest only grew. A year before the revolution, the Shah eventually declared martial law in Tehran in a last-ditch effort to quell the mounting demonstrations.

In September 1978, opposition reached its peak. Hundreds of thousands flooded the streets on what became known as Black Friday. The Shah put down the insurgency with a heavy hand, which became a defining moment in the revolution led by radical Shiite elements.

“The situation was extremely tense,” Levyan relates. “Martial law was declared, and we in the King’s Guard were on high alert. The mullahs were inciting against the Shah, calling for a religious revolution that would supposedly lead Iran to a better future.

“While none of the protesters imagined what kind of regime would ultimately emerge under the ayatollahs, the incitement worked, and the demonstrations intensified. There was chaos in the streets. The protests were led by Khomeinists, alongside communists, and even Palestinian elements. Everyone united to topple the Shah. Not many people know this, but Hassan Nasrallah himself took part in encouraging the protests — he was a Lebanese cleric at the time, more than a decade before he became head of the Hezbollah terror organization. I even have a picture of him brandishing a weapon during one of the demonstrations in Tehran.”