How has The Islamic Republic Gotten to This Place?
Featuring: Ambassador Yoram Ettinger
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Time: 12 o’clock Eastern Standard Time, 7 p.m. Jerusalem Time
By now, we all know that thousands of courageous protesters have been murdered by the fierce forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The government has successfully blocked the internet and phone calls out of the country, so it is impossible to know any approximate number. We also know that these protesters came armed with nothing more than their voices, their passion and their bodies, while the Islamic Republic armed the IRGC, the thugs of the Basij, their army and their police with lethal weapons. This has amounted to the largest mass uprising since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
We also know that after President Trump had posted on Truth Social “Iranian Patriots, keep protesting…take over your institutions!!! Help is on its way”, Trump has suddenly changed his mind. He has now said that “The killing has stopped.”
Why is that? How have we gotten to this point? What is the history behind the Islamic Revolution? What did President Carter say and do? What did President Obama say and do? Why do we sometimes see footage of scores upon scores of bodies laid out in row after row on our cellphones? Which Arab allies have spoken to President Trump, and what are they actually after? Is it still possible to retrieve a democracy, or even a benign monarchy in Iran?
At the end of the day, which side of history is the United States on?
And finally: We often hear about what the United States offers Israel, but isn’t this a two-way street? What does Israel offer the United States for our survival, in the West?
In order to answer these questions and more, we are delighted to welcome back to an EMET webinar, Ambassador Yoram Ettinger.
About our Speaker: Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger is an insider on US-Israel relations, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mideast politics, and overseas investments in Israel’s high tech. He is a member of the American-Israel Demographic Research Group (AIDRG), which has documented dramatic flaws behind demographic fatalism on one hand and a Jewish demographic momentum on the other hand.
He is a consultant to members of Israel’s Cabinet and Knesset, and regularly briefs US legislators and their staff on Israel’s contribution to vital US interests, on the root causes of international terrorism and other issues of bilateral concern.
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger’s OpEds have been published in Israel and in the US, and he is frequently interviewed on Israel’s and the US’ TV and radio.
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger – who did his graduate studies at UCLA and undergraduate at the University of Texas El Paso, and has served as Minister for Congressional Affairs at Israel’s Embassy in Washington (with the rank of an Ambassador), Israel’s Consul General in Houston and Director of Israel’s Government Press Office. He is the editor of Straight From The Jerusalem Cloakroom and Boardroom newsletters on issues of national security and overseas investments in Israel’s high-tech.
