Israeli officials, US ambassador celebrate Persian New Year in Tel Aviv
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Senior Israeli and international diplomatic officials celebrated Nowruz, the Persian New Year, at a dinner at the Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv yesterday night, in an event intended to show solidarity with the Iranian people.
US Ambassador Thomas Nides and Bahrain Ambassador Khaled Yousif al-Jalahma joined Iran-born “Tehran” actress Liraz Charhi, former national security adviser Eyal Hulata, and foreign and Israeli correspondents at the event, sponsored by the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies think tank.
“Both the United States and Israel do not see the Iranian people as an enemy, but only the extreme Islamic regime, which oppresses the Iranian people and wreaks havoc wherever it gets a foothold,” said FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz in his address. “The free world should be united in calling to condemn the ayatollah regime and act for the Iranian people.”
“Precisely as an American research institute that focuses on the negative effects of the regime in Iran on the peoples of the region and the entire world, we chose to celebrate Nowruz and send an optimistic message of brotherhood and peace to the Iranian people,” said Dubowitz.