Recently, I protested together with Iranian journalist and human rights activist Neda Amin in Tel Aviv against the Iranian regime. At the protest, we did meet some skeptics, who asked why we were protesting against the Iranian regime here in Israel rather than in other places. While it is true that Israel is already on the side of the Iranian people and a protest here against the Iranian regime is like speaking to the choir, I still feel that protesting against the Iranian regime in solidarity with the Iranian people was the most important decision that I could take at this time for as the world remains silent about the atrocities committed in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Iranian people only have us in Israel and the US as well as in the Arab Gulf states to give them the encouragement that they need to continue.
When one is brutally repressed, such encouragement is critical in order to continue fighting against a regime that utilizes torture and horrific brute force against their opponents. The proof of this reality is that following Obama’s failure to support the Green Movement, the protests were repressed while during these protests, following the encouragement of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Iranian people have not yet given up their struggle.
The Iranian regime commits many atrocities, so there is much to protest about. Throughout the Middle East, the Iranian regime stands behind terrorist activity from Syria and Lebanon to the Palestinian Authority to Iraq and Yemen. In addition, while the world may not speak about this enough, they are in the process of brutally repressing their own people following the eruption of the Iran protests. Just recently, it was reported on Fox News that the fate of around 3,000 detainees who were rounded up during the Iran protests is uncertain. According to Israel Hayom, 3,700 people have been detained since the Iran protests began. There are reports that some of the detainees have even died in Iranian custody. Many more of the detainees have been tortured.
There have been reports on Twitter that the Iranian regime has their forces dressed up in Kurdish clothing and is infiltrating areas where Kurds are protesting against the regime. While the mainstream media has turned silent recently due to the false claim made by the regime that the protests have ended, there have been reports on social media that the protests continue. In Sanandaj, signs stating “death to the dictator” have been sprayed on numerous walls in the area. Iran’s Sadrat Bank was burned down in the same city. And there were heavy clashes between demonstrators and protesters in Ahvaz. Nevertheless, away from the eyes of the Western media, it is clear that a brutal crackdown against the protesters began.
I am sick and tired of the silence of the international community as this brutal crackdown continues across the Islamic Republic of Iran. Where is the international outrage for the brutalities of the Iranian regime, a dictatorship that recently outlawed teaching English to elementary school children? Where is the outrage for a totalitarian regime that stones women to death for adultery and hangs gay people from cranes? Where is the world as Iranian women are routinely raped in Evin Prison before they are executed? Where is the world when the Iranian regime routinely amputates the fingers of thieves? Where is the world when Iranian children are flogged and gay and lesbian youngsters in Iran are given electric shocks in order to cure them? What happened to their human rights activism?
Where is the international condemnations for the fact that the Iranian regime did not properly provide for the Kurdish earthquake victims towards the end of last year while at the same time turned down international assistance from Israel? Now there was another earthquake. The regime will likely respond the same. Why is the world not speaking out against this? Why is the world not speaking out loudly against the oppression of the Kurdish, Azeri, Baloch and other minority languages in the Islamic Republic of Iran? Where is the Canadian Prime Minister, the EU leaders and all of those prominent figures who supported the Iran deal when Iran diverted their funds to repressing their own people and waging terror across the world? Where are the leftist so-called human rights activists who were so quick to defend a blond curly hair Palestinian girl who slapped an IDF soldier when darker skinned Iranian women and girls demand the right to take off the hijab and are persecuted for their decision?
Indeed, at this critical juncture, it appears that the only ones who are supporting the Iranian people at this critical hour are Israel, the United States and the Arab Gulf countries, the traditional foes of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The rest of the world cares more about salvaging the economic gains they made during the Iranian nuclear deal. They do not care about the human rights of the Iranian people, the people in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen who are victims of Iranian aggression or all of the peoples who fall prey to Iranian proxy terror groups across the Middle East region. It is time for this charade to come to an end. It is time for the Israeli people and all nations around the world to stand in solidarity with the Iranian people as they fight against one of the regimes that represents the greatest threat to humanity of our times!