The moral fog of protest
By all reasonable standards of human decency, there should be no doubt: Israel, for all its faults, remains a democracy defending itself from a theocratic regime that brutalises its own people, openly threatens annihilation of others and funds proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis etc) to conduct an ongoing terror campaign in support of its twisted aims.
And yet, across the West, from university campuses to city squares, an increasingly vocal segment of the so-called progressive left has decided that Iran – a regime known for torturing dissidents, executing homosexuals and imprisoning women for showing their hair – is worthy of their solidarity.
Solidarity with suppression
The scenes are surreal. Protesters scream for Palestinian freedom while waving Iranian flags. Crowds chant against Israel’s existence, while ignoring that Iran’s leadership executes children, shuts down the internet to suppress uprisings, and sends its Revolutionary Guards to crush dissent. These are not champions of human rights. They are apologists for tyranny.
A regime of terror
Let’s be clear: the Islamic Republic of Iran is not misunderstood. It is not oppressed. It is the oppressor. It is the jailer of journalists, the executioner of protestors, and the patron of global terrorism. Its leadership, by its own admission, seeks the destruction of Israel – not a political change, not a resolution, but total annihilation.
Defence, not aggression
This is the state that fired a barrage of missiles at Israeli cities in retaliation to Israel’s targeted strikes on Sunday, deliberately targeting civilians and causing millions to take shelter. Israel’s response – precise and targeted, including the elimination of senior Iranian intelligence operatives responsible for coordinating global terror – was not warmongering, it was defence.
Selective outrage and silence
Meanwhile, the Western protest movement that sprang to action over Gaza is now eerily silent on the women and children murdered by Iran’s own bombs. Where is the outrage over Iranian civilians used as human shields by their own leaders, or the girls shot dead for dancing? The hypocrisy is stomach-turning.
Wokeness without wisdom
Even more disturbing is how this movement has been hijacked by what can only be described as “performative wokeness” – a cocktail of virtue-signalling ignorance and ideological tribalism. These protestors, mainly from comfortable Western democracies, claim to oppose fascism while chanting support for a theocracy that enforces religious law at gunpoint. They cloak themselves in slogans of liberation while defending a regime that stones women to death.
Chanting without knowledge
The truth is, many of these activists don’t care about Iran. Ask them about Iran’s secret police or the 1,500 people killed in the 2019 protests – they won’t know. Ask them to name a single democratic institution in Iran – they can’t. But ask them for a chant blaming Israel for all the world’s problems, and they’ll shout it until they’re hoarse.
A betrayal of real values
The left once stood for human rights and freedom. Today, too much of it stands for whatever is fashionable, even if that means siding with the oppressors. Iran imprisons women for taking off the hijab, and yet “feminist” voices remain mute. Gay people are hanged in public, and yet LGBT campaigners share platforms with Iranian regime apologists. Why? Because nuance is inconvenient, and facts don’t fit the narrative.
Complicity masquerading as protest
In backing Iran – even tacitly – these protestors are enabling brutality. They are empowering a regime that threatens not just Israel, but regional stability and global peace. Israel is not perfect, but it is fighting an existential battle against a regime that celebrates martyrdom and invests in missiles rather than medicine. Those who refuse to see that are not peacemakers. They are pawns.
The choice is clear
It’s time to stop romanticising protest for its own sake and start confronting uncomfortable truths. Supporting Iran is not resistance. It is complicity. And history will remember those who stood for freedom – and those who stood with fascists in clerics’ robes.
