In a video discussing her feelings about the Iranian attack on Israel on 14 April, Iranian-American lawyer and TikToker Elica Le Bon shows frustration at widespread public support for the incursion.
The video, posted on April 15, has been viewed millions of times.
Le Bon, who was born in Britain and educated in America, has become well known for her videos commenting on the situation in Israel, Gaza, and Iran.
In her video, she expresses incredulity at how the public has “distorted the story to make the Islamic Republic the victim.” She says many saw the Iranian attack as a justified retaliation to the Israeli strike on the building adjacent to the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1. The attack killed seven soldiers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Le Bon questions why the members of the public who showed no support for Iran over the last two years (since several significant events in 2022 led to calls for the end of the Islamic Republic) are suddenly vocal in their support for the regime.
@elica_in_americaMessage to the world, if anybody hears us.
♬ original sound - Elica Le Bon الیکا ل بن
Mahsa Amini
The death of Mahsa Amini - allegedly at the hands of Iranian morality police - in September 2022 drew attention to the human rights abuses in the country, especially against women who are expected to conform to strict hijab rules.
“When we were screaming for the past two years that they were lynching us, where were you? When we were screaming that they were killing Iranian women for not wearing a hijab?" she asks. "Where were you when they were lynching Iranian men from cranes for protesting? Where were you when we were explaining that this is a terrorist occupying force?”
In 2023, Iran carried out 834 executions.
Le Bon stresses that “the Islamic Republic is not a reflection of the Iranian people,” who she says “want peace with Israel.”
“The Iranian people inside of Iran have come out and said this over and over and over again. It's you that wants war with Israel.”
“You are no friend to the Iranian people for that.”