Dear American Jews,
I’m heartsick. I’m furious. And I’m embarrassed for you.
I know we Israelis are just supposed to absorb criticism from some of you and never give any, but…
Iran’s totalitarians just perpetrated a Hitlerian massacre, apparently slaughtering 36,500 fellow Iranians in 48 hours. Your indifference is appalling. You’ve had weeks to support Iran’s heroic protesters to reach out to Iranian groups – let alone Persian Jews. And you’ve done little.
Obviously, if asked, all reasonable Westerners denounce Iran’s regime, back the protests, and repudiate the Mullahs’ monstrous crackdown. Their brutality reveals their cancerous Islamist culture.
Still, as with the silent campuses, you could be doing much more. Politics involves passion and action, not just positions and posturing.
If a Political Richter Scale would assess how intensely people feel about particular issues, then – tracked to see if the feelings motivate action – it would confirm: the Iranian people’s protests evoked minimal American Jewish emotion and activism.
By contrast, you protested George Floyd’s murder passionately. You mourned the Pittsburgh massacre and October 7, actively – and effectively. Your community knows how to mobilize.
Look around: In Toronto, 100,000 marched. In Germany, 25,000 rallied. But New York City’s Iranian solidarity demonstrations barely attracted hundreds.
Jewish students taking action
In this desert of action, some flowers bloom impressively. Last week in Montreal, Jewish students from StartUp Nation, an independent Israeli club, embraced Iranian students at Concordia University and McGill University – anti-Zionist hubs. They hosted tables “to create space for meaningful conversation, connection, solidarity” – featuring Jewish and Iranian desserts, flanked by the Iranian, Israeli, and Canadian flags.
Amanda Rosenthal, the McGill branch’s president, explains, “We know what it is like, as Jewish and Israeli students, to be abandoned in a time of need. On campuses where radicalism and Islamism are so normalized, it was extremely powerful to stand against terror and for freedom with our peers.”
In one Instagram post, Hillel Montreal’s new director, Yoni Troy (full disclosure – my son), proclaimed: “We as Jewish people will stand with the people of Iran.” An Iranian activist, calling himself Aryik Armani to protect relatives back home, bravely added, We’re going to stand together until we win this fight – not only for Iran and Israel but for the whole world.” The two embraced in front of Iran’s flag.
Many Iranian friends “stood by our side when October 7 happened and were there for us during protests and bad occurrences,” Anastasia Zorchinsky, StartUp Nation Concordia’s president, reports. She and other Concordia Student Councilors proposed a motion to force “our extremist, radical, and antisemitic student union to condemn the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies and support the Iranian students.”
The three-hour-long meeting “was very uneasy.” More than two-thirds of the student councilors, despite repeatedly leading pro-Hamas demonstrations and encampments, abstained or didn’t show up. Zorchinsky sighs: “They really hate Jews on the Concordia Student Union.”
“Seeing young, non-Iranian Jewish people my own age standing beside us in the fight for a free Iran gives an incredibly powerful and heartwarming feeling,” Armani proclaims.
Simultaneously, the silence of “left-wing groups” disappointed Armani – and Yoni Troy reports that the Conservatives happily showed solidarity while the campus Liberals balked. The Liberals’ refusal to put politics aside and stand together on this moral and existential issue deeply disappointed Troy.
Additionally, “when Iranian students protested “in front of major media buildings” in Montreal, Armani watched Canada’s “left-leaning” media outlets distort the story. Ignoring “our core principles,” reporters “reduced the Iranian people’s demands to purely economic issues.” Armani noticed that “Political activists and public figures who claim to support Palestine – especially those who openly back Hamas and Hezbollah – were completely silent.” Some even “tried to obstruct or undermine our efforts.”
Six concrete demands
Armani echoes “six concrete demands” to “support” the Iranian people,” including:
- “Protecting the Iranian people” by “targeting the structures and leadership of its security forces.”
- “Freezing the assets of Islamic Republic officials worldwide and targeting the regime’s underground economic and oil networks.”
- “Preventing communication blackouts” by providing Starlink and other tools.
- “Expelling Iranian diplomats abroad.”
- Demanding the release of all Iranian political prisoners.
- Supporting “a democratic transition in Iran,” when possible.
Ignoring the issue
On Sunday, New York Times readers had to scroll past 13 articles about the admittedly horrific murder of one Minnesotan and articles such as “15 Easy Baking Recipes for a Cozy Weekend,” before reaching one article estimating that 5,200 Iranians had been murdered. After 842 days of echoing Hamas’s death stats, the Times suddenly became fastidious when covering murdering mullahs.
Beyond the soft-pedaled coverage, too many Jewish activists are so busy fighting for Israel and against antisemitism, that they’re neglecting the Iranian people. It’s short-sighted: this regime’s collapse would strengthen Israel and demoralize Jew-haters instantly.
Moreover, the Trumpophobia of so many left-leaning Jews – and non-Jews – trumps any other cause. Trump’s threats against the Mullahs leave Trump-haters worried that supporting Iranians might boost the president. They forget: some right-wrong issues should transcend partisanship, generate a left-right coalition, and ignore the politics.
Similarly, Progressive Palestiphiles so obsess about six million Palestinians and so hate Israel – and America – as the “oppressors” that they downplay 90 million Iranians’ oppression. Yet, again, orienting everything around Palestinian grievances derails liberalism and suspends good judgment, making Hamas’s enablers the Iranian butchers’ enablers, too.
It’s time for a gut check. See what issues enraged you this January. Compare any of your recent political activism with the Iranian people’s compelling need for our support – now.
And, much as I love a good political debate, if you reject my critique, don’t bother rebutting me. Just help popularize the fight against this evil regime – and prove me wrong!
The writer is an American presidential historian and Zionist activist born in Queens, living in Jerusalem. Last year he published, To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream and The Essential Guide to October 7th and Its Aftermath. His latest e-book, The Essential Guide to Zionism, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and Jew-hatred, was just published and can be downloaded on the website of JPPI – the Jewish People Policy Institute.