EDITORIAL: Shameful betrayal of Western values

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The escalating actions of pro-Hamas, anti-Israel demonstrators on the streets of Western countries reveal more about the protesters than they do about their targets.  

Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of democracy. “Peaceful” protests do not use smoke bombs. “Peaceful” demonstrators do not hide their faces behind masks. They don’t menacingly block streets so that other citizens going about their lawful business are denied freedom of movement. Those are intimidation tactics meant to frighten onlookers and scare them into silence.  

In the past few days, since the U.S. bombing of Iran, an even more troubling type of protest has occurred.  

Instead of condemning Iran as the number one state sponsor of terror in the world, misguided supporters of the regime are hoisting banners in support of that malevolent state, a country that routinely throws women in prison or mental institutions for refusing to wear the hijab.  

Instead of condemning such cruelty or supporting the victims of repression, demonstrators have been carrying larger-than-life posters of Iran’s Supreme Ruler, Ali Khamenei.  

Surely, progressives and leftists in the West should be rising up in support of women such as Mahsa Amini, who in 2022 died after being arrested for not adhering to the rigid hijab law.  

Westerners should be delighted that a repressive theocracy is finally being taken to task by the U.S. The outcry following Amini’s death prompted the Iranian regime to implement even more repressive laws about what women should wear and how they should behave. They implemented fines and imprisonment for those who defy the hijab law. Yet, the brave women of Iran still defiantly oppose them and some continue to appear in public without the hijab.  

And how are their progressive brothers and sisters in the West supporting them? By carrying banners glorifying the Supreme Leader and urging the U.S. to stop bombing nuclear sites. What a betrayal!  

President Donald Trump demonstrated peace through strength. He’s weakened Iran and given hope to its beleaguered citizens that their decades-long nightmare of repression by their brutal government is coming to an end.  

And yet there are those in the West who contort their ideals like pretzels, finding ways to attack democracies and glorify repressive theocracies.  

They should be ashamed.