Amy Spiro / Times of Israel
Over a hundred Israelis gathered in Jerusalem this week to show solidarity and support for the Iranian people who have been leading anti-regime protests in Iran over the last fortnight.
The Israelis gathered in Jerusalem’s Independence Park, holding signs in Hebrew, English and Farsi chanting “women, life, freedom”. The death in police custody of the Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was detained for wearing her hijab too loosely, was the spark that ignited the protests in the country over the last few weeks. Reports estimate that over 100 people have been killed during the protests so far, with Iranian police violently cracking down on protestors and anti-regime rhetoric on social media.
Shelly Salemnia, an Israeli with Iranian heritage stated: “I wanted to find a protest to attend because I know there’s a deep connection between Israel and Iran. My family used to move between Israel and Iran back in the days before the revolution change”. She added she still has a strong connection to Iran “even though I’ve never been there”.
Another woman present was Yvette Mazloumi, who is a Persian Jew visiting Israel from the United States. She stated: “This is the first time I feel like there’s a glimmer of hope that something might change and there’s much more international coverage this time around compared to the Green Revolution [against then-Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] in 2009… I’m so happy that this is happening”.
The rally in Jerusalem was co-organised by Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who also addressed the crowd. She said: “We have never been against the Iranian people, we are on the side of the Iranian people, we are on the side of the Iranian nation and against the cruel Iranian regime that kills women for no reason at all and stops women from having equal rights and stops people from having equal rights”.
Protests in Iran remain underway across the country and police continue to violently crackdown on dissent.
