While Anti-Israel Protesters Back the Iranian Regime, Iranians Support Israel
- Ofek Kehila
- 1d
- 4 min read
Since the beginning of the US-Israel war against the Iranian regime, and even more so after the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, America has become a battleground between anti-Israel protesters backing the Iranian regime and Iranian exiles supporting Israel.
Do anti-Israel protesters really care about the Iranian people?
‘Death to America’ at Columbia University
At Columbia University, an anti-Israel student group posted on X, “death to America,” after the US and Israel killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The Columbia University Apartheid Divest group (CUAD), which previously organized an on-campus encampment in protest of the Gaza war, has now decided to back the Iranian regime, assimilating an extreme Islamist discourse after the death of Khamenei. This is the way the student group mourns the death of a tyrant who, in an act of brutal repression, ordered the killing of over 30,000 civilians in Iran.
Even though the post was removed by X, the group insisted that their sentiment still stands. Columbia University stated CUAD is not affiliated in any way with the university, but no steps were taken against the group, which was praised in the past by Khamenei himself for its anti-Zionist activism.
Anti-Israel protesters back the Iranian regime
After Khamenei’s death, protesters gathered in New York, outside the White House, and elsewhere across the US to oppose American military involvement in Iran. According to the Guardian, protests were sponsored by anti-Israel groups such as American Muslims for Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, and Democratic Socialists of America.
Protesters called the US a “fascist state” that “stirs things up in the Middle East” and “bombs Iran for no specific reason,” while completely ignoring the brutality of the Iranian regime against its own people and many others in the region, such as Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, known for his anti-Zionist stance, condemned the US-Israel strikes on Iran as “an illegal war of aggression.” No condemnation of the crimes perpetrated by the Iranian Regime against Americans was made, even though, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the clerical regime in Tehran and its proxies have committed a range of attacks against Americans.
Iranian exiles rally in support of Israel
Meanwhile, Iranian exiles rally across America in support of Israel. Iranian expats in Boston, Los Angeles, and elsewhere cheered the death of Khamenei and chanted “Free Iran” in support of the continuation of the American-Israeli strikes.
Protesters expressed their hope that the people of Iran could now overthrow the brutal regime, encouraged by President Donald Trump’s call for Iranians to “rise up and seize their country.”
In Boston, hundreds of Iranians gathered to celebrate the American and Israeli strikes as part of Operation Epic Fury. People were seen stomping on the Iranian Flag while waving American and Israeli flags. “This is not a war between USA and Iran. This is a war between USA and Islamic Republic, the terrorist regime,” one of the protesters explained.
Similar rallies of Iranians supporting Israel took place in major cities across the globe, such as Berlin, London, Tel Aviv, and Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
In Berlin, some ten thousand people rallied in demand of freedom in Iran and justice for the victims of the government’s brutality. “How many young people must die before this barbaric government is finally removed from Iran?” one of the protesters asked.
In Tel Aviv, Iranian expats expressed overwhelming happiness over the death of Khamenei. An activist who left Iran in 1990 said: “The Islamic Republic regime has ruined the country’s culture and economy, and doesn’t represent the nation. This is a nation with civilization and culture, and the people have never accepted the regime.”
In Yerevan, Iranians gathered outside the Iranian Embassy for four consecutive days, calling for an end to the Islamic Republic and voicing support for Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah.
Wrap up
Anti-Israel organizations and protesters denounce the American-Israeli war against the Iranian regime while failing to acknowledge the brutal repression of that regime, a brutality that caused a catastrophic loss of lives due to state terrorism, both inside Iran and across the globe.
This fact, contrasted with the overwhelming support of Iranian exiles of America’s and Israel’s war efforts, shows that organizations such as American Muslims for Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, and Democratic Socialists of America don’t really consider the Iranian people, their lives, or their freedom. By backing the Iranian regime, anti-Israel activism demonstrates that it is actually against the Iranian people.
Ofek Kehila (Israel, 1987) is a scholar of Spanish Golden Age literature and Latin American literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. His research bridges the gap between those traditions, highlighting their aesthetic, cultural, and historical dialogue. He holds a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2022) and was a postdoctoral fellow at Freie Universität Berlin (2023-2025).