From a small apartment in central Israel, Farisa Daniel is doing her share for Iran's hijab protests. Every day she and her colleagues broadcast live interviews with Iranian residents who speak out against the regime.
This project, named Israel-Pars TV, is an online-streaming TV station that broadcasts for several hours a day, bringing news and interviews in the Persian language. Interviews conducted there included a conversation with a man from Tehran who told Daniel how proud he was of her for standing up to the Iranian regime, even from such a faraway country as Israel.
Born in Shiraz, Iran, to a Jewish family, Daniel has faced many challenges in her life. First, she was forced to marry a man she didn’t want when she was only 17. Later she became involved in the Jewish community in Shiraz as an activist, which made her a target for the Iranian authorities.
"I was imprisoned and then released, but I couldn't leave the country," she shared.
“I moved to Tehran, and I spent three months there under a hidden identity. I didn't have money because the authorities blocked my bank account."
In 2014, Daniel escaped Iran with her two daughters, crossing the snowy border to Afghanistan by foot. She came to Israel and started working in a supermarket, but that wasn’t the end of her journey.
After a year and a half, she discovered she had stage four breast cancer. "The doctors said that there was nothing they could do. But I didn’t give up. I told myself that I don’t want to die. I want to see the downfall of the Iranian regime before I go."
In 2016 she joined Karman Aviv, another Iranian-born Jewish Israeli. She opened Israel-Pars TV, an online streaming channel that brings news and Persian interviews to Iranians worldwide.
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People attend a protest against the Iranian regime, in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022
(Photo: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
On September 2022, a young Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being detained for not wearing a hijab head covering. Her death sparked outrage among many Iranians and led to protests inside the country and around the world.
Ever since the protests in Iran began, Daniel and her partner have been getting more calls.
“People call and ask for help. They tell me to talk to Benjamin Netanyahu and Yair Lapid to help them. They tell me that the European countries must close their embassies in Iran and cut ties with the country."
"Many of them want to move to Israel," Daniel continued. "Even non-Jews. They curse Mohammad, saying that it’s all a lie. The government lied to them and betrayed them. Their faith is not Islam anymore. They believe in Cyrus the Great."
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People attend a protest against the Iranian regime, in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022
(Photo: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Daniel is very aware of the routine the Iranian protests have taken two and a half months after they began.
"They spend all day in the streets. Day and night. People call me and tell me that they are making Molotov cocktails. They are not afraid. They tell me that they won’t go back home until they'll see the downfall of the regime. They tell me, 'It's either we'll all die, or the regime will fall.'"
She says that the media doesn’t mention that the protesters have also managed to hurt and even kill members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
She adds that she is determined to continue her struggle against the regime in the country of her birth, no matter the challenges that come her way.