We live in a global village. Hamas managed to mobilize massive international support since October 7. That support ultimately led to concrete actions and policy decisions: boycotts against Israel, arms embargoes, and even intervention by Donald Trump, who forced Israel into a ceasefire under the 20-point plan, which includes at least partial adoption of the French-Saudi initiative centered on recognition of a Palestinian state.
Now, it’s Iran’s protest movement. Masses are flooding the streets. Reports speak of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dead. The few reports that manage to get out describe atrocities and fears of a mass slaughter of protesters. In order to increase pressure on the Iranian regime, international public opinion is crucial—it’s what drives international bodies and decision-makers to take real action against the ayatollahs.
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Protesters in Tehran on January 8, 2026
(Photo: Stringer/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
But nothing happened. No masses took to the streets. Human rights organizations didn’t go above and beyond. They settled for lukewarm condemnations. The UN Human Rights Council vanished. The only one issuing warnings is the U.S. president, and he is alone in this fight.
Even American public opinion hasn’t mobilized. Yes, the protests are being reported, but that’s it. The demonstrations that are happening mostly feature Iranian exiles, with a small reinforcement of Jews. That’s an honor to the Jewish community, and a disgrace to the silent sheep. Here and there, social media featured clashes between pro-Hamas demonstrators and those protesting the Iranian regime.
On Sunday, for instance, there were two protests in Paris. The first, in the morning, was yet another anti-Israel demonstration. In the afternoon, a rally of solidarity with the protests in Iran. The first protest essentially expressed support for Hamas, which calls for Israel’s destruction. The second was against the regime in Tehran, which also calls for Israel’s destruction. Which protest was bigger? The answer, it seems, is already clear.
There’s nothing new in the fact that the global left supports tyranny—from Iran to Hamas, from Hezbollah to Nicolás Maduro—and turns its back on those fighting tyranny, from protesters in Iran to those resisting Hamas. The problem is that this red-green coalition—of progressives and jihadists—is reaching new heights of cognitive manipulation.
Caroline Yadan, a member of the French National Assembly, spoke at the rally in support of the Iranian protests. I searched for more information about the event, and Google's AI quickly intervened to describe Yadan: “She’s a right-wing or far-right activist.” That’s how the new tyrant of the knowledge space defines her. Right-wing? Far-right? I know her. She was elected under Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party. She ran against someone who really is associated with the right, Meyer Habib. And she won. A few hours later, the AI corrected itself—she was no longer labeled “right” or “far-right.”
But the problem runs deeper. We now live in an era where anyone expressing what should be considered humane and liberal views—against tyranny and in favor of freedom, against Islamism and jihad—is automatically labeled a “conservative” or “right-wing.” And since the world of knowledge has been undergoing a quiet revolution in recent years, steering toward the progressive and woke, the result is that opposition to Hamas and/or the ayatollah regime and/or Maduro is classified as a right-wing, even extremist, stance.
The new liberal mainstream is inching toward supporting Khomeini, Sinwar, and Nasrallah. They’re somehow considered “anti-imperialist”—even though they openly support jihadist imperialism, aimed at conquering the world, enforcing sharia law, oppressing women, and burying every trace of human rights.
This didn’t start on October 7. Long ago, Professor Judith Butler, a veteran of the progressive left, declared that “Hamas and Hezbollah are part of the global progressive left.” Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the UK Labour Party, expressed a similar view. The jihadist organizations themselves had no idea they were considered such. They’re against Israel. They’re against the U.S. And apparently, that’s enough to earn the “progressive left” badge.
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Pro-Palestinian protests in London on the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacre
(Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Back in 2005, Slovenian philosopher and rockstar-intellectual Slavoj Žižek published an article supporting nuclear weapons for Iran—as a way to challenge American hegemony. Insane? Yes. But that’s the direction the mainstream is heading. And with that logic, how could anyone possibly support the protests in Iran, which seem to stand in the way of the fight against American hegemony?
There are fears the Iranian protests are fading. The brave demonstrators—especially the women at the heart of the movement—are struggling to stand against the brutal force deployed by the regime. Broad international support wouldn’t have been enough on its own to bring down the regime, but it could have triggered a harsh response, and more sanctions that might have weakened the regime.
But that didn’t happen. Those who screamed in support of Hamas stayed home in the face of the Iranian protests. One day, they aid Sunni jihad; the next, they support Shiite jihad.
The free world should have rallied to seize this opportunity to bring down a reign of terror. But there is no free world. Israelis have learned this over the past two years. And now, tragically, the Iranians are learning it too.
First published: 14:20, 01.13.26