Signs of change in Iran? | Jewish News | News from Israel



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Recent footage of angry protesters in Tehran who invaded the historic Grand Bazaar of the Iranian capital and forced shopkeepers to close their stalls recalled similar demonstrations that rocked the city. country at the end of 2017

But some observers consider the most recent expression of frustration with the Islamic Republic as more significant than past mbad protests.

Videos were heard on videos broadcast on social media protests in the cities of Khorramshahr and Abadan, and state media showed Tehran banks with broken windows and an armed protester of ########################################################################################### 39, a rifle. Police fired tear gas as protesters set fire to a bridge and a garden surrounding a museum commemorating the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

In addition, recent demonstrations, mostly on economic issues , included unprecedented expressions. contestation. The protesters chanted "We do not want the ayatollahs," "Death to the dictator" and "Death to Khamenei," as well as, remarkably, "Death to Palestine," "No to Gaza, no to Lebanon," and "Leave the Syria". and think of us. "

Remarkable, too, was the seemingly weak enthusiasm of the Iranian people for the demonization of the government of Israel.A relatively small crowd participated in the protests of the day" Al Quds "(Jerusalem) this year, June 8, and many of those who attended were apparently part of a government-organized contingent.) Boxes of donations for the Ramadan campaign to help Palestinians in Gaza and Lebanon would have been vandalized

Anger against the Iranian regime was magnified by the withdrawal of the United States from Iran last May, although the agreement remains in place for the time being between Iran and Iran. the other signatories of the agreement, Iran has not yet resumed its nuclear weapons program, the specter of an imminent end of trade with companies wishing to avoid the US sanctions.

And what is hovering over it is an unhealthy economic situation for the Iranians. The economic relief that citizens were expecting to know as a result of the 2015 agreement has never materialized. The regime has spent billions of dollars freed by the deal on its proxy war in Syria and to support terrorist groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. The local currency, the rial, has fallen to unprecedented levels and the Iranians are facing rising costs of food and other essentials, as well as the disappearance of pensions and savings. a lifetime.

a long list of harmful priorities. And the recognition by the people of this fact fueled the unrest – and inspired the protesters' slogans.

A chronic shortage of water, driven by both natural drought and poor water management, further exacerbates Iranian anger. He has brought farmers and others to the forefront of the most recent protests. Different sectors of the population have also taken part in recent anti-government demonstrations. Ethnic minorities such as Baluchi, Azerbaijanis and Kurds marched alongside Iranian workers and traders.

Iran, of course, was not always a repressive theocracy and a global threat. The current regime came to power after the 1979 Iranian Revolution that saw the Pahlavi dynasty – a reliable ally of the United States and Israel – overthrown in favor of a theocratic theocratic republic led by the guide Supreme Ruhollah Khomeini

. this radical change of orientation in Iran, however, slowly yields to a younger one, and this young person, deprived of personal freedoms and economic well-being, is bristling.

And that's the younger generation that Israel and the United States have targeted on social media to convey anti-regime messages. State Secretary Mike Pompeo has written a series of tweets supporting protesters in Iran and criticizing the mbadive arrests of protesters by the regime. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu posted four videos on these media in which he spoke directly to the Iranian people, encouraging them to continue protesting against the regime.

The Jewish community in Iran has wisely avoided any form of activism in recent decades. has not been reported to have taken part in the current protests. Yet, at a time of upheaval, there are good reasons to worry for their safety, and we must increase our tefillos on their behalf.

For the moment, while the protests are encouraging for critics of the Iranian regime, they, like their predecessors, have ended without any apparent effect. And if the future expressions of rebellion became stronger, they would surely be confronted with the violence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, under the control of the dictator de facto Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

We hope, however, that real change is in Iranian air and that it will flourish peacefully. We congratulate President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo for their efforts to promote such changes. And we are mispallel that our Iranian brothers and sisters will be safe and will be among the many beneficiaries of a return to reason in Iran.

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