Iranian Dissidents Rebel Against Regime by Supporting Israel, Opposing Hamas

According to the opposition-run Iran International on Tuesday, the regime in Tehran has pushed too hard with pro-Hamas propaganda, prompting a growing number of Iranians to turn against the Palestinian terrorist gang and sympathize with Israelis instead.

Iran International has a tendency to play up the travails faced by the Iranian theocracy, but its analysis on Tuesday is not without precedent. A constant theme of popular discontent with the ruling regime over the past few years is that Iranians think their government spends too much money on terrorism and sabotage in foreign lands. These complaints have grown more energetic as the Iranian economy contracts, and protesters ask why Tehran spends so much on arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and Shiite militias in Iraq instead of attending to domestic concerns.

Iran International argued that “four decades of propaganda by the Islamic Republic to garner support for its anti-Israeli campaign seems to have backfired as many Iranians want defeat for Hamas.”

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The Iranian public also seems apprehensive that its rulers will drag citizens into a war with Israel and the United States:

Both in the actual world and on social media, Iranians have been showing strong opposition to the government’s pro-Hamas and anti-Israeli narratives as well as unusually vocal support for Israel in the Gaza war. “Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, I will sacrifice my life for Iran,” has been a popular slogan for protesters, students and even football fans.

… As the war in Gaza began, Iranians noticed brand new cars belonging to Palestinians who were leaving Gaza City in response to Israel’s warning. Iranians shared images of these vehicles on social media, serving as a reminder that the government had been portraying Palestinians as impoverished for decades, all the while they were driving luxurious cars. This highlighted the stark contrast with Iranians who were struggling with high prices for poorly manufactured Iranian and Chinese vehicles.

In numerous videos from Gaza, Iranians also observed that Palestinians were living in homes and new apartment buildings that were much better than those in Iran.

Iranians struggling to put food on their tables were incensed by a rumor that their government was handing out stipends of up to $600 per month to Hamas fighters, about triple the average wage in Iran.

Palestinian terror boss Ziad Nakhaleh of Islamic Jihad won no favor with the Iranian public by sneering on October 20 that Shiite Muslims were not welcome in his organization, which adheres to Sunni Islam.

“Anyone who wants to be a Shia or an infidel is out of the Islamic Jihad group,” Nakhaleh said in a televised interview. Iran is the dominant power in Shia Islam, and Shiites do not take it well when Sunnis call them “infidels” or vice versa.

For all of these reasons, Iran International said Iranians have been heckling the Palestinians when loyalty to their cause is demanded at public events while becoming more sympathetic to the Israelis.

The Stimson Center published a report on October 18 from a Tehran-based analyst “who requested anonymity out of legitimate concern for their personal safety.” This analyst argued that a schism is developing between factions of the Iranian ruling class and between the rulers and the public over Iran’s support for Hamas. 

The Stimson Center’s piece made a case similar to Iran International’s piece about the impoverished Iranian public growing annoyed with their leaders’ lavish spending on Hamas. This discontent is giving fresh energy to the Mahsa Amini movement, the massive protests that erupted after an Iranian Kurdish woman was killed by the notorious “morality police” for not wearing her hijab tightly enough.

Additionally, some Iranians who support the Palestinian cause are reportedly frustrated that Hamas turned world opinion against the Palestinians by perpetrating unspeakable atrocities in their name. 

“Have Iranian people ever been asked whether they want Israel destroyed? What if they say no? Who is to be held accountable for damages to our national security and interests if the wishes of Iranian people are different than those of the Islamic Republic?” asked Ahmad Zeidabadi, an analyst quoted in the Stimson Center’s piece.

“The Islamic Republic’s stated policy on Palestine is a referendum for Palestinians to state their wishes but will the Islamic Republic do the same for its own population? Will there be a referendum asking Iranian people what they think about Palestine, Lebanon, and Hamas?” asked another critic of the regime, law professor and former member of the Iranian parliament Mahmoud Sadeghi.

The Atlantic Council pitched in in October with an observation that Iranians are marinated in propaganda against Israel from a very young age, and such material fills every corner of Iranian mass media, but only “the most vociferous supporters of the regime” have embraced their government’s official loathing of Israel.

The Atlantic Council found the Iranian academic left more willing to condemn Hamas than their opposite numbers in Europe and the United States. Iranian student organizations are “putting themselves at heavy risk” by publishing statements that condemn the brutality of Hamas, even as student organizations in the United States go all-in on supporting the terrorists.