A new Israeli social media campaign, #IsraelisLoveIranians, is kicking off with the intention of supporting the Iranian people in their struggle for freedom against the country’s Islamist regime, according to a Monday press release from one of the movement’s co-founders.
The campaign is grassroots and female-led. Further, the campaign being pro-Iranian, according to movement co-founder Emily Schrader, does not undermine its pro-Israel basis.
“As the global day of solidarity for the Iranian people is on Rosh Hashanah, it was important for us to have a strong showing of support for the people of Iran directly from the people of Israel,” Schrader said. “Iranians are not our enemies, rather [they are] our allies in the fight against their own government which spreads violence and terror everywhere. As Israelis, we proudly stand with the people of Iran.”
The social media campaign will take place throughout the month of September and was organized to coincide with worldwide demonstrations supporting the Iranian people on the September 16 one-year anniversary of the killing of 22-year-old Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini who was beaten to death by Iran’s morality police for supposedly wearing her hijab incorrectly.
Amini’s death sparked nationwide protests that went on to take the world by storm.
Who will participate?
The release notes various figures and organizations who are participating in the campaign. Among said participants in the campaign are representatives from all streams of Israeli society. For instance, the Arab Israeli organization Together Vouch for Each Other, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (CAMERA), StandWithUs, Combat Antisemitism Movement, WIZO, the Tel Aviv Institute, the 49%, are among the organizations who are engaging in the effort.
Additionally, figures such as Israeli Olympian Sagi Muki, UFC fighter Natan Levy, Israeli model Orin Julie, Actress Swell Or Ariel of the Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, creator of Fauda Avi Issacharoff, Arab Israeli social activist Yoseph Haddad, Israeli model Nataly Dadon, Israeli businesswoman Ashley Waxman Bakshi, and Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan will also take part in the campaign.
The release notes that on the 16th of the month, worldwide solidarity events will be held in an effort to bring about regime change in Iran. Additionally, the demonstrations will voice support for Iranian protestors, hundreds of whom have been arrested, tortured, and executed by their government.
Among the demonstrations will be one in Holon, Israel. While the occurrence of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, which will occur on the same day, is an impediment to organizing additional demonstrations in Israel, the campaign aims to more than make up the difference.
Further, on the 12th through the 14th of the month, murals created in support of the Iranian protestors will be unveiled in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa.
On her Instagram account last month, Schrader posted a graphic that explains how interested Israelis can contribute to the campaign.
Schrader writes that those who wish to take part should “share a post with 1-2 sentences on why you, as an Israeli, support the people of Iran against their government with the hashtag #IsraelisLoveIranians.”