The Hidden Hand of the Iranian Regime Behind Anti-Israel Protests in the US

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Investigations conducted by various organizations reveal that Iranian-backed groups and agents may have influenced and played critical roles in organizing and supporting anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests and encampments across universities in the United States and Canada.

A report published by Focus on Western Islamism (FWI), an online publication affiliated with the think tank Middle East Forum, said that the Islamic Republic has been significantly involved in organizing, influencing, and supporting several pro-Palestinian campus protests and encampments in the United States, notably in some universities in Texas, such as the University of Houston.

For instance, FWI found that Rise Against Oppression, a “collective of Muslim grassroots activists” that participated in an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Houston and worked with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the chief organization behind the campus protest movement in the United States, had openly supported the regime in Iran, as demonstrated by organizing a series of conferences about Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

In addition, events organized by Rise also included personalities tied to the Iranian regime and Iranian-backed organizations, such as Yousef Mawry, a Yemeni activist aligned with the Houthi movement, and Muzzamil Zaidi, an Islamist residing in the Iranian city of Qoms who was convicted for transferring thousands of dollars to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But aside from Rise, pro-Palestinian protests and encampments have also enjoyed support from other Islamist organizations such as Muslim Congress, a Houston-based, Shia Islamist organization that openly promotes the writings and ideas of Khamenei and other senior clerics in Iran.

Muslim Congress also organizes rallies for the annual “Al-Quds Day,” a pro-Palestinian event organized by the Islamic Republic held on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to support Palestine and oppose Israel. 

It also works with other extremist organizations such as Al-Awda, whose officials have openly backed the Iranian regime, expressed antisemitic sentiments, and supported terrorist attacks against Israelis.

However, the Iranian regime has not only been involved in pro-Palestinian campus protests and encampments in universities across the United States but in Canada as well. XPOZ, an American cybersecurity company, discovered through the use of large-scale analysis of factual evidence and data collected from social networking sites that the Iranian regime was involved in the pro-Palestinian student protest at McGill University in Montreal. 

Analysts working for the cybersecurity company found that a high percentage of inauthentic accounts (fake accounts or bots managed by foreign governments), primarily written in Farsi, originate from Iranians inside Iran and are linked to the IRGC, fuelling the student protests at McGill.

“The primary takeaway is that there is a massive activity, funded, coordinated, and organized by a foreign government that is influencing Canadians in Canada and driving incitement to violence and real-world activity,” One of the XPOZ analysts said.

These findings by FWI and XPOZ came after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a statement last July arguing that the Iranian regime has sought to influence the protests against the war in Gaza for their benefit.

“Iranian government actors have sought to opportunistically take advantage of ongoing protests regarding the war in Gaza, using a playbook we’ve seen other actors use over the years. We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.” Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, said.

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