Israelis remember Mahsa Amini with solidarity campaign for Iranian women

Tel Aviv [Israel], September 6 (ANI/TPS): September 16 marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in Iran.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman died in custody after being arrested in Tehran by Iran’s “Morality Police,” allegedly for improperly wearing her hijab.
Iranian police said that Amini died after falling ill in custody and slipping into a coma. Her death resulted in mass protests across Iran, with many women refusing to wear the hijab. These protests were supported by many around the world, and the slogan “Women Life Freedom” became a clarion call.
Human rights groups say at least 537 anti-government protesters were killed by Iranian security forces and thousands more arrested in the past year.
To coincide with the anniversary, a social media campaign launched this week, called #IsraelisloveIranians. The campaign is led by grassroots, pro-Israel female activists, with the aim of supporting the Iranian protesters.
An estimated quarter-million Israelis are of Iranian descent.
Emily Schrader, Israeli journalist, activist and co-founder of the campaign, told the Tazpit Press Service, “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. Iranians are not our enemies, but rather 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.”
Dozens of Israeli organizations and public figures support the campaign.
Among Israeli personalities participating are Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, Olympian Sagi Muki, MMA fighter Natan Levy, model Orin Julie, actress Swell Ariel Or, Arab-Israeli social activist Yoseph Haddad, model Nataly Dadon, businesswoman Ashley Waxman Bakshi and Aviv Issacharoff, creator of the internationally acclaimed TV show, Fauda.
Among the organizations taking part in the campaign is the Women’s International Zionist Organization, which is dedicated to the advancement of the status of women in Israel.
“WIZO is proud to stand with our Iranian sisters,” said WIZO chairperson Anita Friedman. “Throughout our 103-year history of advocating for the rights of women and children, we have campaigned for women to have equal rights, for their voices to be heard, their basic human rights respected and to be free of the gender-based violence they endure regularly as the result of a brutal regime.
“I am proud that Israel’s foremost women’s organization, supported by our Federations around the world, honor Mahsa Amini and the women of Iran who are defiant against the erosion of their rights. Women. Life. Freedom,” she said.
Michael Dickson, executive director of StandWithUs – Israel, a non-partisan educational institution, said his organization will be supporting the campaign as well.
“Like many Israelis, I have cherished meaningful encounters with Iranians abroad, and there is a deep will among many for an engagement and partnership between our peoples,” he said. “Israelis are also concerned and seek to help those who are under the jackboot of the Iranian regime—which doesn’t just threaten Israel, but is a risk to the region and to ordinary Iranian people and their freedoms.”
Adam Levick, a resident of Modi’in, told TPS, “Iranian women, who suffer from systemic oppression and human rights abuses from the authoritarian Islamist regime—particularly since the murder of Mahsa Amini—deserve our unequivocal moral support.”
Supporters of the campaign are encouraged to post the hashtag #IsraelisloveIranians with a few lines explaining why they stand in solidarity with the people of Iran.
The campaign will run for the month of September. (ANI/TPS)