Protests erupt across US after Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade - Landon Mion

 

​ by Landon Mion

Restrictive abortion laws in several GOP-led states will now be, or soon will be, enacted following the court's decision

 

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision Friday morning overturning the 1973 abortion decision Roe v. Wade, which now allows states to make their own abortion laws, and pro-life and pro-choice activists have taken to the streets in cities across the U.S. to allow their voices to be heard. 

Pro-life activists showed up in U.S. cities in celebration of restrictive abortion laws that are now, or will be soon, enacted in a number of GOP-led states following the court's decision while pro-choice demonstrators protested what they see as an attack on reproductive rights.

Washington, D.C.

Outside the Supreme Court in the nation's capital, thousands of activists, both in favor of and in opposition of the ruling, arrived with signs in support of their cause.

Pro-choice protestors began participating in chants voicing frustrations over Friday's ruling. At one point, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined a crowd calling the court, "Illegitimate!"

Protestors also burned an American flag in northwest D.C. Signs near the burning flag read "F--k MPD" and "F--k you Thomas, Alito, Coney Barrett, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Roberts."

PRO-CHOICE PROTESTORS BURN AMERICAN FLAG IN STREETS OF WASHINGTON DC AFTER ROE V. WADE REVERSAL

Pro-choice activists gather in protest following the announcement to the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling on June 24, 2022, in Washington, DC.  (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Abortion laws in D.C. are among the least restrictive in the country, allowing the procedure in all stages of pregnancy, including late-stage and third-trimester abortions.

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New York City, New York

 

Dozens of pro-choice protestors were arrested in New York City after an estimated 17,000 people demonstrated in the Big Apple.

Protestors were heard shouting "My body, my choice" while holding signs that read "Keep your laws off my body" and "No uterus, no opinion."

Abortion access in New York is protected under the 2019 Reproductive Health Act. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul recently expanded protections for abortion patients and providers in preparation of the court's ruling.

Pro-choice protestors carry signs in New York City following a Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Credit: John Mantel for Fox News Digital) (John Mantel)

SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS ROE V. WADE IN LANDMARK ABORTION DECISION

A child sits on his guardian's shoulders during a New York City protest after a Supreme Court decision overturned Roe V. Wade. (Credit: John Mantel for Fox News Digital) (John Mantel)

Los Angeles, California

A crowd of demonstrators had formed in downtown Los Angeles to protest the ruling, with some violent altercations reported between protestors and police.

Protestors were said to have thrown rocks and set off fireworks near officers while SWAT teams launched non-lethal bullets at demonstrators. Police declared an unlawful assembly. Arrests were made in connection to the protests, but the number of apprehensions has not been released.

Large protests also formed in Hollywood and West Hollywood, which were largely peaceful. 

A crowd gathers to protest the U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022 on Hollywood Boulevard. (Photo by Emily Molli/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) (Photo by Emily Molli/Anadolu Agency via Getty )

Dozens of people blocked traffic during rush hour Friday when they walked onto the 110 freeway. 

Protesters march northbound on the 110 Freeway to denounce the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case on June 24, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

California is one of the Democratic-led states where abortion access will remain readily available. Gov. Gavin Newsom also signed legislation Friday to protect patients and providers in California from other states' restrictions. 

"We will not cooperate with any states that attempt to prosecute women or doctors for receiving or providing reproductive care," he said Friday. 

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Chicago, Illinois

 

Streets were closed in Chicago as demonstrators marched in protest of the ruling. 

Protestors were seen gathered at Federal Plaza ahead of a large march. Some demonstrators were holding signs reading "No abortion bans, not now, not ever!" and "I dream one day women will have the same rights as guns."

Illinois already ensures women can have an abortion even after the court's ruling, and Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker called a special session following the decision to expand abortion access.

Phoenix, Arizona

A protest at the state Capitol in Phoenix resulted in property damages and an arrest, and authorities had to end the demonstration by dispersing tear gas in the area.

Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves told KTAR News 92.3 FM that one person had been arrested and multiple Senate doors and memorials had been damaged in the protests railing against the court's ruling on abortion.

An estimated 8,000 people showed up to the state Capitol to protest the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Law enforcement ended the demonstration and declared it as unlawful assembly about two hours after the gathering began. Protestors would then proceed to the Senate building, where police in riot gear protected the front doors of the building.

ARIZONA ABORTION PROTEST: POLICE RELEASE TEAR GAS, LAWMAKERS ‘HELD HOSTAGE’ IN SENATE BUILDING

Law enforcement is forced to deploy tear gas to disperse protesters outside the Arizona Capitol after the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. (Rep. Sarah Liguori) (Rep. Sarah Liguori)

Arizona has two abortion laws, one from before it became a state and one signed earlier this year. The old law subjects anyone who performs an abortion to two to five years of prison time. And the new law, signed  GOP Gov. Doug Ducey in March, would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy except in cases to save the mother’s life. Physicians face potential felony charges and loss of their professional licenses if they violate the law.

Police in riot gear surround the Arizona Capitol after protesters reached the front of the Arizona Sentate building as protesters reacted to the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision Friday, June 24, 2022, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The new law is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the state Legislature adjourns its current session, which could happen by the end of June. However, it is unclear which law takes precedence.

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Austin, Texas

 

Hundreds of people gathered in Austin on Friday to protest the court's ruling as abortions in the state have now ceased.

"We refuse to accept the Supreme Court’s decision to strip our right to abortion," the group, TX4Abortion wrote on social media. "No going back. No surrender."

The Austin police chief encouraged demonstrators to peacefully protest.

Texas has a trigger law banning abortions in the state from the moment of fertilization that will go into effect 30 days after the Supreme Court’s judgement except in cases where the life of the mother is at risk or if they risk "substantial impairment of major bodily function."

Abortions in Texas are already banned after six weeks of pregnancy following last year's enactment of Senate Bill 8, which relied on private citizens to sue anyone who aided and abetted an abortion. The law significantly reduced abortions in the state.

St. Louis, Missouri

In St. Louis, demonstrators on both sides of the issue gathered outside Missouri's only remaining Planned Parenthood in the hours after the court's decision.

Abortion is now illegal in Missouri except in instances when the mother's life is in danger.

Pro-life group Defenders of the Unborn gathered in prayer and held a rally celebrating the court's decision. The activists held signs reading "Choose life" and "Supreme Court: Overturn Roe!"

"I never thought I would see this day when Missouri would not kill its children," Defenders of the Unborn president Mary Maschmeier told KSDK. "It's a wonderful celebration."

Pro-choice rights activists could be seen chanting at those supporting the ruling, "My body, my choice!"

Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush, who was at the Planned Parenthood location for a news conference when the decision was delivered, said "It is health care and it's nobody's, it's nobody's else's decision."

CORI BUSH SPEAKS AT PRO-CHOICE RALLY WHERE PROTESTORS CALL ABORTION ‘ACT OF LOVE,’ DEMAND NO RESTRICTIONS

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Atlanta, Georgia

 

Downtown Atlanta became filled with pro-choice protestors after the court's decision, stretching from Centennial Park to the steps of the Georgia state Capitol.

"I think we are out here to stand up to what we believe in. we can stay at home and cry all day. Which we did but we are out here letting our voices be known," one protester told FOX 5 Atlanta. "Next is revolution. Getting out in the street. It’s not time to sit back right now. Use your voice."

Supporters of the ruling celebrated in Atlanta, although their turnout was minuscule in comparison to the pro-choice demonstrations. They said a bigger rally would take place on Saturday.

People march to protest the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case on June 24, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

Georgia's Heartbeat Abortion Bill, which was signed into law in 2019 before a court ruled it was unconstitutional, bans the procedure once a heartbeat is detected, which is usually about six weeks into a pregnancy, and allows mothers of unborn children to collect child support from fathers. The law allows exceptions for rape and incest.

Boston, Massachusetts

Pro-choice protestors in Boston marched and staged a sit-in on the city's streets following the court's ruling.

Moderate Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed legislation after the ruling to protect abortion providers who perform on women from other states. Under the executive order, Massachusetts will not cooperate with any investigations from other states regarding abortion.

"In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v Wade, it is especially important to ensure that Massachusetts providers can continue to provide reproductive health care services without concern that the laws of other states may be used to interfere with those services or sanction them for providing services that are lawful in the Commonwealth," he wrote in a statement.

Massachusetts codified Roe v. Wade into law in 2020 following the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The ROE Act expanded abortion access for 16 and 17-year-olds without parental consent, and allows the procedure to be performed after 24 weeks of pregnancy in some cases.

 

Landon Mion

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/protests-us-supreme-court-reverses-roe-v-wade

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Under the Biden Administration's Watch, Iran Sanctions are Violated with Impunity - Majid Rafizadeh

 

​ by Majid Rafizadeh

The ruling mullahs are now producing more oil and selling it at levels close to the pre-sanctions era to countries such as China, which desperately needs more oil, while the Biden administration has cut off US oil exploration.

• The Biden administration's weak leadership -- to hold accountable those who are violating Iran sanctions -- is likely a critical reason the Iranian regime is flamboyantly ignoring the US and forging ahead -- soon, most likely, to become a nuclear state.

• Presumably to take even further advantage of the Biden administration's weak leadership, the Iranian regime is also signing long-term agreements with its oil clients to permanently insulate its economy from the US sanctions.

• The ruling mullahs are now producing more oil and selling it at levels close to the pre-sanctions era to countries such as China, which desperately needs more oil, while the Biden administration has cut off US oil exploration.

• One of its terms [of the deal recently signed between China and Iran] is that China will invest nearly $400 billion in Iran's oil, gas and petrochemicals industries. In return, China will have priority to bid on any new project in Iran that is linked to these sectors. China will also receive a 12% discount and can delay payments by up to two years. China will also be able to pay in any currency it chooses. It is also estimated that, in total, China will receive discounts of nearly 32%.

• The Biden administration must impose drastic economic sanctions on Iran's energy and financial sectors: that would threaten the ruling clerics' hold on power, forcing the leadership to recalculate its priorities. The US must hold those who violate the sanctions strictly accountable, and make clear to the ruling mullahs that if they continue advancing their nuclear program, military options are on the table.

Presumably to take even further advantage of the Biden administration's weak leadership, the Iranian regime is also signing long-term agreements with its oil clients to permanently insulate its economy from the US sanctions. Pictured: China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) and Iran's then Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the signing of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic 25-year partnership agreement on economic and security cooperation, in Tehran, Iran on March 27, 2021. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

With total disregard to the Biden administration and the European powers, the ruling mullahs of Iran are defiantly and rapidly advancing their nuclear program to a point where they are now reportedly only few weeks away from manufacturing nuclear weapons according to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the White House.

The Biden administration's weak leadership -- to hold accountable those who are violating Iran sanctions -- is likely a critical reason the Iranian regime is flamboyantly ignoring the US and forging ahead -- soon, most likely, to become a nuclear state.

The US sanctions are not hurting Iran's economy anymore or cutting off the flow of funds to Tehran. The ruling mullahs are now producing more oil and selling it at levels close to the pre-sanctions era to countries such as China, which desperately needs more oil, while the Biden administration has cut off US oil exploration.

Ever since the Biden administration assumed office, Iran's oil exports have been on the rise. During the Trump administration, Iran's oil exports were significantly reduced to 100,000 to 200,000 barrels a day. Iran is currently exporting more than 1 million barrels a day. Roughly 700,000 to 800,000 barrels a day of this oil are being exported to China. "Oil sales have doubled," Iran's hardline President Ebrahim Raisi recently boasted. "We are not worried about oil sales."

Tehran's major revenues come from exporting oil. The Iranian regime reportedly possesses the second-largest natural gas reserves and the fourth-largest proven crude oil reserves in the world, and the sale of oil accounts for nearly 60% of the government's total revenues and more than 80% of its export revenues. Several Iranian leaders have, in fact, hinted at Iran's major dependence on oil exports. "Although we have some other incomes," former President Hassan Rouhani previously acknowledged, "the only revenue that can keep the country going is the oil money."

Iran is also shipping considerable amounts of oil to Venezuela without either country fearing repercussions from the Biden administration. According to Reuters on June 13, an Iran-flagged tanker that was carrying nearly a million barrels of crude "arrived in Venezuelan waters over the weekend, according to a shipping document seen by Reuters on Monday."

"The cargo is the third of Iranian crude supplied by Iran's Naftiran Intertrade Co (NICO) to Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA following a supply contract providing the South American nation with lighter crude. Venezuela has been processing the Iranian oil in its refineries.... Other two Iran-flagged tankers, the very large crude carriers (VLCCs) Dino I and Silvia I, had arrived last month at Venezuelan ports carrying the first cargoes of Iranian crude for Venezuela."

Presumably to take even further advantage of the Biden administration's weak leadership, the Iranian regime is also signing long-term agreements with its oil clients to permanently insulate its economy from the US sanctions. Most recently, Iran also signed a 20-year cooperation agreement with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to expand ties in the oil and petrochemical industries, as well as the military. "We have important projects of cooperation between Iran and Venezuela in the fields of energy, petrochemicals, oil, gas and refineries," Maduro stated.

In addition, China and Iran announced, in January 2022, the launch of the implementation of a comprehensive cooperation plan between the two nations after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian visited China and met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The "comprehensive cooperation" plan refers to the 25-year deal that was reached between Tehran and Beijing. One of its terms is that China will invest nearly $400 billion in Iran's oil, gas and petrochemicals industries. In return, China will have priority to bid on any new project in Iran that is linked to these sectors. China will also receive a 12% discount and can delay payments by up to two years. China will also be able to pay in any currency it chooses. It is also estimated that, in total, China will receive discounts of nearly 32%.

Such agreements will most likely help the Iranian regime to more easily circumvent US sanctions, gain access to funds, empower its militia and terror groups in the region and continue advancing its nuclear program.

The Biden administration must impose drastic economic sanctions on Iran's energy and financial sectors: that would threaten the ruling clerics' hold on power, forcing the leadership to recalculate its priorities. The US must hold those who violate the sanctions strictly accountable, and make clear to the ruling mullahs that if they continue advancing their nuclear program, military options are on the table.

Currently -- thanks to Biden administration's weak leadership and its unwillingness to hold those who violate Iran sanctions accountable, and unwillingness to cut the flow of funds to Iran -- the Iranian regime has no incentive to halt its march towards manufacturing nuclear weapons. The ruling mullahs of Iran and their oil clients are simply having their way without the US.

• Follow Majid Rafizadeh on Twitter

 

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source:https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18631/iran-sanctions-violated

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Biden's Open Door to Criminals, Drug Pushers and Human Traffickers - Oliver North and David Goetsch

 

​ by Oliver North and David Goetsch

There is nothing compassionate about unlawful access to the Unites States.

 

When President Joe Biden hung out the welcome sign at our southern border, he and his open-border cronies tried to portray his policy as an act of compassion. This is still their supposed rationale for allowing anyone and everyone unlawful access to the U.S.

However, when it became obvious the tidal wave of immigrants entering our country illegally includes violent criminals, drug pushers and human traffickers, Biden's compassion rationale lost its luster. In response, he and his cronies ramped up the use of their favorite tactic: attacking not the problem but those who point out the problem. Biden's use of this tactic to deceive, distract and distort continues, which should surprise no one. The Greek philosopher Socrates warned when the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the losers.

We warn of the potential consequences of open borders in our new book, "Tragic Consequences: The Price America is Paying for Rejecting God and How We Can Reclaim Our Culture for Christ" (available at all major booksellers). Those consequences include extending an open door to criminals, drug pushers and human traffickers.

Because of the Biden administration's feckless immigration policies, violent criminals gaining access to the U.S. has become so problematic that 22 senators, led by Ted Cruz of Texas and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, sent a letter to Biden's hapless Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding he immediately rescind the Guidance for Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law -- a Biden administration policy that, according to the senators, deprioritizes the removal of dangerous criminal aliens. Their letter cites 16 examples of crimes committed by illegal immigrants including homicides, rapes, assaults, robberies, and deaths caused by drunk driving.

For drug pushers, Biden's open-door policy is a dream come true, and they are taking full advantage of it. As a result, since Biden hung out the welcome sign, fentanyl deaths have skyrocketed in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdoses in the U.S. reached record-breaking levels in 2021 -- more than 100,000 -- and the trend continues. More than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized at our southern border in 2021, and the movement of this deadly drug across the border has increased in 2022.

An unfathomably evil practice encouraged by Biden's open door at our southern border is human trafficking. Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. Victims of human trafficking -- typically women and children -- are sold as sexual slaves, forced labor or human collateral for debt bondage. Debt bondage, or debt slavery, involves forcing an individual to work to pay off a debt incurred personally or by a family member. Those who hold the debt continually add to it, so what is owed becomes perpetual; it's never paid off. Many of the immigrants who cross America's southern border illegally wind up as debt slaves to the traffickers who transport them from their native countries.

In some cases, human-trafficking victims are forced to submit to having their organs extracted. The organs are then sold through a worldwide black market. The sale of human organs is a huge and thriving business worldwide.

The most common goal of human traffickers is recruiting and exploiting children as sexual slaves. All cases of human trafficking involve subjecting victims to human bondage, taking control of their lives, eliminating their autonomy, restricting their freedom of movement and denying them the right to make their own decisions.

Our message for Joe Biden and his open-border cronies is simple: There is nothing compassionate about opening the door to our country to violent criminals, drug pushers and human traffickers. Your job is to protect American citizens, not subject them to this kind of evil.

 

Oliver North and David Goetsch

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/06/bidens-open-door-criminals-drug-pushers-and-human-oliver-north/

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Iranians Increasingly Oppose the Theocratic Dictatorship - Dr. Majid Rafizadeh

 

​ by Dr. Majid Rafizadeh

The people clearly gauge where their future lies.

 

The 1979 Iranian revolution was a repudiation of the Pahlavi dynasty’s self-serving economic policies and brutal repression of dissent. It was never intended to establish a theocratic dictatorship in place of a secular one.

Most of the factions involved in that revolution, such as the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), envisioned a democratic future for the country. But despite their support from the vast majority of Iranian citizens, they were not ultimately able to prevent Ruhollah Khomeini from co-opting the revolution to establish a system of absolute clerical rule, with himself at its head.

Now, Khomeini’s successor is overseeing efforts to stave off a renewed push for democratic governance by insisting that opposition to the theocratic dictatorship is tantamount to endorsement of the very monarchy that was rejected by virtually all Iranians more than four decades ago.

In July 2018, sensing that large-scale unrest was looming, the state-run newspaper Jomhuri Eslami published an article that said organized opposition groups were “sending some people to the parliament with unprecedented slogans of ‘Reza Shah, your soul be blessed’.” But later reports by independent media revealed that the regime anticipated these slogans precisely because their own agents were behind them. In July 2019, a Telegram channel, belonging to a prominent Iranian Teachers’ Union activist Hashem Khastar, published a personal account of interactions with agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) amid nationwide protests calling for increases to teacher salaries and the release of previously imprisoned activists. Khastar described one agent as expressly asking why the union doesn’t collaborate with the Pahlavi family, and then concluded, “The government is trying to direct activists to the monarchist camp and send many informants among them to support the prince, insult the regime, and curse the MEK.”

Khastar’s statement came approximately 19 months after the first in an ongoing series of nationwide uprisings which revealed the depth of popular support for regime change in Tehran. At the end of 2017, a protest began in the city of Mashhad over the state of the Iranian economy, then began spreading rapidly while also taking on an increasingly political tone. By early January 2018, the movement encompassed well over 100 cities and towns, with each of them providing an outlet for unusually provocative slogans including “death to the dictator”. At the height of that uprising, Khamenei delivered a speech which acknowledged that the MEK had played a leading role in promoting those slogans and facilitating the constituent protests. 

Fear of such organized Resistance motivated the regime to meet the next major uprising, in with repression greater than anything the country had seen since the 1980s, when the system was still struggling to solidify its power structure. With protests erupting spontaneously in nearly 200 localities in November 2019, authorities opened fire on crowds of protesters, killing more than 1,500 before initiating a campaign of systematic torture that was later detailed in an Amnesty International report title “Trampling Humanity”.

In the period between the two uprisings, Tehran also set its sights directly on the organized resistance. In June 2018, an Iranian diplomat acting on orders from the regime’s Supreme National Security Council provided two Iranian-Belgian operatives with a powerful explosive device and directed them to detonate it as near as possible to the stage where Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s designated leader for a future transitional government, would be speaking to a gathering of roughly 100,000 Iranian expatriates near Paris.

The 2018 bomb plot was thwarted by European law enforcement, but it went a long way toward revealing the depth of Tehran’s concern about the organized opposition. In the ensuing four years, however, the regime has sought to downplay that concern in public, while also doubling down on its prior strategy of portraying anti-government protests as having a sentiment toward instead of being driven by the “Resistance Units”, affiliated with the MEK. Toward that end, government-linked social media accounts have been found to post manipulated videos of recent demonstrations, with dubbed audio featuring the very slogans the MOIS had instructed its agents to promote after infiltrating crowds of protesters. In most cases, the deception has been promptly exposed, often by the same activists who were present in the actual protests. Indeed, many of those protests clearly feature slogans that condemn the Shah right alongside the current clerical leadership.“Down with tyranny, be it the mullahs’ or the Shah’s” has proven to be a common chant in recent years’ nationwide uprisings, which number at least nine. 

Several of those uprisings emerged even after the regime’s mass killing in November 2019, one of them only two months afterward. Today, with the public reeling from social crises including food price increases of as much as 1,200 percent, the patterns of public unrest are arguably more unmistakable than ever.

If the international community pays due attention to that pattern, it will no doubt recognize that the geographically and demographically diverse participants are all calling for freedom and democracy. Tehran would have its adversaries believe that the only likely outcome of regime change is either a return to monarchy or devolution into factional feuding. 

But the reality is that there is a viable alternative calling for fair elections, secular governance, and safeguards on the rights of all citizens. Iran’s solution is looking forward not backward and Iranians are the first who have realized this reality.

 

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/06/iranians-increasingly-oppose-theocratic-dr-majid-rafizadeh/

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UN agency teachers urge terrorism and murder of Jews, report claims - Benjamin Weinthal

 

​ by Benjamin Weinthal

A State Department spokesperson wants an immediate review by UNRWA of the troubling claims

JERUSALEM, Israel – A shocking report by a watchdog organization on Thursday revealed that a UN agency tasked with, among other things, educating Palestinian students in places such as Lebanon, the West Bank and Jordan, employs teachers who promote terrorism and the murder of Jews.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OVERRULES TRUMP POLICY ON PALESTINIANS

UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO, uncovered in its 49-page report that United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) computer teacher Nihaya Awad, who works in the West Bank, supported Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians after last year’s war. The U.S. and the European Union classified Hamas—the Sunni jihadi organization that controls the Gaza Strip—as a terrorist entity.

A new report accuses UNRWA - a UN agency that educates Palestinian students - of employing some teachers who promote terrorism against Jews. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)        

In one internet post, Awad wrote: "Greetings to the people of Gaza, Blessed victory." A second post Awad wrote said "In the name of Allah, one victory after the other, Palestine will be fully liberated."

Awad "encouraged Palestinian terrorists’ exploitation of child soldiers, in a May 21, 2021 post on Facebook," UN Watch reported.

Awad posted the entries two months after a UNRWA director, Gwyn Lewis, praised Awad in a certificate of appreciation for her "fantastic efforts" as a "best performer" in UNRWA education, according to the report.

"We are proud that you are part of the UNRWA team," Lewis wrote on March 23, 2021.

INTERNATIONAL GROUPS CONDEMN UN PROBE ON ISRAEL, PALESTINIAN FIGHTING, CITE ‘BIAS’

Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, said, "UNRWA should therefore be considered complicit in its staff members’ misconduct. Around the world, educators who incite hate and violence are removed. Yet UNRWA, despite proclaiming ‘zero tolerance’ for incitement, systematically employs preachers of anti-Jewish hate and terrorism."

UN Watch documented 20 new examples in the report of UNRWA teachers and staffers advocating terrorism and antisemitism in its school programs.

An example from Lebanon, where the U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hezbollah has great control over the state, showed UNRWA Lebanon teacher Elham Mansour posting on Facebook on May 11, 2022: "By Allah, anyone who can kill and slaughter any Zionist and Israeli criminal, and doesn’t do so, doesn’t deserve to live. Kill them and pursue them everywhere, they are the greatest enemy….All Israel deserves is death."

Neuer said, "We call on the governments that fund UNRWA, as they gather at the United Nations to announce new pledges, to declare that they will stop enabling a system that teaches new generations of Palestinians to hate and murder Jews."

"The U.S., EU, Germany, UK, Canada and other donor states cannot morally send more money to UNRWA until it shows a genuine commitment to basic norms of education in its schools," he continued. "This means the agency must publicly condemn UNRWA employees who incite terrorism and antisemitism, remove them from their positions, and create an independent and impartial investigation of all of its staff."

CONTROVERSIAL UN CONFERENCE ON REPARATIONS SLAMMED BY POMPEO AS BEING ‘LACED WITH ANTI-SEMITISM'

The U.S. and other predominantly Western states that fund UNRWA met Thursday at the United Nations with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. They are expected to promise additional monies to fund UNRWA.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the media at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on March 14. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo)

In response to a Fox News Digital request for comment, William Deere, the acting director of UNRWA's office in Washington D.C., noted the report came out on the same day of the U.N. meeting on the agency.

Deere noted in his email statement that, "a well-known politically motivated organization is once again attempting to undermine the vital humanitarian and human development work of the Agency. UNRWA is an agency fully committed to upholding UN principles and values and has a zero tolerance to hate speech and incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence."

He continued, "As we have stated many times before, UNRWA takes all such allegations seriously, and is looking at the newly made allegations, noting that they had not been shared with UNRWA prior to being made public." 

Deere promised action if wrongdoing was found to have occurred: "The Agency’s legal framework provides a process to investigate and act on potential cases of hate speech, incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence, in line with the UN values and principles. Should misconduct be found, UNRWA will take disciplinary action and the Agency’s Advisory Commission of hosts and donors will be notified as to the results."

AL-JAZEERA REPORTER DIES FOLLOWING DISPUTED INCIDENT IN THE WEST BANK

David Bedein, director of the Center for Near East Policy Research and an expert on UNRWA’s curriculum, told Fox News Digital the Biden administration has made one positive move.

"The U.S. government issued an order to place all UNRWA funds in escrow because UNRWA won’t change its curriculum. The U.S. has not buckled under," he said.

Bedein said the "UN Watch release on UNRWA teachers’ incitement to murder Jews is factual, accurate and informative. The current UNRWA curriculum prepares its students for total war against the Jews," he claimed.

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, right, and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid attend a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, June 19, 2022. Bennett's office announced Monday, June 20, 2022, that his weakened coalition will be disbanded, and the country will head to new elections. Bennett and his main coalition partner, Yair Lapid, decided to present a vote to dissolve parliament in the coming days, Bennett's office said. Lapid is then to serve as caretaker prime minister. The election, expected in the fall, would be Israel's fifth in three years. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File) (AP)

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement that, "Violent, antisemitic, and other hate-filled sentiments have no place in UNRWA classrooms. Both the United States and UNRWA have been unequivocal in condemning all forms of racism, incitement to violence, and antisemitism."    
 
The spokesperson continued, "The United States takes these allegations very seriously. We have no tolerance for intolerance and will continue to promote adherence to humanitarian principles, to include neutrality."   
 
Pointedly, the spokesperson called on UNRWA to act on the allegations. "We expect UNRWA to review the allegations, investigate them, and if warranted, take disciplinary or other corrective action in line with UN policies, up to and including termination of employment or contracts, and hold anyone found to have engaged in such conduct accountable."

 

Benjamin Weinthal reports on Middle East affairs. You can follow Benjamin Weinthal on Twitter @BenWeinthal.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/un-agency-teachers-urge-terrorism-and-murder-of-jews-report-claims

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In Iraq, A Millennial Drought - Hugh Fitzgerald

 

​ by Hugh Fitzgerald

Iraq needs Israel but refuses to normalize relations.

 

In Iraq, there’s a millennial drought, the kind of thing that scientists say comes along every thousand years. Lake Sawa, the largest lake in Iraq, has “dried up completely for the first time in thousands of years,” the rivers have shriveled into brooks, the supply of groundwater in many of the aquifers has been exhausted, and instead of rain, the farmers have to contend with dust storms. The misery is palpable, and hydrologists say it will only get worse. A report on this catastrophe is here: “Iraq faces acute water shortage,” by Aron Rosenthal, The Media Line, June 17, 2022:

Environmental experts have warned that the drying up of Lake Sawa in southern Iraq is a sign of more to come, with climate change and a lack of cooperation defining water distribution in the Middle East.

In April, the lake, which changes level seasonally and is the only one in Iraq to draw its water from underground aquifers, dried up completely for the first time in thousands of years.

For the inhabitants of nearby Samawa, the environmental concerns were trumped by the existential threat of losing access to the lake, which provides the only reachable water source in the region. Droughts resulting from climate change are thought to be partially responsible for the drying up of the lake.

Some analysts say that human intervention in the water supply is more culpable. Jassim Al-Asadi, managing director of the Chibaish office of Nature Iraq, told The Media Line that well-digging and industrial exploitation contributed to exhausting the supply of groundwater.

According to Al-Asadi, farmers have dug 5,000 wells within 6 kilometers of the Sawa Lake perimeter, exhausting the groundwater in the Dammam aquifer, upon which the lake depends.

Moreover, the groundwater in the Dammam aquifer is exploited for salt production and for industrial purposes such as cement plants.

Salman Khairalla, executive director of the Humat Dijlah Association, an Iraqi nongovernmental organization that seeks to protect the natural heritage of the Tigris River, told The Media Line that the onus of the lack of water is on unfair water distribution in the region.

“The causes of drought are manifold. Some of them may be related to climate change, but the largest part is related to the unfair use of water in the region,” he said.

Al-Asadi told The Media Line that it is theoretically possible to reverse the damage so far inflicted upon the lake if strict measures are implemented in the immediate future.

“Certainly, the damage can be repaired by preventing trespassing for digging wells, enacting legislation to rationalize the use of groundwater, and digging experimental wells within the vicinity of the lake,” he said.

A terrible picture. Wouldn’t you think, in this desperate situation, which is only going to get much, much worse, that the government of Iraq would want to call on the one country that has led the world in husbanding its water supply, including waste water management, recycling, desalination, and drip irrigation? Wouldn’t you want to profit from that country’s inventiveness in coming up. with a machine, the Watergen, that produces clean water from the ambient air?

Of course you would, and Israel, the country in question, stands ready to help anyone who asks for it. It has supplied that machine, for example, to dozens of countries around the world, including the Emirates, and even to the Palestinians.

But Iraq, the country that, possibly more than any other, could benefit from Israel’s expertise in water management and production, won’t be contacting the Israelis any time soon. In late May, the Iraqi Parliament voted unanimously on the proposal to “prohibit normalization and the establishment of relations with the Zionist entity (Israel).” The law included severe penalties, up to death or life imprisonment, for those dealing with Israel. According to the version published by the official Iraqi News Agency, the aim of the law is to “prevent the establishment of diplomatic, political, military, economic, and cultural or any other form of relationship with the occupying Zionist entity.” Just when parched Baghdad ought to have had one of those Better-Call-Saul moments, the Iraqis decided instead to make it a capital crime to have any dealings with Israel. What we were taught as children made no sense, is exactly what Iraq has done: it’s cut off its nose to spite its face.

 

Hugh Fitzgerald

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/06/iraq-millennial-drought-hugh-fitzgerald/

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The Iranian Protests Continue and Are Shaking the Unity of the Conservative Camp - Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael Segall

 

​ by Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael Segall

In the year since the electoral triumph of President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran has been awash with protests by teachers, factory workers, pensioners, bazaar merchants, drivers, and professional unions.

 

Raisi “operates” on the Iranian economy using “coupons for the people” bandages in a cartoon mocking his economic plan.¹ (Twitter)

Institute for Contemporary Affairs

Founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation

Vol. 22, No. 15

• In the year since the electoral triumph of President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran has been awash with protests by teachers, factory workers, pensioners, bazaar merchants, drivers, and professional unions. The average monthly income of a senior government official or a veteran high school teacher, which stood several months ago at about $250, has fallen to less than $170.
• The regime is performing an economic “emergency operation,” removing subsidies for basic commodities. This has led to price rises for all essential and nonessential services. Tens of millions of middle-class families are now under the poverty line. Since June 16, protests have been held in at least 40 cities.
• Based on several unconfirmed reports, in the recent demonstrations, the security and law-enforcement arms apparently defied their commanders’ orders and did not crack down very hard on demonstrators. Their families, too, are suffering from the economic woes, and the regime has stopped granting them special economic privileges.
• With no improvement in sight, President Raisi finds himself under fire including from among his own conservative camp, which currently dominates all the governmental institutions and the regime’s power centers.
• At the same time, the opposition to the regime is weak, divided, and disorganized, both domestically and abroad. The opposition groups and protesters within the country are subject to the regime’s nonstop surveillance and repression and have little ability to coordinate and collaborate.

In the year since the electoral triumph of Ebrahim Raisi—the most conservative president in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran and mentioned as the leading candidate to succeed Supreme Leader Khamenei—Iran has been awash with protests by teachers, factory workers, pensioners, traditional bazaar merchants, drivers, and professional unions. Meanwhile, Iran is suffering a spate of repeated security-intelligence humiliations within its territory that further undermine the resilient prestige the regime is trying to project. The collapse on May 23, 2022, of a civilian building in Abadan, where 40 people died, has also dented the regime’s image and added to the anger over the neglect of the country’s infrastructure.

A severe recession, deepened by the subsidy-reform plan that Raisi is steering and the ongoing standstill in the nuclear talks, have brought Iran to one of the gravest crises in its history. After Raisi lost the 2017 elections to Hassan Rouhani, he quipped that the economic situation could have been a lot better if he had been elected and the American dollar had not risen in value to 50,000 rials. Now, one year into his tenure, for the first time in Iran’s history, the value of the American dollar stands at 330,000 rials. As a result, the average monthly income of a senior government official or a veteran high school teacher, which stood several months ago at about $250, has fallen to less than $170.

The regime, facing empty coffers while the Central Bank prints paper money without backing, still hopes to refill the coffers if the Vienna nuclear talks succeed and at least some of the country’s funds frozen abroad are unblocked. Meanwhile, the regime is performing an economic “emergency operation,” removing the subsidies from flour and stopping the allocation of foreign currency to the citizens at a discounted rate to help them buy essential products. With the lifting of the subsidies for basic commodities, not only have the prices of all household necessities risen many times over, but the costs of all other essential and nonessential services have at least doubled or tripled. Senior Iranian officials admit that tens of millions of middle-class families are now under the poverty line or even the absolute poverty line.

The Iranian media recognizes that millions of families can no longer allow themselves to buy even a kilogram or half-kilogram of red meat per month. Many Iranians no longer remember when they last took a family trip to another city or country—or when was the last time they ate fruit.

Pensioners of the Iranian Education Ministry, outside the Education Ministry in the western city of Kermanshah, spread an empty table to show that they cannot buy anything to eat. (Social media, June 19, 2022)

Although the regime tries to portray the demonstrations as economic rather than political, many of the protesters’ slogans—heard across the different sectors—are directed at the regime itself and its senior officials. Since the dollar crossed the 330,000-rial mark, thousands of market vendors in Tehran and other large and small cities have closed their shops and preferred to hold demonstrations, voicing harsh slogans against senior regime officials, including Leader Khamenei. These merchants say they can no longer buy goods at the foreign-currency prices and ask could anyone buy products whose prices have spiked tenfold. Shop owners also vehemently oppose the dramatic tax increase that the Raisi government wants to impose on them to bolster its revenues.

از نگاه شما- بازنشستگان معترض در دورود: «وعده، وعید چه خوبه، ولی همش دروغه».

روز ۲۹ خرداد شماری از بازنشستگان و مستمری‌بگیران تامین اجتماعی دورود لرستان در اعتراض به وضعیت معیشتی و رسیدگی نشدن به مطالباتشان از جمله اجرای درست طرح همسان‌سازی حقوق مقابل این سازمان تجمع کردند. pic.twitter.com/0gZFLJyyZg

— RadioFarda‌|‌راديو فردا (@RadioFarda_) June 19, 2022

Caption: Demonstrators in the city of Dorud in western Iran: “Stop lying! Both the government and the Majlis [parliament] are lying to the people!”

Meanwhile, the past months have seen demonstrations across Iran² by tens of thousands of teachers, Education Ministry employees, and pensioners of various institutions. Whereas the government was supposed to raise the teachers’ and the pensioners’ income by 57 percent to somewhat increase their purchasing power, in the end, it raised salaries by only 10 percent. The Coordinating Council of the Teachers’ Organizations called on the teachers, both still employed and retired, to demonstrate across the country and demanded the release of their colleagues. Last month, four teachers were detained ahead of demonstrations held on May Day, which coincided with Teachers’ Day in Iran. In response the Coordinating Council called on teachers across Iran to hold protests on June 16, and also urged the International Labor Organization (ILO) to expel Iran.

Since June 16, protests have been held in a broad cross-section of at least 40 cities, including Yasuj, Sanandaj, Sari, Ahvaz, Isfahan, Karaj, Khorramabad, Kashmar, Bandar Abbas, Ardabi, and others. Internal-security forces, some on motorcycles, were deployed in front of the parliament building to deny the demonstrating teachers access to it. Anti-riot police are using anti-riot equipment and spraying demonstrators with paint to identify them later, and state-run media echoed security officials, claiming that some of the teachers’ protest leaders are “spies” linked to France and other foreign countries.

The demonstrators, for their part, are making extensive use of social media to spread their protest. Among other things, demonstrators shouted, “Both the government and the Majlis [parliament] are lying to the people!” ³ and “We prefer death over humiliation!” They slammed Raisi for his “lies and unfulfilled promises.”

Last week, the Tehran-based newspaper Etemad, which is critical of the president’s policy, gave a detailed report on how, amid the appalling rise in food prices, not only have hospitals and centers for the disabled and the elderly stopped providing daily hot meals but military camps and bases as well. Soldiers and other military personnel and permanent staff go through the day without a hot meal. Official sources said the situation is affecting the army and deteriorating its capabilities. The crash of the F14 fighter jet in Isfahan on June 18 was mentioned in this context, and it was claimed that behind the spate of military aircraft crashes are shortages of spare parts and a lack of funding by the cash-strapped government.

Drivers’ demonstrations in Tehran, June 19, 2022. (Twitter, Radio Farda)

Alongside the dire economic straits of the Iranian people, the security forces are cracking down, even against elderly pensioners. Iranian commentators say the country’s intelligence and security apparatuses are well aware that if the demonstrations, even those by elderly pensioners, continue, the regime’s prestige will suffer, and they do not want these rallies to spread further.

Protest in Abadan. (Iran International)

Writers, poets, artists, and those involved in even minor political activity are feeling the brunt of the repression. Recently dozens of artists and filmmakers, including women, were jailed by the regime. The security forces are also spreading an atmosphere of fear in the universities, a focal point of protest in the past, so that students will not start to rail against the miserable, ever-worsening political, economic, and social state of affairs.

Khamenei Warns of the Monarchists’ Return

As the demonstrations continue, Khamenei openly warned in a speech that if the “loyalists of the regime” do not show enough responsibility, it could not be ruled out that the Pahlavi dynasty would return to Iran. Khamenei’s speech came only one day after an address by Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran, that was broadcast from Washington in unprecedented fashion on all the major U.S. and European Persian-language media to tens of millions of viewers in Iran.⁴ The Shah’s son expressed confidence that “The current regime in Iran will be gone one day; even the USSR with so many nuclear warheads was toppled.” He predicted that the regime “which already cannot provide daily bread to the citizens, will be unable to continue.”

Pahlavi, 60 years old, detailed the stages of a plan to overthrow the regime and stressed the need for unity. He called to ramp up the protests both within and outside of Iran but said he himself had never dreamed of returning to the throne. When the Islamic Republic of Iran disappears from the arena, he said, Iranians will have to elect the kind of government they want, and if it is a republican government, he will support that as well.

It is not clear how much support Pahlavi has in Iran, though in some of the demonstrations there were calls for him to return. The slogan “Reza Shah Rohat Shad” (“Your soul, Reza Shah, rest in peace and joy”) was also voiced in some of the rallies. But the opposition to the Iranian regime, both within and outside of Iran, remains divided, and there is no single agreed-upon figure to lead it.

Khamenei warned in his speech that “as in the French Revolution,” after which the Bourbon dynasty eventually returned, “if the supporters of the revolution are not diligent and do not show responsibility, all the foundations of our present government may be in danger.” He called the Pahlavi dynasty “reactionaries who are loyal to the West and court it.”

Prince Reza: “The Islamic regime will not last and will collapse like the Soviet Union.” (Twitter, PahlaviReza)

Based on several unconfirmed reports, in the recent demonstrations, the security and law-enforcement arms apparently defied their commanders’ orders and did not crack down very hard on demonstrators. Their families, too, are suffering from the economic woes, and the regime has stopped granting them special economic privileges. Prince Pahlavi asserted that these forces are part of the future Iran and should avoid siding with the cruel regime.

Khamenei’s PR Effort

The Iranian regime is trying to boost Khamenei’s status in an original way by circulating a song called “Salute Commander [Qassem Soleimani].” Apart from inside Iran, this song is being disseminated and recorded by children of regime supporters⁵ in other countries, including Russia, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, ⁶ rain, and more. Bah

100,000 Iranians gather at Azadi Stadium to sing “Salute Commander ” on May 27, 2022. (YouTube)

Large budgets were devoted to producing and distributing the clip. State radio and TV programs in Iran have spent hours promoting it, while tens of millions of listeners and viewers view the real and worrisome news about Iran’s situation that is beamed from radio and TV networks in the United States and Europe. Official Iran is well aware that there is almost no home in the country whose TV is not tuned into stations from abroad, while the audience for Iran’s own state networks has declined drastically.

A Divided Conservative Camp

With no improvement in sight for Iran’s dire situation, Ebrahim Raisi, too, finds himself under fire including from among his own conservative camp. Even Khamenei loyalists agree that in these last ten months, Raisi’s deputies and ministers have turned in a very subpar performance. Last week, Minister of Labor and Welfare Hojjatollah Abdolmaleki, who had asserted in his swearing-in speech to the parliament that he would create jobs for the tens of millions of unemployed, particularly young people and university graduates, resigned from his post.

The parliament (Majlis), where the conservatives dominate, has acknowledged the dismal economic reality and warned the president that its support for the rest of the government ministers cannot be taken for granted. Members of parliament called on the president to show more energy and expertise in running the country. Some members advised him to replace the ministers and deputies before it was too late. In addition, on June 19, the Majlis approved a measure to dismiss the minister of industry, mines, and trade, Reza Fatemi Amin, in light of his failed management of the vehicle industry.⁷

Meanwhile, Iranian media report growing frictions within the conservative camp and its power bases. Amid the debacles in the security and intelligence domain (assassinations of scientists, security and intelligence leaks, attacks on military sites) and the weakness of Raisi and his government, the rift between major conservative figures has deepened. In recent days the Revolutionary Guard’s military intelligence arrested several more conservative journalists, charging them with posting classified information on websites and endangering the regime assets.

Recently, websites of young conservative journalists who are close to intelligence officials posted a news item about bitter disputes between, on one side, Ali Larijani, former chairman of the parliament, and his brother, Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, and on the other, Saeed Jalili, former president of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). Reportedly there was a heated spat over the government’s policy and how it should handle the continuing and complex crisis, with accusations flying.

Amid power struggles in the conservative institutions, the Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence has arrested conservatives who had access to classified intelligence.

Iran’s economic plight aggravates disputes over what policy to adopt within the conservative camp itself, which currently dominates all the governmental institutions and the regime’s power centers. The regime now has no one to blame for the fiascos. It has pushed aside the reformists, placing their leaders under protracted house arrest, and clamped down on all dissent. It now faces the failures—economic and security-intelligence—alone. The cracks in the conservative camp are widening as Iran struggles economically and the issue of who will succeed the 83-year-old Khamenei looms and gains importance. The failure of Raisi and his government will probably also influence who eventually succeeds Khamenei.

At the same time, the opposition to the regime is weak, divided, and disorganized both domestically and abroad. The monarchists and the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), the largest opposition groups outside of Iran, show almost no cooperation between them, and their influence within Iran is unclear. The opposition groups and protesters within the country are subject to the regime’s nonstop surveillance and repression and have little ability to coordinate and collaborate. At the moment, it does not appear that the mass protests and worsening economic woes will lead to the regime’s collapse in the short term.

The unrest and protests, however, are more frequent, embracing more and more sectors, and continuing, even if at low intensity, over time. Although the event that could trigger the ignition of a broader protest that will undermine the regime cannot be foreseen precisely, the accumulative demonstrations and unrest over economic distress and human rights abuses could hasten such an event. If it occurs, it will reverberate among the Persian-language media and networks abroad, which have an essential role to play within Iran. Against this backdrop, the regime is trying hard to disrupt the broadcasts, influence their contents, and even delete “problematic” material from social media.

* * *

Notes

1 https://twitter.com/azhargushe/status/1536436212034052096

2 https://www.hra-news.org/2022/hranews/a-35383/

3 https://twitter.com/Irankargar_site/status/1538064570010542080

4 https://www.iranintl.com/en/202206030892

5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsxLVL-kjWw

6 https://twitter.com/JawadAbubakar7/status/1537405419752247298

7 https://tinyurl.com/4nzas5yv

 

IDF Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael (Mickey) Segall, an expert on strategic issues with a focus on Iran, terrorism, and the Middle East, is a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and at Acumen Risk Advisors.

Source: https://jcpa.org/article/the-iranian-protests-continue-and-are-shaking-the-unity-of-the-conservative-camp/

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