Over the past year, Europe’s streets have been chock full of protesters. Hundreds of thousands have turned out in London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, and Brussels – demonstrating on behalf of Gaza. Parliaments have convened emergency sessions. Millions have signed petitions. Several governments have halted arms sales to Israel. For much of the time, Gaza has dominated Europe’s political discourse, particularly on the left.

Meanwhile, in Iran, something remarkable is unfolding. Women are tearing off their hijabs in open defiance. Students are facing down security forces. Workers are walking off the job. Protesters are being dragged to prison, tortured, and executed after trials in kangaroo courts. And Europe’s response? A few statements. Some vigils. NGO reports that barely make the news. Nothing remotely approaching the mobilization for Gaza.

This isn’t about compassion fatigue or lack of information. The images are there. The stories are brutal. The gap reveals something fundamental: certain causes carry an ideological cost, and that cost determines which struggles ignite mass solidarity.

The uprising in Iran checks every box that should matter to progressive Europeans. It targets a theocratic regime that subjugates women, censors thought, executes dissidents, and denies basic freedoms. The protesters in Iran demand exactly what the European left claims to defend as universal human rights: free speech, bodily........

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