Nobody knows how many innocent people have been massacred in Iran. And when it comes to the war between Israel and Hamas, the casualty data is hotly contested. It seems likely, however, that the Islamic regime has already killed more innocents than lost their lives in Gaza, or at the very least is poised to overtake that number.
Not that the two are comparable. The Palestinian casualties were the tragic and undesired result of urban warfare against an enemy that both provoked the fight and saw every death as a propaganda victory. Evacuation notices were issued, aid was provided and missions were aborted to protect civilian life. The Iranian regime, by contrast, is wantonly butchering great numbers of unarmed citizens who only want to be free.
The victims are particularly fresh in my mind, as this week, Andrew Fox, the former parachute regiment officer, and I interviewed two Iranian activists for our podcast, The Brink. These were people who had received credible reports from the inside, and their stories were harrowing:
- dead women having their uteruses removed before their bodies were returned to their families – for a
hefty release fee – to hide evidence of sexual torture
- prisoners being injected with mercury or potassium to cause them to perish slowly and in great pain
- toddlers and the elderly shot dead
- summary executions of the wounded in their hospital beds
During the war in Gaza, much debate surrounded the combatant-to-civilian casualty ratio. According to the United Nations, civilians account for “nearly 90% of wartime casualties” in urban theatres around the world. During the conflict with Hamas, by contrast, between two and three civilians lost their lives for each combatant, according to the Israel Defense Forces, with some analysts placing that figure closer to 1:1.5 or even 1:1.
The truth will probably never be known. After all, decades after the war in Iraq, civilian casualty estimates range between 186,000 and one million. But my point is this: in Iran, the combatant-to-civilian casualty ratio is meaningless, because there are no combatants, only civilians. It’s not war. It’s mass murder. On a scale close to Babyn Yar.
Which brings us to the heart of the matter. Whereas the broadcast media put on wall-to-wall coverage of the Gaza war for two years, they have shown only a cursory interest in the depravity in Iran. This week, on the day that Time Magazine reported that the death toll had surpassed 30,000, I checked both the BBC and Sky News apps. Not a single story when I looked.
Those who campaigned so fanatically for the Palestinians, despite greater catastrophes in Sudan and elsewhere, often claim that it is because Israel is a Western ally. Pressure on their governments, they argue, could persuade them to force Israel to abandon its self-defence. That’s why they concentrate all their energies on marching against the Jewish state.
What rot. Look at the state of Britain’s appeasement of the Islamic regime in Iran. Today, the EU announced that it was finally proscribing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s overseas terror operatives. Britain, however, still refuses to do so.
The Ayatollah has a “nerve centre” in Maida Vale, which acts as a lightning rod for pro-regime activists. Has this been shut down? It has not. Our sanctions against the Islamic Republic can only be described as flaccid. Hell, even the Iranian ambassador to London has not been expelled.
All of this offers many clear objectives for Palestinian “human rights” activists, who care so deeply about innocent death. Where are the Leftie marches through London demanding action against the Ayatollah? Nowhere. Instead, on Saturday our capital will be once again defaced with yet another “national march for Palestine”, promoted on X by Jeremy Corbyn (who has been in the paid employ of the Iranian state broadcaster).
The reality couldn’t be clearer. From Gary Lineker to Amal Clooney, Dawn French to David Lammy, António Gueterres to Greta Thunberg, the reaction has been muted. The truth, it seems, is that those who shout loudest about human rights are the ones who wish to subvert the West. That’s what they really care about.
