Iran says the ongoing crackdown on pro-Palestine student protests in the West shows the US and the Europeans put support for Israel ahead of their human rights obligations.
Campus protests by pro-Palestinian activists have spread across Europe, taking their cue from US universities where students have set up encampments to demand an end to the Israeli war on Gaza, only to face repression, suspension, and arrest.
“Violent and brutal suppression of student protest movements in America and Europe against the war crimes of the Zionist regime continues with intensity,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani wrote on X Thursday.
“It is clear that the commitment to unconditionally support the Zionist regime has precedence over the human rights commitments of the United States and some European countries,” he said.
Dozens of students were arrested as Dutch police broke up a pro-Palestine protest at the University of Amsterdam on Thursday, in a second day of unrest over the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Videos appeared to show officers in riot gear striking protesters. The footage appeared to also show police dragging several students away as hundreds shouted: “Shame on you!”
At Utrecht University, protesters occupied a building in protest while in Belgium, students continued to occupy Ghent University.
In Spain, demonstrations and encampments continued at several campuses across the country. A non-profit association representing 77 universities across Spain said its members would review and, where appropriate, suspend agreements with Israeli universities and research centers.
The campus protests come as EU leaders fend off growing pressure to respond to Israel’s war on Gaza.
“After this, the public opinion of the world does not value the false slogans of the US and Europe about human rights, because they have sold not only human rights, but also the basic rights of their citizens for a cheap price to some war criminals,” Kan’ani said.
