As a devout Muslim woman and a civil rights activist who has spent two decades fighting against radical Islamism in the Middle East, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this situation play out.

When Iranian women took to the streets in 2022 under the cry “Women, Life, Freedom” in response to the tyrannical regime’s murder of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, many American progressives cheered their courage. 

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But in recent weeks, I’ve watched in dismay as some of those same progressive voices criticized America’s surgical strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. This only added to our struggle as we try to understand too many progressives’ resounding silence over the horrors suffered by Israeli women and children during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, as well as the unbearable suffering of Gazan women and children, whom Hamas militants use as human shields.

Take the example of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). She applauded the women’s uprising and condemned Iran’s misogyny in 2022. Yet, when the American B-2 stealth bombers and bunker-buster bombs smashed into Iran’s underground nuclear plants at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, she declared it “grounds for impeachment,” accusing President Donald Trump of constitutional overreach. 

When Israel fought back after Iran’s proxy terrorist milita Hamas invaded the country on Oct. 7, 2023, and raped innocent women, not only did Ocasio-Cortez stay silent, she ultimately aligned herself with organizations that displayed Hamas flags at rallies and defended the group’s narrative, and called for “globalizing the intifada,” which is regarded by many as a call to bring terrorism to the Western world in general and to the United States in particular.

Similar is the story of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Sanders once applauded “The Iranian people, led by young women … demonstrating for their freedom and for a better life.” Today, however, he calls the U.S. military strikes “alarming” and “grossly unconstitutional.” 

These passionate progressives loudly denounced the regime’s misogynist, murderous actions, and rightly so. So why do they now condemn acts of defense against a maximalist threat from that same regime?

It’s not as if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime has moderated since 2022.

Iran continues to organize chants of “Death to America”, finances terrorist militias such as Hezbollah and the Houthis, and vows to destroy Israel. Some Democrats, such as Rep. Jared Golden (ME), recognize that Iran’s threat must be addressed with intellectual honesty. Golden said that the president “was right” to bomb Iran, even as he underscored the need for war powers checks and balances. That’s a response rooted in both principle and justice.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) publicly endorsed the operation, calling it “the correct move” and adding, “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities.” And Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) noted that “the decisive destruction of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant prevents the dangerous spread of nuclear weapons in the world’s most combustible region.”

TWO REASONS THE US AND IRAN LOOK SET TO FIGHT AGAIN

The basic truth: without the credible will and ability to protect the innocent, talk rings hollow. So, to those still silent, remember why you once cheered for “Women, Life, Freedom” in the streets of Tehran. The regime in Iran and the theocracy of Hamas remain unchanged. 

What’s changed is the willingness of progressives to call them out. But the world is not asking progressives to abandon their values. They’re asking us to live up to them.

Dalia Ziada is Senior Fellow of Middle East Geopolitics at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.