TEHRAN- The harsh suppression of pro-Palestine academic rallies in the U.S. and Europe has drawn harsh vitriol from Iranian Parliament members, who noted that using irrational violence against student protestors would not succeed.

Up to 150 members of the legislative body supported American and European college students who are aiding Palestinians in the Israeli military’s months-long siege of the Gaza Strip, according to a statement released on Tuesday. 

“Today, Gaza is the scene of confrontation between an oppressed, afflicted and resistant nation and a ruthless and usurping entity. In this battle, sympathizing with the oppressed and protesting against the oppressors is the least of human duties,” the Iranian lawmakers noted. 

The lawmakers also emphasized that the Israeli regime’s record of aggression and usurpation spans seven decades and that the bravery and resistance shown by Palestinians in Gaza today is the result of a nation’s pent-up anger and pain.

They further stated that academics worldwide, particularly in Western nations, have expressed solidarity with Palestine through a movement that is motivated by justice-seeking, altruism, and humanity, rather than by playing victim and manipulating the facts in the mainstream media.

“Irrational violence against this rights-seeking call will not cure the pain of oppressors,” the statement stated, thanking American and European college students for their support of Palestinians in Gaza. 

Imprisonment of freedom

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani criticized the arrest of pro-Palestine university students in the U.S. in a post on his X social media account on Tuesday. 

During his weekly presser on Monday, Kanaani denounced the U.S. police crackdown on students expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza Strip.

He cited the numerous pro-Palestine demonstrations and sit-ins at American universities, pointing out that these events demonstrate the intensity of anti-Zionist sentiment as well as the global public’s vigilance regarding the Palestine issue. 

The spokesman stated that people who care about justice will not put up with governments endorsing the homicidal war of the Zionist system, and that the U.S. government cannot use strong measures to put an end to protestors. 

He expressed alarm over the students’ actions and stressed that the Iranian foreign ministry will not tolerate the crackdown. 

The spokesman went on to say that in order to meet legitimate public demands, the U.S. officials must allow students to voice their opinions. As a result, the Zionist regime’s supporters and other world leaders are expected to give this crucial issue significant attention.

Numerous campuses in the U.S. and Europe are hosting protests by students against the Israeli assault on Gaza, which has resulted in over 34,000 fatalities since October of last year and is supported by Washington. 

The students are demanding that academic institutions distance themselves from any companies supporting the war being waged by the Israeli authorities on the beleaguered Palestinian area. 

Hundreds of students have been arrested, suspended, placed on probation, and in some cases, expelled from institutions in the last ten days. 

Since October 7, when the Israeli regime launched the assault on the besieged Palestinian enclave, the United States has given the regime unrestricted military, intelligence, and financial backing.

Israel receives $3.8 billion in military aid from Washington each year, and U.S. President Joe Biden has been a steadfast supporter of the illegal entity even during the Gaza conflict. 

On Wednesday, Biden signed an enormous budget measure into law that would provide the occupying regime an extra $17 billion.

Additionally, Washington has rejected multiple resolutions from the UN Security Council that demanded an end to the heinous military invasion.

Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations office in Geneva strongly denounced the current suppression of pro-Palestine protests on U.S. college campuses, emphasizing that using force against nonviolent demonstrators will not stop them.

In a post on X on Saturday, the mission said that “we strongly condemn the brutal and violent crackdown on widespread peaceful pro-Palestinian protests at universities in the United States. The U.S. Police brutality and excessive use of force during peaceful assemblies, and targeting students advocating for an end to genocidal war in Gaza is a matter of serious concern.”

It went on to add, “Demonstrators are precisely calling for ending the U.S. complicity in ongoing genocide in Gaza in their name. Firing and beating peaceful protesters does not silence them, who are the frontline human rights defenders; it only reaffirms the urgency of the struggle for justice for Palestine.”

“Police attacks against university students and professors, the scale of arrests and the conditions of detentions are deeply disturbing and we call for the release of all detained.”

The United States is fully manifesting a double standard approach regarding the students who are sympathizing with the grieving Palestinians who have been subjected to death, bombardment, displacement, starvation, etc. for nearly seven months.