Human rights groups ignored Iran massacres, while furiously protesting Gaza war – study

“Double standard” – Report shows media and human rights groups focused far more on Israel’s war with Hamas than on Iran’s massacre of dissident protesters earlier this year.

By World Israel News Staff

News media outlets dedicated significantly more coverage to Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip than to the anti-regime protests in Iran and the subsequent massacre of dissidents by pro-regime forces, a new study has found, while human rights activists largely ignored the atrocities in Iran, in comparison with the number of demonstrations held against the war in Gaza.

On Thursday, the Jewish People Policy Institute published a report documenting the volume of media coverage of the war in Gaza compared to coverage of the protests and subsequent crackdown in Iran.

The report also compared the number of protests held in response to the war in Gaza and in response to the repression of anti-regime demonstrations in Iran.

From the beginning of the protests in Iran on December 28, 2025, through January 18, 2026, 14 major international media outlets including CNN, Al Jazeera, Politico, Sky News, the LA Times, CBC, NPR, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Times of India, Irish Times, Time, The Daily Telegraph, and Axios, gave the protests and crackdown in Iran roughly twice the coverage that Gaza received.

However, this period corresponded to the ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas; when compared to the peak media coverage of the war during late May and early June 2024, the protests in Iran received roughly half the coverage that the war in Gaza received.

The most striking difference came in the number and scope of demonstrations held in response to the war in Gaza in comparison with the demonstrations held in solidarity with the people of Iran or against the regime.

According to the study’s findings, only 25 protests were held in the United States during the period of Iranian protests. Not all of them expressed solidarity with Iranian protesters, and some called for non-involvement by the United States.

By contrast, 476 protests against Israel were held during that same period.

In the 22-day comparison window surrounding the IDF’s entry into Rafah, 2,120 protests were held in the United States against the war in Gaza.

The study also examined the involvement of human rights organizations in response to the war in Gaza and the protests in Iran.

During the Iranian protests, when tens of thousands of demonstrators were reportedly massacred, organizations that led protests against Israel did not participate in solidarity demonstrations with Iranian protesters.

Among them were Codepink, Kalamazoo Nonviolent Opponents of War, and the Geneva Women’s Assembly.

Even without factoring in attendance numbers, the disparity in the number of mobilizations reflects fundamentally different levels of public engagement.

“Our study points to a sharp and clear double standard in the approach of the international media and international human rights organizations toward Israel,” said JPPI President Prof. Yedidia Stern.

“When Israel conducts a defensive war against armed terrorist organizations that attacked it, it is judged harshly. When Iran massacres its own defenseless citizens, the international community responds relatively modestly.”

“What is the possible explanation for this gap? One cannot avoid concluding that this is a political agenda rather than a genuine defense of human rights. Some may go further and argue that the very existence of such a double standard suggests a deeply embedded and uniquely anti-Jewish sentiment.”