The Dramatic Gap Between Global Coverage of the War in Gaza and the Massacre of Protesters in Iran

Описание: JPPI President Yedidia Stern on i24 news, following the release of a new comparative study by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) that examines the gap between global media coverage of the suppression of protests in Iran, including the reported massacre of demonstrators by the Iranian regime, and the international coverage and amplification of Israel’s war in Gaza, particularly the IDF’s entry into Rafah.

The findings point to sharp disparities, both in the scope of international media coverage and in the number of protests held in the United States around each of these issues.

Protests organized by various groups in response to the IDF’s entry into Rafah were nearly one hundred times more numerous than protests concerning Iran. Media coverage of the war in Gaza was almost double in volume compared to coverage of the protests in Iran during comparable time periods sampled for the study.

To enable a fair comparison, researchers selected two 22-day time windows. The first covered the protests in Iran, which lasted from December 28, 2025 until their decline on January 18, 2026, following reports that tens of thousands of demonstrators were massacred. The second examined one of the peak moments of the war in Gaza, the IDF’s entry into Rafah, over an identical 22-day period from May 6 to May 27, 2025. During this period, a social media campaign under the slogan “All Eyes on Rafah” spread widely and extensive protests took place on U.S. campuses.