Yashar Ali, who has family and friends still in Iran, put out a tweetstorm today that is a testimony to the courage of the Iranian protesters and a powerful indictment, not only of the Iranian government, but of the Democrats and their failure to hear or seemingly care about the protesters because it might be inconvenient to the narrative they are pushing.

1. This AM I woke up to dozens of messages from family/friends in Iran Right now, Iran is a tinderbox internally. As some of you know, there are protests mostly around the anger that Iranians feel towards the gov after they admitted IRGC shot down the Ukraine Airlines aircraft — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

They’re not just upset that the government was incompetent and shot down the plane, that was bad enough. They’re upset that they were lied to for three days about it, when the government knew from the jump that they did it.

2. Iranians who are protesting and all the family/friends I spoke to (who live in different parts of Iran) are furious that they were lied to for three days about the cause of the plane crash. The Iranian government lied left and right about where the plane was headed — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

Many also are upset about how the aftermath was handled.

3. What brought down the plane. The Iranian government completely mishandled the plane crash, destroying evidence in the process. Iranians are in the street calling for death to the Supreme Leader (something that could get them executed). — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

4. Iranians are in the street calling for prosecutions, saying Soleimani is a murderer. Telling leadership of the Iranian government to resign and saying that Trump isn’t the problem, that the Iranian government is. To say that these protesters are brave is an understatement — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

5. Nearly 2 months ago, Iran massacred hundreds (at least) and up to 1,500 of its citizens in the streets for protesting against gas prices. People in the streets are taking an enormous risk not only by protesting but by saying what they’re saying like death to the Supreme Leader — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

6. I’m told that there will be expanded protests Sunday night in Iran (these things are always subject to change, particularly with intimidation from the government). So the question is what kind of support are the Iranian people going to get from the external world? — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

7. Yesterday I tweeted this thread and was criticized by liberals who are intent on blaming this plane crash on President Trump. As I note in my thread, the idea that he’s to blame for a decision the IRGC made is just absurd. https://t.co/RDppABy8YD — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

8. And while Iranians aren’t a monolith and there are 80 million people in Iran, you don’t see Iranians blaming President Trump for the cash (in which Iranian citizens were killed). They’re blaming the IRGC and the Supreme Leader for a series of horrific mistakes — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

9. I’ve gone through some of the most active and prominent liberal Twitter accounts and none of them mentioned the Iran protests today. These same people were actively tweeting about wanting to avoid war and attacking Trump for his decision. What happened? — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

What happened? Protests in the street don’t support the narrative some Dems and media were pushing about all the angry people against Trump and that the shootdown of the plane was somehow Trump’s fault.

10. And that’s why I tweeted this earlier today. In this context, Iranians are being used by certain people on the left (i didn’t say all) as a tool to attack President Trump. But these same people don’t seem to care to to support their right to protest?https://t.co/M1wLT4Lv3B — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

Exactly. As we saw with Nancy Pelosi and her response today.

11. It seems to me the protests were inconvenient for some of these folks today. They were placing the blame on the Iranian leadership who lied repeatedly about what happened. They weren’t blaming President Trump…so it wasn’t worth it to bring attention to or support them? — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

It doesn’t serve their narrative.

12. This happens often with people living in authoritarian states & with certain religious/ethnic groups. We’re used as tools to push domestic political agendas. We’re told what to feel & think by people with no connection to our country & have no idea what they’re talking about — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 12, 2020

This flies in the face of the notion that Iranians are unified against the United States.

I didn’t see this angle before where the crowd shames those who are intentionally walking on the flags. Astonishing. Overcoming 4 decades of non-stop propaganda being told America and Israel are their enemies. May God bless and protect them. https://t.co/9iCGxH5e7x — (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) January 12, 2020

Trump didn’t fail to tell the civilian planes to stand down. Trump didn’t incompetently think the plane was a cruise missile and shoot it down. Trump didn’t lie to the people for three days, knowing darn well they did it.

The people of Iran — even some of the hardliners — get it.

Again, the regime’s lying is big news in Iran. From the NY Times: pic.twitter.com/3BAK43DX3W — John Sexton (@verumserum) January 12, 2020

The only people who don’t seem to get it or don’t want to communicate it are Democrats and some in our media. That’s shameful. It’s not about Trump, it’s about supporting their right to protest, and you should be supportive of that, whatever side you are on.

HT: Twitchy