Protests erupted in several parts of Kashmir against Israel's attack on Iran on Friday, with Valley leaders condemning the "unprovoked" strike and calling out the "double standard" of the West in dealing with the Jewish nation.
The main protest in central Kashmir’s Budgam was led by cleric Aga Syed Hassan, who said Iran was specifically targeted for its principled stand on Gaza and Palestine.
The protesters raised slogans against Israel and feared the attack could escalate into a regional war.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah pointed to the alleged western hypocrisy when it came to Israel.
“As far as I know, Iran gave no reason to Israel to launch an attack. Israel calls them preemptive strikes to attack a country. If world powers remain silent on it, it will be tragic,” he said.
Omar said Israel was doing with Iran what Russia did with Ukraine, but western countries were selective about raising their voices.
“When Israel attacks Iran, world powers like America, Europe go silent. If Russia was wrong in attacking another country, Israel's attack on Iran is also not right,” he said.
Peoples Democratic Party chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said Israel’s attack on Iran was yet another brazen act by a state that appeared to have gone rogue.
“The silence of the global community, particularly western powers led by the US, is both alarming and telling. This silence amounts to tacit approval. In the case of India-Pakistan tensions, the US never fails to assert that its intervention has been crucial in preventing escalation. Yet when it comes to Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza or its latest strike on Iran, that same urgency is conspicuously missing,” she said.
“This glaring double standard endangers global peace and stability. Equally disturbing is the deafening silence of the so-called Muslim countries that remain shamelessly non-existent in the face of such grave injustice. Their inaction is not just disappointing, it's a betrayal of the very causes they claim to stand for,” she added.
Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi said Israel had bombed Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iran, but still played the victim.
“This rogue Zionist regime isn’t defending itself, it’s behaving like a colonial thug. Attacking sovereign nations at will doesn’t make you powerful, it makes you a terrorist state,” he posted on X.
“Iran, like any sovereign nation, now has every right to defend itself and take full, punishing revenge. The Zionist regime should pay for its crimes in Gaza, for its bloodlust, for its massacres,” he added.
