In the Islamic Republic of Iran, women are being killed in protests against the forced hijab. Is Dorothy Shea tone deaf? Oh yes, and much worse as well: administration officials such as Robert Malley have made it quite clear that they don’t want to see the regime in Tehran fall, by persistently claiming that the Iranian people just want reform, not the end of the Islamic Republic.
“U.S. Ambassador Under Fire for Wearing Hijab at Lebanon’s Request,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, December 1, 2022:
The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon is facing criticism within the State Department for wearing a hijab earlier this month during meetings with pro-Hezbollah officials at a time when Iranian protesters are rallying against such draconian religious displays.
Dorothy Shea, who has served as the top U.S. diplomat in Lebanon since 2020, was recently pictured in regional media outlets meeting with Lebanon’s Higher Shiite Islamic Council, a religious body that experts view as allied with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terror group that wages outsized political influence in Lebanon. One senior diplomatic source told the Washington Free Beacon the gesture undermines U.S. efforts to support Iranian protesters who are rallying in the streets against such draconian religious displays.
The images upset some officials in the State Department’s diplomatic corps who view Shea’s decision to wear a head covering as tone-deaf and offensive at a time when Iranians are protesting against a theocratic regime that recently murdered a 22-year-old woman for not properly wearing her hijab. Iranian-American groups and outside experts also expressed shock over the images of Shea in a headscarf.
“This has raised some eyebrows here and is just a bad look all around,” one senior State Department official, who spoke on background discussing internal matters, told the Free Beacon. “There are literally thousands of brave women in Iran risking their lives in protest of the hijab and all it represents. What message does this send to them in this unspoken, yet highly symbolic act of submission by a U.S. ambassador who takes on the very appearance of the oppressors?”
“I understand that as diplomats we are supposed to be sensitive to the culture in which we work,” the source added, “but sometimes, events take priority.”
While the State Department has been clear in its support for the Iranian protesters, it has come under fire for not taking concrete action to aid their efforts. Lawmakers and outside groups are pushing for U.S.-Iran envoy Robert Malley to be fired, given his role as the administration’s public face of diplomacy with Iran’s hardline regime. Malley and other State Department officials also have stopped short of saying that the protesters want regime change, with spokesman Ned Price telling reporters late last month that “it’s not for us to interpret what the people of Iran are asking for.” This statement came as protesters chanted, “Death to the dictator.”
A State Department spokesman declined to comment on the images or provide the Free Beacon with information about Shea’s meetings. One senior Republican congressional source who works with State Department officials said this hesitance to address the issue indicates administration officials are embarrassed by Shea’s display.
“This was so incredibly dumb and tone deaf that not even the usual suspects in the State Department wanted anything to do with it, let alone defend her,” said the source, who was not authorized to speak on record….
Alkflaeda says
If she really wants to don a head covering, why not an Amish kapp or a nun’s coif? At least these would not give the impression that she is buying into Islam.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Actually, you put your finger on something else, whether you meant to nor not. How is it that we never see our pandering politicians – particularly women politicians – don an Amish kapp or a Jewish yamika or something similar when approaching these communities? They don’t go out of their way to do that, but they invariably do it w/ muslims, and to a certain extent, Blacks & Hispanics
James Lincoln says
Excellent question, Infidel.
But I think that we all know the answer…
libertyORdeath says
What a pathetic virtue-signaling loser.
While brave women and girls fight for their right to be free of the oppression that the hijab exemplifies, this globalist spits in their faces.
America used to be the example of freedom for the world, now they laugh at us. The world is gonna get A LOT WORSE if America doesn’t stand up and show the world that FREEDOM is essential to human prosperity.
PRCS says
“the oppression that the hijab exemplifies, this globalist spits in their faces”
Yes, she did.
But, given that publicly expressing Islamic supremacism is hijab’s primary purpose, Iran and its proxies are spitting in their faces, too.
And ours.
When, oh when, will the west (especially so-called feminists) ‘get this’?
Qur’an 33:59
“O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed.”
࿗Infidel࿘ says
There’s nobody I disdain more than women who wear hijabs to show their solidarity w/ muslims. Whether it is this broad, former Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges or New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern
gravenimage says
US ambassador to Lebanon wears hijab during meetings with pro-Hizballah officials
……………………………………..
Disgusting appeasement of Jihadist thugs.
Westman says
When in Islamic countries one must submit to the sensitivities of misogynistic religionists unless, of course, you have the military power of the US behind you.
The Biden administration has more, “behind the scenes”, string pulling than a spider web. The only person, not making the decisions, is script reader, Joe Biden. This was no accident. There isn’t a woman in the Western World who doesn’t know Islam’s lack of choice and second tier status for women. Someone in the puppeteers wanted to undermine the unrest in Iran.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I think given the experience people are having at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a lot of people who were taught the fictional islam by our schools, the media and so on are finding out what it really is if their fandom took them to Qatar. So the claim that ‘There isn’t a woman in the Western World who doesn’t know Islam’s lack of choice and second tier status for women’ is clearly off the mark
Just contrast the global opposition there was to the Taliban before 2001 when everybody knew what they were doing to women b’cos our media then was honest about it, to what we have today, when enough muslim propagandists openly lying to us at every forum telling us how great islam is for women, and people buying it hook, line & sinker. That ought to tell you a story about how much worse informed society at large is in general about islam
Deodata says
Why on earth does the west placate and gives so much respect to Islam, but it is never reciprocated.
sherc100 says
Joe Biden will stop at nothing to breathe life back into the JCPOA. This pandering by members of his administration clearly shows they are not backing the protests in Iran. They do not want a regime change because they know it would be a complete death knell of the JCPOA, never to be resurrected.
Scotsman48 says
A US Ambassador in any country can show respect for that culture without bowing down to it as this US Ambassador obviously has done giving the Mullahs a good laugh at the appeasement of American Diplomats.
The recent US Ambassador to Cambodia told the Prime Minister of that country that HE must practice democracy but she didnt bother to mention the actual bombing of Cambodia that Uncle Sam did all those years ago… Such arrogance…