“Iran’s nuclear program is not just a threat to Israel, as bad as that is; it’s not just a threat to America, as bad as that is; it is a threat to all humankind,” Rev. Floyd Flake said. “We must stop Iran now.”
Thousands of people gathered across from the United Nations Monday to protest the presence there this week of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and to call attention to the grave threats Iran poses to the world.
Watch video clips of the rally here.
[United Jewish Communities, 9.23.08] The National Rally to Stop Iran Now featured prominent civic and religious figures, from the United States and overseas, who called on the international community to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions, its threats against the United States and Israel, its support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and its domestic human rights abuse. The rally took place against the backdrop of the opening of the UN General Assembly and the gathering of world leaders, including Ahmadinejad.
Natan Sharansky, the former Israeli deputy prime minister and face of the Soviet Jewry movement, likened Iran to the "evil empire" of the former Soviet Union, and recalled how decades ago Soviet Jewry demonstrations took place in the same spot.
"Twenty years ago, in this very place, your parents and grandparents demonstrated, again and again and again. Today the Soviet Union doesn't exist and Soviet Jews are free. The campaign against Iran can be as successful. This is a fight we must win. This is a fight we will win."
Sharansky also spoke of the "moral clarity" of the struggle against a nuclear Iran, and how the Jewish people believe in “tikkun olam,” repairing the world, while Iran supports terrorist groups who use destruction and violence.
“It is important the world knows the difference between those of us who support human life, and those who use human life to blackmail the world,” he said.
The thousands of people of all ages attending the rally represented communities across the United States and Canada. They packed into Dag Hammarskjold Plaza near the United Nations complex and filled a number of city blocks, hoisting placards and banners underscoring Iran’s threat to Israel, the United States and world stability.
“The leader of Iran calls for the destruction of Israel, denies the fact of the Holocaust, and ignores international demands to halt a nuclear program that threatens the Jewish homeland, the region, and the world,” said Howard M. Rieger, President and Chief Executive Officer of United Jewish Communities.
“The thousands of Americans and others joining the Jewish community today send a loud message to the United Nations and beyond that such views and policies are unacceptable and should not be tolerated by civilized and peace-loving nations and peoples.”
The rally was sponsored by the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now, which includes leaders and organizations representing various communities who are deeply concerned about the Iranian threat. Members include United Jewish Communities, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, UJA-Federation of New York, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
Speakers represented a cross-section of major denominational, ethnic and civic groups, including Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Minister of Justice; Dr. Paul deVries, New York Divinity School president; the Honorable Rev. Floyd Flake, former member of Congress; Dalia Itzik, speaker of the Israeli Knesset; and Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate. Prominent Iranian human rights advocates Nazanin Afshin-Jan and Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi also spoke.
Some called on the UN to bring Ahmadinejad to justice for his threats to destroy fellow member UN nations such as Israel and the United States, rather than providing him a forum to speak.
Ahmadinejad’s “proper place” resides not at the UN, Wiesel said, but before “an international tribunal” such as the World Court in the Hague. "His place is not here in New York, but in Europe, in Holland, in a UN prison cell.”
Speakers also urged the UN Security Council and the world community to take vigorous steps to impose harsh economic sanctions on Iran to force a halt to its nuclear development.
“Iran’s nuclear program is not just a threat to Israel, as bad as that is; it’s not just a threat to America, as bad as that is; it is a threat to all humankind,” Rev. Flake said. “We must stop Iran now.”
