On Tuesday evening, September 1st, thousands of New Yorkers protested against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s plan to vote for the dangerous Iran deal, in front of the Senator’s office at 780 Third Avenue (49th Street) in Manhattan. The bi-partisan rally and press conference, deliavered the message: “Gillibrand: Don’t Surrender America; Join Senator Chuck Schumer To Oppose This Bad Deal!” The New York City police informed rally co-organizer Richard Allen that the 7,000-person-strong crowd was the largest rally ever held in front of a senator’s office.
Bipartisan U.S. Senators, veterans, and victims of Iranian terrorism, and other speakers addressed the rally. Featured speakers included: U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Lindsey Graham (R-SC); retired U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.); former CIA Director James Woolsey; radio hosts Kevin McCullough, David Webb and Mike Gallagher; historian Michael Ledeen; Iranian-American Rebecca Yousefzadeh Sassouni, Esq.; former Navy Seal Ken Strethem (whose brother was kidnapped from TWA flight 847 and tortured and shot by Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah); US Army Staff Sergeant and purple heart recipient Robert Bartlett (who was injured by an Iranian bomb); Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino; Fred Fleitz (who served in various U.S. intelligence agencies for 25 years); child Holocaust survivor Sami Steigman; iconic veteran activist Rabbi Avi Weiss, Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn); Center for Security Policy president Frank Gaffney; and Daniel Miller (the victim of an Iranian-financed terror attack by HAMAS in Jerusalem, who then sued the Islamic Republican of Iran and HAMAS in U.S. courts). Co-organizer Jeff Wiesenfeld served as emcee.
Rabbi Hershel Schachter, renowned Rosh Kollel of Yeshiva University, told rally co-organizer Dr. Paul Brody that when he learned of the Stop Iran Rally to protest Senator Gillibrand’s planned vote, he deemed it of utmost importance for him and his charges to be present, and led 50 of his students to the rally from Washington Heights.
The crowd repeatedly chanted “change your vote” and “kill the deal,” held up signs such as “What Part of Death to America and Death to Israel Don’t You Understand?” and signs demanding that Senator Gillibrand should join Senator Chuck Schumer in opposing the deal.
The speakers and the crowd were clearly dismayed and outraged by Senator Gillibrand’s plan to vote for the Iran deal despite the fact that the Iran deal paves the way for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, delays and severely limits inspections, gives $150 billion to an Iranian terrorist regime that will use the funds for its terror activities throughout the world, and endangers New York – the top terrorist target in the country. Speakers reminded the crowd that just 14 years ago, New York suffered the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history.
The speakers and crowd also frequently expressed outrage at New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler for Nadler’s plan to vote for the Iran deal.
The Quinnipiac poll shows that two-thirds of Americans, as well as two-thirds of American Jews, oppose the catastrophic deal with Iran.
Senator Lindsey Graham stated that he is currently also proposing creative ways to stop the Iran deal, including defunding the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) until the IAEA provides Congress with copies of its secret “side deals” with Iran. These side deals reportedly permit Iran to inspect its own nuclear facility at Parchin – a facility suspected of developing PMDs (Possible Military Dimensions) for Iran’s nuclear program.
Approximately 100 organizations that are part of the StopIranRally coalition supported the rally. Rally co-organizers, who comprise the Jewish Rapid Response Coalition (JRRC) – formed last year when a group of independent volunteers successfully joined together to protest the Death of Klinghoffer opera at the Met, and subsequently engineered the massive Stop Iran Rally in Times Square on July 22 – included activists Richard Allen (JCCWatch); emcee Jeff Wiesenfeld; Zionist Organization of America officials and activists Eytan Sosnovich (ZOA Manhattan Exec. Director) and Liz Berney, Esq. (ZOA Special Projects Director), Dr. Paul Brody (VP of the Great Neck-based Jewish Political Education Fund), Dr. Marvin Belsky, Dr. Paul Ferbank, and Nessim and Dr. Lynne Bursky Tammam (HaShoah Foundation); AFSI officials Helen Freedman, Judy Kadish Freedman, Charlie Bernhaut and Queens AFSI head Jan Fenster; Strength to Strength founder (and terrorism victim) Sarri Singer; Avi Posnick (Stand With Us); Mothers Against Terrorism leader Hillary Markowitz; Lauri Regan, Esq.; Eve Steiglitz; and others.
Another huge rally against the dangerous Iran deal will take place at the Capitol building lawn in Washington D.C. next Wednesday, September 9, and will feature presidential candidates Donald Trump, Senator Ted Cruz and television commentator Glenn Beck. The September 9th rally is sponsored by Tea Party Patriots, the Center for Security Policy and the Zionist Organization of America. Additionally, on that day, 1000 Rabbis, headed by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations (OU), will march to the steps of the Capitol Building, to demand that Congress votes against the suicidal Iran Deal, mirroring the Rabbinical march that took place in 1943.
