November 5, 2009
By Akiva Dym, Grinspoon Israel Advocacy Intern, Brooklyn College
As an Israel advocate, I feel it was extremely important for me to attend the Stand for Freedom in Iran Rally at the UN in September. But even more than that, I felt as a human being, and a person part of the international community, it was my duty to attend this rally. The rally was a rally not specifically against Iran, but rather against the tyrannical ruler who rules his country with an iron fist, repressing his citizens and allowing them no civil or human rights. President Ahmadinejad is a man who not only represses the citizens of Iran, but also threatens the international community with his threats of nuclear warfare.
More specifically in relation to Israel and the Jewish nation, he has repeatedly called the Holocaust a lie, and has also called for the destruction of the State of Israel and death to all the Jews. His constant threats of nuclear war against Israel have made him a threat to the entire world, and even more so, the peaceful democratic country of Israel.
As an Israel advocate on campus, I felt it was imperative that I attend this rally to show that such threats and rants by this man will not go unchallenged and that we will not stand quiet while he continues to threaten the well being of Israel. It is important for me, someone who is active in pro-Israel activities on campus, to clearly stand against these obscene statements and threats about Israel.
At the rally, I had numerous interactions with many people there, both positive and negative. I was pleasantly surprised to see people of all backgrounds at the rally, young and old, and from all ethnicities, present. Many people there were working business people, who took time off from work to come attend, while even more were students who came from school to attend. I spoke with many immigrants from Iran, who were proudly waving their Iranian flags, and rallying as fiercely as the next. The few that I spoke to all expressed the same sentiments as I, and expressed their outrage that such a man as Ahmadinejad was allowed to remain in power and repress not only the citizens of Iran, but to threaten such a wonderful country as Israel. It felt so amazing to hear these sentiments from Iranian citizens, as it once again reinforced my feelings that we should not have feelings of hate against the country of Iran as a whole, but rather the one man who is the root of all this evil.
One of the most negative interactions I had at the rally, however, (and pretty much the only one) was unfortunately with the infamous “Neturei Karta.” These so called “Hasidim” continue to arrive at every pro-Israel or anti-Iran Rally and spew their radical and widely ridiculed ideas. They not only support the dismantling of the State of Israel, but they have also met with Ahmadinejad at a conference denying the Holocaust. This small group of 25 men create a horrible image, which the media gobbles up. There were just as many police officers protecting these Neturei Karta from angry rally attendees as there were actual Neturei Karta present. They are a constant thorn in the side of many, and they serve only to incite anger and violence among the peaceful rally attendees.
The general sentiment among the people at the rally as a whole was one of hope and peace. The people who attended were either there to demonstrate against Ahmadinejad's cruel treatment of his citizens, or to rally in favor of Israel, or for both. Most of the people I spoke to expressed disgust that Ahmadinejad was even being allowed the time to speak at the UN, and that he was even allowed into the U.S. Furthermore, they were all shocked that the international community had not responded more harshly than with mere “trade sanctions.” However, most people there were there out of peace, to demonstrate peacefully that we will not stand by while the State of Israel is threatened daily, the Holocaust is denied openly, and the people of Iran are treated with less respect than most animals. We all hope that in the near future, not only will the people of Iran be liberated, but that Ahmadinejad will be displaced from his position of power, and that the State of Israel can once again continue its peaceful standing in the international community, without constant threat of annihilation from its Iranian neighbor.