ontof
Anti.- 11,1
About 400 partic nts gathered
Monday for a Ily protesting
the U.S. visit of Iran's President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Namin
The Evil
Local rally protests Ahmadinejad's U.S. visit and Iran's goals.
Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor
W bile thousands of Americans
gathered outside the United
Nations and at Columbia
University in New York City Monday
to protest the visit of Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, about 400 pro-
testers stood near the entrance of the
Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington
Hills with the same intentions.
"We lend our voices to those ral-
lying on the streets in New York, and
our shared message is that Iran must
not acquire nuclear weapons',' Robert
Cohen told the local crowd to boisterous
applause. He is executive director of the
Jewish Community Relations Council of
Metropolitan Detroit, sponsor of the rally.
Upper-level students from Yeshivat
Akiva in Southfield arrived on the
Zekelman Family Campus first, setting the
tone with their spirited hora dancing in
separate boys and girls circles, while those
on the sidelines waved posters and Israeli
and American flags.
Soon, students from the Frankel Jewish
Academy in West Bloomfield and adults
from the Jewish and general communities
joined them.
"I'm glad our school brought us here to
show our love and dedication to Israel,"
said Kendall Maxbauer, 16, a FJA student
from Farmington Hills.
"I'm so proud to be here supporting
Israel and America:' said Miriam Barth,
16, an Akiva student from Oak Park.
"When we read about how complacent
today's youth are, then you look at the
Akiva and Jewish Academy students who
are growing up to be activists and active
in the community, it warms my heart:'
said Ann Zousmer of Bloomfield Hills.
Ron Dzwonkowski, editorial page editor
of the Detroit Free Press, was a speaker.
Steven Baum of East Lansing expresses
his views at the rally.
"Their presence here is very important:'
Students helped circulate petitions that
condemned Ahmadinejad and Iran for
"criminal incitement to genocide, pursu-
ing nuclear proliferation in defiance of the
U.N., support for international terrorism,
denying the Holocaust and threatening a
fellow U.N. member state [Israel]."
The petition calls for the U.N. Security
Council to invoke the genocide convention;
file a complaint against Ahmadinejad, for-
mer president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
and other Iranian leaders with the
International Court of Justice; and urges
all countries to bar the Iranian leader and
other officials from being admitted to
their shores.
"Allowing such a dangerous and char-
ismatic leader to address an assembly of
lawmaking politicians is a huge mistake,'
said Mikey Soclof, 16, a FJA student from
Ann Arbor. "Giving the president of Iran
this opportunity only validates his posi-
tion to extremists around the world."
Irony Of A Free Forum
Yet, despite all the protests, Ahmadinejad
spoke at Columbia, bringing what he
claimed was "correct and clear" informa-
tion to the American people.
"I doubt he will appreciate the irony of
being able to speak freely here, and surely
offend many, while people doing the same
in Iran would be imprisoned," said Ron
Dzwonkowski, editorial page editor of the
Detroit Free Press, which one month ago
published an editorial stating: "Iran is
unquestionably an international menace."
"Sometimes, with people such as the
Iranian president, it's actually best to just
let them keep talking, to let them define
themselves and, in no uncertain terms,
to let the world see the reality of the dan-
ger they present:' Dzwonkowski told the
crowd.
"It's also better, to me, to have such
views out in the open, where they can
be rejected and repudiated, than to keep
them secret and unchallenged. I don't
know how many people in Iran or else-
where in the world buy what he says or
believe as he does. I just know that I'm
glad the world gets to see him for what he
is — and glad I live in a society where he
doesn't get the last word."
Rabbi Charles Rosenzweig, founder of
the Holocaust Memorial Center, welcomed
the crowd to the center, where he "certainly
would not welcome the Iranian president,
a man who calls the Holocaust a myth and
wants Israel wiped off the map."
David Blewett of the Dove Institute in
Southfield and national director of the
National Christian Leadership Conference for
Israel, said his two groups stand with Israel
when it is being threatened. "Too much of
history proves that when the Jews are threat-
ened, Christians are next',' he said. "We are in
opposition to this government and especially
this president. Iran is a threat right now:'
Daniel Cohen-Arcamone of FJA also
spoke, emphasizing Ahmadinejad's denial
of the Holocaust. "How dare you deny
our relatives who died at the hands of the
Nazis?" he said.
JCRC's Robert Cohen ended the rally
with some suggestions for action, includ-
ing signing the petition and contacting
members of Congress and the White
House directly. For contact information, go
to www.detroitjcrc.org .
JN Teen2Teen staffers Adina Applebaum from
Yeshivat Akiva and Rachel Margolin from the
Frankel Jewish Academy contributed to this
report.
September 27 • 2007
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