World
IRAN INTRIGUE
Denouncing Destruction
Jewish community rallies to protest Ahmadinejad at the U.N.
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C.J. Apel, 16, of Farmington Hills speaks at the rally. He is surrounded by fellow students from the Frankel Jewish Rev. Sandra K. Gordon of Detroit and Rebecca
Academy in West Bloomfield.
Grossman, 17, of Oak Park
D.H. Rogers
Special to the Jewish News
I is now an annual event. Whenever
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad goes to the United
Nations in New York, members of Detroit's
Jewish community gather in protest at
the Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC) in
Farmington Hills.
"He's back and so are we said Robert
Cohen, director of the Jewish Community
Relations Council (JCRC) of Metropolitan
Detroit, which organized its second rally to
protest Ahmadinejad's visit to the United
States for the opening of the United Nations
General Assembly.
Rabbi Aaron Bergman of Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills, the Rev.
Kenneth Flowers of the Greater New Mt.
Moriah Missionary Baptist Church of
Detroit and students from the Frankel
Jewish Academy in West Bloomfield,
Hillel Day School in Farmington Hills and
Yeshivat Akiva in Southfield rallied the
crowd. They cited the Iranian leader's desire
to destroy Israel and the United States,
Holocaust denial, human rights abuses,
support of terrorism and oppression of his
people.
A30
September 25 a 2008
"Peace-loving people are standing
together today; the world must stop Iran
from acquiring nuclear weapons:' Cohen
said to applause from the 300 people, most-
ly students from area Jewish day schools,
who attended the protest. Several held signs
and banners with slogans such as "Never
Again, Act Now" and "Stand for Freedom
and Those Who Defend It!'
Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig, HMC founder
and director, said Ahmadinejad has a "per-
verted version of what the Muslim religion
represents!' Though Ahamadinejad says he
wants to destroy all Israelis and "wipe out
Christians and wipe out Muslims who don't
agree with him," he said the threats aren't
the biggest problem.
"We have put up with such threats for
centuries:' Rosenzveig said in his welcome
remarks. "But when that hatred is connect-
ed into ability to do what they really like
to do then it becomes very dangerous. The
acquisition of nuclear weapons by the mul-
lahs of Iran poses not only a threat to Israel,
but a threat to the civilized world!'
In his keynote speech, Bergman said,
"I'm honored to be part of a community
that refuses to be silent. I'm saddened and
angry that we have to be here again!'
Standing at the entrance to the HMC,
which he called "an accusation against
those who didn't stand up to hatred:'
Bergman, a child of survivors, took special
offense at Ahmadinejad's denial of the
Holocaust. Holocaust denial is a regular
theme for the Iranian president who, in
2006, sponsored an infamous international
cartoon contest for denial and organized a
denial conference in Tehran that included
American Neo-Nazi David Duke.
"Rewriting the past is the first step
towards destroying the future he told the
crowd.
"I'm here to let you all know we will
not allow President Ahmadinejad to
destroy Israel: Flowers said. Last January,
Flowers received a Martin Luther King Jr.
Israel Award from the Fellowship of Black
America during an interfaith trip to Israel
organized by the JCRC.
"Iran must never, ever get nuclear weap-
ons in their hands," Flowers said to sus-
tained applause. "This is not just a Jewish
problem, not just a Christian problem; it is,
in fact, a problem for the whole world.
"Let me be unequivocally clear: I am not
against innocent citizens and civilians of
Iran. But we must stand against the very
face of evil that seeks to destroy Israel and
the United States:' Flowers said. "We must
stand against evil, hate and bitterness. We
must stand for peace, justice and freedom!'
Students Speak Out
Yeshivat Akiva senior Sarah Spitzer, 17, of
West Bloomfield greeted the crowd by say-
ing,"Hello to all who want peace!' Then she
invoked a vision of bodies vaporized by a
nuclear explosion from the big screen spec-
tacle Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull. She said the scene stuck with
her and seemed especially important given
the threat of a nuclear Iran.
Explaining that her family has hosted
a moderate Muslim leader at their home,
she contrasted a peaceful Islam commit-
ted to co-existence, respect and God with
Ahmadinejad, who she called a "megalo-
maniac leader" committed to an "end-times
scenario and Armageddon!'
He heads "a lying, killing, terrorism-
breeding regime she said, warning, he
will go to the U.N. "with a smile on his
face, sugar in his words and a knife in his
pocket!'
Three students from the Frankel Jewish
Academy also addressed the crowd flanked
by banners they had made for the rally.
Ben Luger, 16, of West Bloomfield spoke
of the Iranian denial of human rights by