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World

Blasting Iran

Rally lashes out at Iranian nuclear aspirations, terrorism and anti-Semitism.

Allan Gale of the JCRC, Laurence Gunsberq of Farmington Hills and Douglas Miller of Franklin discuss the U.S. political situation and Iran.

Don Cohen

Special to the Jewish News

ewish community organiza-
tions across the nation orga-
nized protest rallies Sept. 24 to
coincide with Iran President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's appearance at the open-
ing of the of the United Nations General
Assembly. Locally, about 150 people
gathered outside the Holocaust Memorial
Center (HMC) on the Zekelman Family
Campus in Farmington Hills to hear
speeches, condemn anti-Semitism and
encourage action to prevent Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons.
It was the third consecutive year that
the Jewish Community Relations Council
of Metropolitan Detroit (JCRC) organized
a rally coinciding with Ahmadinejad's
U.N. visit.
The Iranian leader's speech the previ-
ous day did not deny the Holocaust nor
overtly call for the destruction of Israel
as he had just days before in his annual
Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day speech in Iran.

j

There, he called for an investigation of the
Holocaust and termed the destruction of
Israel a religious and moral duty.
At the U.N., however, he also charged
Israel with "genocide," called Israelis
"Zionist murderers:' described Israel's
existence as "60 years of carnage and
invasion',' and warned that "the dignity,
integrity and rights of the American and
European people are being played with
by a small but deceitful number of people
called Zionists."
U.N. delegates from Israel, Argentina,
Australia, Britain, Canada, Costa Rica,
Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy,
New Zealand and the United States either
boycotted the speech or walked out.
Later in the day, President Barack
Obama pushed for new sanctions in the
U.N. Security Council, then called for more
measures after a second, formerly secret
Iranian nuclear facility was revealed.

Destabilizing Mideast
Robert Cohen, JCRC director, opened
the Holocaust Memorial Center rally by
admonishing Ahmadinejad on several

counts. "Shame on you for what you've done
to your own people he said to applause,
adding that Iran "brutally suppressed"
peaceful protesters, supports Hamas,
Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad terrorism as
well as Shiites fighting American troops
in Iraq, spreads anti-Semitism, denies the
Holocaust and exports "extremist Islam"
around the world.
Cohen said Iranian nukes will destabi-
lize the region by setting off an arms race
and threatening Israel and Arab moder-
ates. "It will extend a nuclear umbrella
over the heads of terrorists and, possibly,
put them in their hands;' he warned, call-
ing for "extreme economic sanctions:'
Dr. Guy Stern told the crowd, "We must
stop any and all deniers of this horror [the
Holocaust], whether it be street hoodlums
or figures in high places:'
The interim director of the HMC
recalled how the "warnings of the '30s
and '40s went unheeded." He implored the
world to use "peaceful but effective mea-
sures to arrest the development of these
most lethal weapons before it is too late:'
Added Rabbi Joseph H. Krakoff of

Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Oakland
County and president of the Michigan
Board of Rabbis, "Sadly, what the world
still does not understand is that Iran is
not a Jewish problem. It is a problem
for every peace-loving person and every
peace-loving nation on this planet. As the
Islamic Republic daily continues its pur-
suit of nuclear technology, we must work
today to ensure that those who speak of
wiping a nation off the map never again
have the ability to do so.
"We are united in raising our voices in
protest of Ahmadinejad's visit to the United
Nations, the very body whose resolutions he
has knowingly ignored and even mocked:'
Rev. Kenneth Flowers, pastor of Greater
New Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church
in Detroit, gave an impassioned speech in
support of Israel and the Jewish people.
Calling Ahmadinejad "demented, deranged
and not fit to speak at the United Nations
... let alone lead the Iranian people',' he
spoke of his four visits to the Yad Vashem,
Israel's Holocaust memorial museum, and

Blasting Iran on page 28

October -1 - .2009 2■