By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
New York, NY — July 22, 2015 … Over 15, ooo protestors lined New York’s Time Square this evening denouncing a deal which would give Iran nuclear weapons.
The STOP IRAN RALLY coalition, which attracted a large Jewish and Christian presence, released the following statement:
“Today, at 5:30 PM in New York City, Times Square became ground zero for the start of a national 60-day campaign to block the Iran nuclear accords,” said Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, one of the rally’s volunteer coordinators.
“The STOP IRAN Rally marks the first day of a sustained campaign that will target every senator and congressman who refuses to support an override of the expected presidential veto of Congressional disapproval.”
Wiesenfeld continued: “Thousands of Americans, from all faith traditions, political interests, and communities, hundreds of whom came from around the country, stood in Times Square today to make their opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal known and to demand that Congress vote down the deal.”
The rally was streamed live at stopiranrally.org.
Other protests will follow in major states, cities and congressional districts where representatives refuse to pass a resolution of disapproval or vote to override the President’s threatened veto.
“Today’s STOP IRAN Rally is just the beginning, but it marks the bipartisan and ecumenical representation of the scope and breadth of American opposition to this deal that has crossed every single red line committed to by the President and his advisers,” Wiesenfeld said.
Speakers at the STOP IRAN Rally in Times Square included two-dozen prominent politicians, terrorism and legal scholars, journalists, and former military leaders, all united in opposition to the Iran deal:
John Batchelor, David Brog, Monica Crowley, Alan Dershowitz, US Congressman Trent Franks, Steven Emerson, Frank Gaffney,Caroline Glick, Kasim Hafeez, Pete Hoekstra, Richard Kemp, Tony LoBianco, Herbert I. London, Clare M. Lopez, U.S. Navy AdmiralJames A. “Ace” Lyons, Kevin McCullough, Robert Morgenthau, George Pataki, General Paul Vallely, Allen West, Genevieve Wood, James Woolsey, and Mortimer Zuckerman.
The release of four American hostages being held in Iran were not part of the deal, something at which critics addressed.
Those hostages are Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, pastor Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine Corp sergeant, and Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent.
“We don’t even get our four hostages back,” said George Pataki., former governor of New York and a current presidential candidate. “We get a piece of paper from a regime that has never honored its word.”
Former Florida Congressman and army veteran Col. Allen West was enraged over the Iran nuclear deal. The Republican strongly criticized President Barack Obama’s leadership on the issue, calling him a “weakling” and “charlatan.”
West asked the crowd of thousands “what message” the United States is sending by negotiating with the “number one state sponsor of terrorism” and a country that is holding “four Americans hostage.”
“No different than the last time we had a weakling in the White House when we had 52 Americans being held hostage,” he added, referring to the Iranian hostage crisis during the Jimmy Carter administration.
“I want President Obama to know one thing,” West said. “You may say that you have done something that no one else has done. You know why no one else has done it? Because it’s a damn stupid thing you just did.”
He continued: “If people are upset because of what I’m saying, I really don’t care. Because I had a father that stood at World War II…I gave 22 years of my life to make sure that that great beacon of liberty, freedom and democracy continues to stand. And I have a nephew, I have friends that are still serving on the front lines — and my commitment is to the oath that I took on 31, July, 1982, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
The Iran nuclear deal would allow Iran, whose leaders continue to chant “death to America, death to Israel”, to have nuclear weapons within 10 years. It would also provide over 150 billion dollars to Iran which continues to fund both the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his objections to the recently announced Iran nuclear deal during a meeting with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, making clear he has no intention of backing away from a fight with the White House.
The tension was evident from the moment Netanyahu greeted Carter at his office in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu, at the start of a separate meeting Tuesday with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said he told Mr. Carter that “the deal with Iran poses grave threats to Israel and the Middle East, to Europe and the world.” He called it a “historic mistake.”
Scholar and Democrat Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor, appealed to fellow liberals to side with Republican opposition.
“It is a bad deal for Democrats. It is a bad deal for liberals. I am here opposing this deal as a liberal Democrat,” he said.
Dershowitz called the deal bad for America, bad for world peace and bad for the security of the Middle East.
The Republican majority Congress has 60 days to review the deal.
The Congress can pass a motion of disapproval, but President Barack Obama can then veto that. An override of the veto requires two-thirds approval in both the House and Senate.