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Like most of the dozens of speakers at the Stand for Freedom in Iran rally Sept. 24 in Manhattan, Elie Wiesel called for an end to Iran's nuclear program and human rights violations against its people.

But in his "solemn appeal," Wiesel gave even more specific instructions to the world leaders gathered for that week's United Nations General Assembly: Don't greet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when you see him, and don't salute him when he salutes you.

"He is unworthy of your attention, unworthy of being your colleague, unworthy of being in your presence," said Wiesel, arguably the most well known Holocaust survivor and author of his time, as well as a Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

Thousands of people gathered in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on 2nd Avenue at 47th Street, even snaking around to 3rd Avenue, to protest Ahmadinejad's government and his appearance at the U.N., where he spoke the day before the rally. Wiesel, however, wondered why international leaders weren't doing the same.

"How can you leaders of the world accept him in your midst without protest?" Wiesel asked. "How can you sit next to a brutal and anti-Semitic dictator who preaches hatred?"

Kicking off a wide array of speakers from religious, political, and community organizations, Janice Shorenstein, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of New York, pointed out the diversity of the organizations that came to support the JCRC-sponsored rally.

"Muslims, Jews, and Christians -- we all stand here united as one," Shorenstein said, and followed by leading the crowd in a chant of "Free Iran Now" three times, which along with "Stop Iran Now" turned into a refrain throughout the afternoon.

The coalition of groups protesting Iran does not claim to be united on every policy, Shorenstein said, but agrees on some fundamental issues: that the people of Iran deserve freedom and human rights, and that Iran needs to cease exporting terror around the world and stop its genocidal intentions against Israel.

The rally represented the UJA's tradition of speaking out when it matters most, said Jerry Levin, chair of the board at the UJA-Federation of New York.

"What's at stake is the security of Israel and the entire region," Levin said. "What's at stake is world peace."

Levin praised the next speaker, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, for not only speaking out against about Iran, but taking decisive action by divesting $86 in state pension funds from nine companies doing business in Iran and Sudan in June. William Thompson, New York City's comptroller, said the city's policies fall in line with the same spirit.

"I've made sure that no American firm [in New York City] has been able to do business with Iran to help the flow of terrorist dollars," Thompson said.

Betsy Gotbaum, New York City's public advocate, said of Ahmadinejad that "I don't welcome this man, whose name I can't pronounce, to New York City." Perhaps intentionally, Gotbaum followed with one of the day's various mangled pronunciations of Ahmadinejad's name.

Human rights expert Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister and attorney general in Canada, stressed that Ahmadinejad is clearly guilty of crimes against humanity and belongs "in the docket of the accused" rather than the U.N.

"Bringing Ahmadinejad to justice is not a policy option, it is a legally mandated responsibility," Cotler said.

Calling Ahmadinejad the "No. 1 Holocaust denier in the world," Wiesel echoed Cotler's sentiment that Ahmadinejad must be tried for crimes against humanity at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.

Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Jewish Labor Committee as well as the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union of United States and Canada, said that, "in contemporary Iran, worker rights simply do not exist."

Appelbaum noted that on Labor Day, Iranian police locked up 2,000 workers, physically attacked them, and even broke all cameras and cell phones that were there so word on the incident wouldn't spread.

However, "the story did get out and we are determined to tell it," Appelbaum said. Appelbaum called on labor unions worldwide to stand with Iranian workers because "there can be no true freedom in Iran absent the freedom to organize."

New York Governor David Paterson said that everyone's presence at the rally showed that they were exercising their democratic rights, but that such freedoms do not exist in Iran.

"We are here to speak for the people of Iran without a voice," Paterson said.

Sheldon Silver, speaker of the New York State Assembly, explained how "the Iranian people have tasted freedom" in modern times and therefore yearn for their human rights and their dignity.

"Technology has allowed them to appreciate the world outside of the cage," Silver said.

Christine Quinn, speaker of the New York City Council, said the rally is not only a defense of Israel and the Jewish people, but a statement in support of what freedom means to the world.

"Hate against one group of people is hate against all people," Quinn said.

Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, said that people at the rally knew the all-important difference between decent human beings and murderers, something that unfortunately not everyone grasps.

"I see the signs that you are carrying and they speak the truth," Giuliani told the audience.

"If the U.N. is truly interested in a peaceful world, then it will prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power," he added.

As the rally came just a few days before Yom Kippur, David Borowich, chairman of the Council of Young Jewish Presidents, decided to frame the issues at hand in religious terms.

While Jews now blow the shofar during the High Holidays to awaken people to repent, the prophet Joshua blew the shofar during the battle of Jericho, leading to walls of the city to tumble down, Borowich said. Therefore, at the rally, Borowich welcomed up three men to blow the shofar to signify the fight against Iranian oppression.

"Totalitarian states and totalitarian regimes have threatened Israel before, and they have faded into the dustbin of history," Borowich said.