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Jewish locals rally against Ahmadinejad

By Sarah Morrison

September 26, 2008

Thousands of people from all walks of life -- many from right here in Central Jersey -- gathered in the Dag Hammerskjold Plaza in Manhattan to protest Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's invitation to the United Nations.

Protestors and police lined 47th Street between 1st and 2nd avenues, all wanting to ask the U.N. the same question: "Why did you invite such a man to your headquarters?"

Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, has faced much criticism from many different groups around the world for his Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism, crimes against his own people, pursuit of nuclear weapons, and his constant violations of international law regarding the enrichment of uranium, a crucial step to building a nuclear bomb.

People from all faiths and countries came out to stand against Ahmadinejad, his policies, and his numerous violations of international law. Looking at the crowd, however, one sect of people stood out: young Jewish people from as close as New York or as far as Canada made up a majority of the crowd.

Noam Weinberger, a sophomore at Yeshiva University and a Highland Park resident, was impressed with the youth appearance at the rally.

"The first thing I noticed was how much a social scene it was for high school and college kids," Weinberger said. "There were a lot of Jewish high school and college kids there. [The rally] would have not been much of anything if schools did not send buses of people and encouraged their students to go."

Yeshiva University actively encouraged its students to attend the rally. Most professors canceled class and those who did not were required to give their students excused absences.

"There were flyers on all the doors of the classrooms," Weinberger said. "The rabbis and the teachers were all encouraging the students to go, so there was a push from the administration itself. It makes it easier to not have to worry about school."

Weinberger took time out of his day to show his support to use his presence to express his opinion regarding Iran.

"As with any rally, it's important to show that there are significant amounts of people with a certain point of view," Weinberger said. "Also, even if that doesn't make much of an effect, it is important to get together with people you agree with, almost like moral support."

The sense of unity that Weinberger felt was shared by Touro College sophomore Sarah Zelka. Zelka, an East Brunswick resident, felt the unity spoke volumes.

"Everyone who participated showed that there's something crazy going on in the world," Zelka said. "Its really important that you see a ton of people there who are passionate about having Ahmadinejad come. He is going to affect America and Israel. This is something very important that the world stands up for. Seeing so many people for the same purpose really moved me."

Many participants in the rally were so moved to action that they produced their own signs. One woman handed out pins with a swastika affixed with Ahmadinejad's face with a bold red line through it. Others held up hand-made neon posters with slogans such as "Iran Should Not Have Nukes."

One student in particular was more creative than most. Springfield resident Eitan Levine, also a sophomore at Yeshiva University, had a personal favor to ask of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Levine's sign of protest was a neon green posterboard with "Palin: Call Me" written on it, followed by his cell phone number. Although Eitan did not receive a call from Palin, he did hear from the New York Times, curious as to why he made the sign.

"Originally, the sign was a joke," stand-up comic Levine told The Jewish State. "But when Hillary [Clinton] made a big deal about Palin being at the rally and basically caused politicians to be banned from the rally, it transformed into a political statement. Hillary backs Obama, and it appears to me that Obama does not have an opinion about the whole Ahmadinejad situation. McCain and Palin have strong opinions. The obvious choice for me became McCain-Palin."

Needless to say, Levine was surprised when Times reporter Colin Moynihan called the number to learn more about his creative protest.

"The New York Times photographer took a picture of me and someone from the Metro section called me and interviewed me," Levine said. The story was placed on the Web site after the rally and was published, with a picture of the now famous sign, on Tuesday.

"There's a chance that Palin will still call me," a still hopeful Levine said several hours after the rally.

What exactly will Levine say when she calls?

"I want to tell her that we support you and we love you and the Jewish community will stand behind you," Levine said.

The rally originally was to feature Clinton as a keynote speaker, but she pulled out soon after learning that Palin would be speaking at the rally as well. Palin was then asked not to speak at the rally in order to "depoliticize" the event. The controversy attracted protestors from both sides, but just as many decided not to support their candidate for president and instead focused on the issue at hand.

Weinberger had a sticker affixed to his shirt from a Republican Jewish organization. However, he crossed out the word "Republican" in order to "be apolitical today, when I'm here to focus on the issue of Iran."

Ahmadinejad's speech chastised the American economy and its recent difficulties, as well as to justify his reason for producing nuclear material. Thousands of people gathered outside the U.N. didn't buy it.