Professor Alan Dershowitz made it very clear that the issue of a nuclear-armed Iran is a bipartisan issue, one that must not be seen as something only Republicans or only Israelis care about. He proudly told the crowd he is a “liberal Democrat.” Dershowitz said he is opposed to this “very, very bad deal,” and he is asking his fellow liberals and Democrats to oppose it also.
As a law professor and one who stood with Obama on many occasions, Dershowitz shocked some of those in the crowd – not because of the content, but because of the messenger – “this rally is a great example of American democracy.” But the process in Washington surrounding this deal “is a distortion of democracy.”
Dershowitz declared that the deal is actually a treaty, and should be presented to the Senate for a two thirds vote. Or, the law professor said, if not a treaty then the deal is a presidential executive agreement, which requires a vote in favor by a simple majority of the House and of the Senate, and not a two-thirds vote against from each house, which is how this deal has been structured.
Although several of the speakers invoked the name of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Dershowitz said he knows Netanyahu well, and “Bibi will not allow Iran to develop a weapon that will destroy Israel.” He finished with a flourish: “Israel has the ability to defend itself, whatever it takes!”
Caroline Glick was the most animated of the speakers. She began with a rousing, “Hello, New York!” And explained that she is from “the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem!” As with many of the other speakers, Glick importuned those in the audience to contact their elected representatives and tell them to defeat the bill.
Glick said there were just two things people really had to know about the deal. First, that it will give the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism $150 billion to use to fund still more terror. “And as my grandmother in Brooklyn would say,” Glick explained, “that’s real money.” Second, Iran is guaranteed to be able to produce nuclear bombs in ten years, and that’s even if they don’t cheat on this deal.”
“What part of this do you not understand?” Glick asked Congress. “Is there really a question now?” She told them “you must look at this big picture and you know what to do. That is, unless you have no honor and no shame.”
Steve Emerson is considered by many to be one of the leading experts on terrorism. He described the nuclear deal with Iran as perhaps “the worst international agreement in history.”