Dr. Marvin Belsky, another central organizer of Jewish Rapid Response Coalition, was explicit: “Senator Gillibrand must understand that she and other Obama legacy supporters will pay the price of an aroused electorate who by a large majority 60% to 31% feel betrayed. By holding the Sept 1 event in front of her New York office, we are proclaiming to her as our flier says, ‘Gillibrand Don’t Surrender America, Support Schumer.'”
“American history is filled with patriotic leaders who have changed their political stance when new facts emerged. Certainly Sen. Gillibrand was not aware of subsequent polling that showed a large majority of her constituents are in opposition to her position, she did not know that there is a secret side agreement that allows the duplicitous Iranians to self-monitor themselves, she did not know that Iran was already violating the arms embargo, she did not know that there are Obama letters which eliminate the promise of sanctions “snap-backs,” Belsky said.
Dr. Paul Brody, Vice President of the Great Neck-based Jewish Political Education Foundation, and one of the key organizers of both Stop Iran Rallies, said it is imperative that as many people as possible attend the event, both to “encourage NY’s junior Senator to join with Schumer against the ‘deal’ and to not surrender America.”
While Brody is pleased that Schumer has come out strong against the deal, he is not yet ready to let the senior senator coast on his promised “no” vote.
“We must remind him of his responsibility as a leader to influence other Democrats across the country to veto the deal,” Brody told the JewishPress.com
The Stop Iran Now! committee and the JRRC hope that people in other cities will follow the lead of New York and organize events focused on informing still-on-the-fence legislators that they must not permit congressional approval of the deal.
Dr. Brody exclaimed “We need to be much more effective and efficacious than our forebears in the 1940’s, when the American Jewish community was virtually impotent.”
“Given the success of the Times Square Rally and the fact that it was the impetus for rallies across the country, we feel confident that September 1st will provide a second blueprint for others across the country to do the same,” Regan told the JewishPress.com.
“Cardin and Mikulski in Maryland, Bennet in Colorado, Warner in Virginia, and Blumenthal in Connecticut for instance, all need to hear from their constituents en masse that a vote of approval may be politically expedient in the face of undue pressure from the White House but the American people will not stand for self-interest over fulfilling their duty to protect and defend the American people.
“This is a black and white issue. There is no gray.”
The organizers of the New York events have created a website, StopIranRally.org, which contains a wealth of information about events taking place across the country, an up-to-date listing of how legislators are voting, and informative articles and videos.
“All of the organizing, all of the signage, the website, the logistics, the media relations, all of this has been handled by volunteers,” explained Richard Allen, a New York businessman and a founding member of the grass roots groups which have come together over this issue.
“People with regular day jobs have put in incredible amounts of time on these events because they see the danger and they understand the vacuum which otherwise exists because the official Jewish organizations are not putting their own resources and networks into this critical effort.”
