The violence of silence

By Stanley Zir

Any remarks I have made concerning the people and organizations in this op-ed can be substantiated through emails, written documents, and their own words. I have spent more than ten years imploring the leaders of the pro-Zionist conservative organizations in America to make their top priority the prevention of Iran becoming a legitimate nuclear terrorist state and calling for the immediate destruction of the Iran Nuclear Holocaust War machine. Unfortunately, to no avail. Both of these urgings were summarily dismissed by the leadership, so as a result, today we stand weakened and paralyzed, meekly hoping for the best with the next administration.

Doubly-armed with the US Constitution that mandates the protection of humanity from the scourge of tyranny and a sacred covenant that obligates us to repair the world, Americans Jews cannot permit our government, the leader of the "Free World," to embrace a foreign policy that promotes a nuclear holocaust and endangers any land that ascribes to freedom and democracy, as does Iran.

Unfortunately, the pro-Zionist conservative organizations bypassed this sacred endeavor when they became an outright obstruction to those who demanded the elimination of Iran's nuclear Holocaust war machine. Not only did they forfeit their mission to secure a safe Israel, they abandoned their own "Never Again" mandate.

In 2008, I went to the United Nations rally http://www.neveragainisnow.net/archives/290-the-un-rally-in-september-2008 to protest the lack of commitment by our Jewish right-wing pro-Zionists to making Iran, and her nuclear build-up their top priority and to demand that a military strike be launched by America that would end the threat by destroying Iran. Ironically, I kept hearing the words 'Stop Iran' at every rally and in every speech. We were told that we had to stop Iran from becoming an armed nuclear terrorist state in order to prevent Israel's destruction. What did the prominent speakers mean by, 'Stop,' in the phrase, 'Stop Iran Now'?In eight years, I never heard anything from our Jewish American patriots demanding America, the leader of the free world, take military action against Iran, especially since a nuclear Iran was a global threat.

It was at that rally that I met with many Holocaust survivors whose past experience with indescribably inhumane experiences gave them the foresight to see that what was happening in Iran had all the similarities to what happened in Germany, Poland, Russia, Hungary and most of Europe. Nuclear power in the hands of a barbaric, terrorist nation was the building of another Holocaust machine, only bigger, worse and more maniacal, if that could be possibly fathomable. It was at the urging of these Holocaust survivors that convinced me to push forward the agenda to destroy Iran's growing nuclear capacity. I knew then that it would be my personal mission to ensure that all those American groups who claim to be an advocate for a safe Israel would demand the destruction of Iranian nuclear plants and make it their top priority.

In the years following that 2008 rally, I met with hundreds of leaders of the Jewish and Christian pro-Zionists groups, Rabbis, newspaper editors and activists championing the quest that Iran must be our top priority. The results of those encounters were beyond disheartening. The wonderful Rebbetzin Jungreis (OBM), told me to forget about fighting the establishment about the Holocaust because it will just drive me crazy. Rebbetzin Jungreis said she had tried her best and no one would listen. She suggested that I would be better concentrating on finding a nice Jewish girl, instead.

Over and over, I was told by these well-respected and supposedly knowledgeable leaders, that I was wasting my time. Even Herbert Sweibon, the founder of AFSI (Americans for a safe Israel) told me the same thing. Each rabbi reiterated his advice.

Today, there is an outcry from the Jewish conservative community, as well as most of the Republican party, that it is inconceivable that President Obama won't dare say the words "Islamic jihad." They can't believe it. Well, that is exactly my position about these same leaders, except it is the non-verbalization of the words, "We demand the destruction of Iran's nuclear Holocaust terrorist war machine" that I find preposterous. Rallies, speeches, editorials by top Pro-Israel celebrities, but not one has called for the destruction. I have waited exasperated for eight long fruitless years and every day I listen, hoping to hear even one other angry, determined voice unwilling to accept this outrage. Where is the fire in their bellies? Where is the warrior blood from the beneficiaries of King David's valor?

Essentially, Iran is constructing chambers of death replacing Zyklon B with nuclear bombs, completing Hitler's work. How dare any nation in the free world , especially Germany, not immediately demand the destruction of Iran's nuclear war machine? How is it that even my fellow American Jews don't demand it? How dare they speak of their love for Israel yet remain silent?

After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brazenly announced that he would wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, every Jewish organization, Rabbi, Federation and pro-Zionist leader should have been shouting from every window, standing on every street corner, demanding from every mountain top that the total destruction of the nuclear jihadist Holocaust machine was the only option.

It is now eight years since that lunatic declared Iran's intentions to destroy Israel and almost a year since the double crossing deal was made. As the target moves closer and closer to Israel and Jews all around the world, all we hear is silence. Dead silence.

AFSI, whose slogan is "We don't run" is doing exactly that and the other American Zionist organizations are quickly catching up with them as they continue to run away from the Never Again battlefield. What's worse is they have taken all their well-meaning followers with them in an act of desertion.

For these ineffective leaders, the death of six million Jews killed in the Holocaust and the protection of the six million Jews who now live in Israel is still not a good enough reason for them to make this demand of our world leaders. While in fact, our own administration is supporting a foreign policy that supports this Holocaust, by making a deal with Iran in the first place. It's outrageous.

For years, I wondered why the Jewish leadership of the Pro-Zionist groups never called out for the destruction of Iran's nuclear infrastructure and made it their top priority. The astonishing answer came to me through a group email sent to Mark Langfan, the President of AFSI, around the time of the Lincoln Center rally.

"The next critical step is for all of us to call on those 353 U.S. Representatives to demand that President Obama implement a plan for the immediate destruction of Iran's nuclear infrastructure...the only reality-based "comprehensive solution" to this apocalyptic threat! Are you and AFSI in?"

Mark Langfan's response follows:

"To make a call on an issue of nuclear weapons where the caller has no idea what they are talking about would be counterproductive at best, even understanding the graphics I posted would take hours of instruction with someone who is technically knowledgeable."

Evidently, he felt it wasn't enough for people to grasp the immediate threat to Israel's existence without technical knowledge of nuclear weaponry.

The next email to Mr. Langfan followed:

Mark, does anyone really need to understand the technical aspects of the issue? Isn't it enough to know that Iran has declared its intention to destroy Israel?

The leadership's view of the general Jewish intellect was confirmed when five months later, in an open conference call with Jeff Wiesenfeld, the promoter of the Times Square rally, Wiesenfeld stated, "We can't call for the destruction of Iran nuclear holocaust machine" and then added, "the American people are too stupid to understand the entire issue."

I was astounded. I immediately replied, "You are an obstructionist!" To which he retorted with an inappropriate curse. In the end, leadership retreated to their original platform and did not call for the destruction of Iran's nuclear build-up.

With only 20 days left before Obama would present Iran with a deal that would be the covert equivalent to America's and Israel's death certificate, AFSI and her affiliates, helped staged a last-hurrah rally on July 24, 2016 in Times Square.

The Jewish Rapid Response Team is disturbingly misleading and a total misnomer. The Times Square rally was held to fill the void they created after eight years of fumbling with various distractions and failing to make stopping the Iran build-up of nuclear power their top priority. The rally occurred, speeches were made, chants were heard, but like everything else, not one speaker or group demanded that the Iranian nuclear sites be destroyed. As usual, nothing was done, except all the talking heads got a chance at the microphone.

To their shame, after the deal was made and passed through Congress, all efforts, protests, editorials, focus and actions came to a screeching halt. After all, it was a done deal now. And, as they later told me, while wringing their hands and shrugging their shoulders, "we did our best." Really? That was their best?

Instead of continuing to fight for Israel's safety, and that of the entire free world, they all just simply packed away their flags, walked away from any fight, and gave up, leaving the next step to a new government administration to handle. The rally cry of "Never Again" was barely a peep

For years, the outspoken leadership of the Pro-Israel movements have been leading their flocks and circling their wagons around lesser threats, jumping distractedly from one crisis to another, putting out smaller fires, deliberately placing Iran on the back burner. What was the result of this procrastination and burying their heads in the sands? The entire forest is about to burn down all around them. And don't think that Iran isn't enjoying this and watching the weak Americans and their Pro-Israel sympathizers be fooled by lesser diversions.

When I asked Helen Freedman, the Vice President of AFSI why more wasn't done to focus on the Iranian threat, her response was 'that (this) doesn't preclude us dealing with the other crises that Israel faces.' The failure of AFSI leadership was that they equalized all the crises together, and the Iranian threat was just one more, not any more or any less significant than any other. That's a huge mistake and a very bad strategy.

While this feckless leadership has recommended that you all sit idly by and wait for January, February, maybe even March or later, Iran is wasting no time stockpiling everything they will need to secure a legitimate nuclear terrorist state.

The Jewish religious leaders and organizations have adopted the same "victim mentality" that delivered our brethren directly into the gas chambers of World War II. Now, as in the past, these same groups, bar none, hold in contempt those Jews, like me, who demand unrestricted action against those who proudly boast their mission to exterminate us. How dare I or anyone demand action and defy their great leadership? To add fuel to the fire, their brand of holier-than-thou leadership is a simple "Let's wait and see" attitude, offering no other direction to deal with this Iranian threat. They've brainwashed us to believe that preventing Iran from reaching her nuclear goal will come with sanctions, and additional sanctions, when the first set don't work.

Renewed sanctions? When it comes to those who have chosen to praise G-d through acts of treachery, oppression and murder, you find yourself standing face to face with pure evil and all consuming hatred. There is no deal with a terrorist state that can produce a guaranteed peaceful outcome other than one with a complete capitulation through the threat of military force. Sanctions and logical negotiations are useless when dealing with barbarians and their lethal combination of terrorism and tyranny.

Ignoring this fact for more than seven years, Mort Klein, the President of Zionist Organization of America, using the name of Eli Wiesel (OBM) to further his misguided belief that sanctions will produce a peaceful outcome, urges Congress to place additional sanctions on Iran. While it is true that Wiesel also wanted to stop Iran's nuclear and genocidal threat, there's no indication that he believed in peaceful sanctions as the path to obtaining that outcome. As a matter of fact it was Wiesel who asked PResident Obama, "Why is Ahmedinajad still alive?" Does that sound like peaceful sanctions and negotiations?

In May 2016, a year and a half of silence after the Iranian deal was made, Mr. Klein says we need to put pressure on Congress to fight this deal and that our children and grandchildren will judge us on what we are doing now. A year and a half later and now he shows up? What kind of effective leadership is that? It isn't leadership at all. It is the ultimate in hubris and arrogance.

AFSI is just another ineffective group in a long line of sanction peddlers and are now calling for the U.S. to counteract Iran's ongoing violations with more useless sanctions.

The greatest danger that no one is saying out loud is that, with the total support and backing of the US Administration, once the deal was made in the hope of achieving peace and economic security, this still radical Islamic and recognized Terrorist state of Iran will have attained the status of a normalized and legitimate trading partner within the international community, growing in acceptance, becoming larger and richer, all while growing its nuclear capacity. Once there is a nuclear terrorist Iran, there will be no going back. There is no reset button with nuclear bombs in the hands of a barbaric terrorist state bent on jihad.

So, as we count down the clock to the next administration, this short-sighted and weak American Pro-Zionist leadership sit complacently and proclaim that they will take a "wait and see" attitude to see what the next US President implements as his or her foreign policy. REALLY? Did activists and heroes like Martin Luther King wait for some right time? No, even after humiliating and devastating set backs, he never abandoned his position or his mission. He was relentless in his pursuit for justice. Do you think he waited for circumstances or the political climate to change before he spoke out against injustice that changed the course of Black history forever?

What about David Silberman, the Holocaust survivor from Riga who not only staged a death-defying sit-in at the Kremlin that allowed the Latvian and Russian Jews to emigrate to Israel, but just recently got the Latvian government to recognize its complicity in the Holocaust. David continued to fight the injustices of the Latvian Holocaust by building a huge memorial park in Riga and got the Education Board to change the curriculum of its History courses so that details of the Holocaust and the fate of its Latvian Jew would be forever recorded and remembered by future Latvian students. Do you think he waited to see what the government's plan was? No, the government's plan was to keep the Jews of Latvia in their downtrodden place. David defied that. He went on a mission to change history on his terms. These are heroes. These are the leaders we should emulate. It is their virtue, their valor, their courage, dedication and vision that enabled real change.

Chronological list of events after the Jewish Rapid Response group Times Square rally failed to prevent the Iranian Deal from going forward to follow. Part II

© Stanley Zir