This article first appeared in Times of Israel Blogs.
Not much good is happening these days in New York City (outside of the Yankees and Mets), but on June 16, things really got disgusting with a pro-Iran, anti-Israel, anti-US rally. The Jerusalem Post has the details here.
A couple of observations: First, I seriously doubt that most Iranians in the US today support the current regime. Those that do don't belong in this country. There is no need for me to go into detail about the evil history of the Islamic Republic under the mullahs, nor the clear threat they pose to the region, to Israel, to America, and the free world in general. I'm not going to bother going into detail about Iran's nuclear program. It is a threat to the entire world, particularly Israel right now, and America as well. Israel is well within its rights to take out Iran's nuclear capabilities, and I fully support their efforts in this current conflict.
The idea that certain people would walk down an American street waving the Iranian flag and cheering for that evil regime makes my head want to explode.
It takes me back to the Iranian hostage crisis when, in 1979, our embassy in Tehran was seized and our diplomats held hostage for 444 days. To this day, we have yet to repay Iran for that humiliation. To this day, the Iranian regime has been the largest state sponsor of terrorism and a prime source of evil in this world.
During the hostage crisis, I recall vividly just how outraged the American people were. I was one of them. I confess that at the time, I would get angry just at the sight of an Iranian in the US. (Over the years, I have overcome that negative feeling against the Iranian people.)
I recall when the Iranian diplomats were expelled from the United States, and as they were catching their flight at Dulles airport, people came and threw eggs at them.
I remember an incident in Los Angeles when supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian regime announced that they were going to hold a march in Los Angeles. The city refused them permission, but they proceeded anyway. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans showed up to express their anger. Many of the demonstrators were attacked and beaten. Most of those arrested in the melee were the Iranians supporting the ayatollah and the holding of our hostages.
I remember the same period, being a DEA agent in Los Angeles and confronting a wave of cases of Iranian students, now cut off from Iranian government support for their studies in the US, resorting to smuggling hashish from Iran, often concealed in portraits of Khomeini. Our enforcement group arrested several of them, and I took great inner satisfaction in it while maintaining my professionalism.
In recent years, however, I also remember attending a pro-Israel rally in Irvine, California that was co-organized by local Iranians opposed to the current regime. They are our friends and allies, and the bitterness in me towards Iranians due to the hostage crisis has subsided- but not when it comes to the Iranian regime.
Sooner or later, the world is going to have to deal with that government. As far as I am concerned, Israel is doing the world a great service. NATO and the entire free world should be standing with Israel.
I want to turn here to the Neturei Karta, a radical offshoot of Judaism. In brief, they object to the founding of the state of Israel due to some religious idea that it is premature in time. As a result of this theological dispute, they have been marching in lockstep with the very people who want to wipe Israel off the face of the map, as well as every Jew in the world. They align themselves with the Palestinians, and they align themselves with Iran. They are despicable.
And there they were, as always, on the streets of New York on June 16, joining in the calls for Israel's destruction and cheering the Islamic Republic of Iran while trashing the US.
The most prominent spokesman for Neturei Karta is the New York-based "rabbi" Yisroel Dovid Weiss, who is a true nut case. I say that because when I was teaching at the University of California at Irvine, I attended two of his speaking appearances in 2011 and 2016. Both times I engaged him during q and a, and on one occasion, he approached me after the event to continue the debate. Keep in mind that this is a man who has actively collaborated with the Iranian regime against Israel's interests. Though we have not been formally at war against Iran (yet), this man and his followers have aided and abetted one of our most dangerous adversaries. Weiss has actually traveled to Iran and consorted with former leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has ignored how the regime treats its religious minorities, like Jews and Baha'i-not to mention homosexuals.
While I support the right to peacefully protest, I also have the right to condemn the positions taken by these protesters. The June 16 rally in New York may have been peaceful and lawful, but it was disgusting. British pundit Douglas Murray recently stated in the UK that he resented having to share his country with such people (referring to foreign-born troublemakers). Well stated.
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