Great Neck resident leads NYC protest of Iran deal

Adam Lidgett

Village of Great Neck residents had a strong hand in the rally held last Wednesday in Times Square to oppose the nuclear agreement reached by the United States and five other countries with Iran beginning with Jeff Wiesenfeld, who took a lead role in organizing the event.

“There had to be a public debate on this deal to arouse the public as to its shortcomings,” said Wiesenfeld, a principal with Bernstein Global Wealth Management who worked for Gov. George Pataki as a Jewish liaison. “[Iran is] serious, they endanger every person in this country.” 

More than 500 Great Neck residents were among the estimated 13,000 people who attended the “Stop Iran Rally,” Wiesenfeld said.

Wisenfeld said the Great Neck residents were drawn from various synagogues and about 70-80 co-sponsoring groups, some of which helped fund the rally. 

The rally itself, Wiesenfeld said, cost about $82,000, which went toward media work, fliers, a stage, chairs, sound and video equipment and water, among other items. All of the money, he said, was raised through individual and group donations. 

“When it became clear that the president was going to put forth and have this deal that had become rife with more concessions day after day, I decided to put a small group together,”he said. 

Groups that were large enough, such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Jewish National Fund, Christians United for Israel and Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, all donated about $500 each for the rally, Wiesenfeld said. 

Wiesenfeld said the rally included people from Westhampton to Manhattan, many of whom found out about the rally through its website stopiranrally.org or various social media platforms. 

Irene Alter, a Roslyn resident who helped organize the rally, said many members of the Shelter Rock Jewish Center also attended the rally. 

She said buses were provided for people to come from as far as Ohio to the event. 

Wiesenfeld opposes the deal with Iran, saying it creates a pathway for Iran to have nuclear bombs. 

“First of all there is a false belief that history somehow changes and that people who have weapons of mass destruction and preach the destruction of others are somehow discounted as verbal fanatics,” Wiesenfeld said. “The first thing I ask people is what part about ‘death to America’ don’t you understand?” 

He said the inspection regiment in the deal is “ridiculous,” arguing that Iran can refuse inspection, requiring an arbitration panel to decide whether there should be an inspection, which could take four to fives weeks meanwhile, enough time for Iran can move the nuclear facilities. 

Wiesenfeld also criticized the $100 billion Iran stands to receive once sanctions are lifted against the country if the nuclear deal goes through. He also criticized what he termed a $50 billion signing bonus that could be part of the nuclear agreement. 

“Do you think they will use the money to build hospitals or will it be used to murder a few hundred Marines,” Wiesenfeld said. 

He said he expects the money would be used to torture people or put explosives in the ground, and not used to better the lives of the average Iranian citizen 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Wednesday Iran will only receive approximately $55 billion in sanctions relief once the nuclear deal is implemented.

“There is a lot of discussion out there that Iran is going to somehow get $150 billion as soon as sanctions are lifted. That is incorrect,” said Lew, speaking at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. He said Iran will not be able to access much of its money that has been locked up overseas due to sanctions because the money has already been committed elsewhere. 

Lew told a group of senators last week that over $20 billion of Iran’s frozen assets has already been committed to infrastructure projects with China, and that Iran owes an additional “tens of billions” of dollars on nonperforming loans to its energy and banking sectors, according to a report on Huffington Post.

Wisenfeld was joined in opposition to the agreement on Tuesday by various Nassau County and Town of North Hempstead Democratic officials including Supervisor Judi Bosworth, town Councilwoman Anna Kaplan, town Councilman Peter Zuckerman, town Councilwoman Lee Seeman, town Receiver of Taxes Charles Berman, town Clerk Wayne Wink, and Nassau County legislator Ellen Birnbaum, Delia DeRiggi-Whitton and Judith Jacobs. 

In a letter addressed to Sen. Charles Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Rep. Steve Israel and U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, the town officials offered the four members in Congress to vote against the deal. 

“We have review expert analyses and information, and observed the hearings that have begun in Washington. We have listened closely to the people we represent. We have come to the conclusion that the disadvantages and dangers that will result if this deal is consummated far outweigh any positive benefits,” the letter stated.

“We have come to the conclusion that approval of this deal will not be good for the United States or for Israel and we urge you to vote against it,” the letter went on. “We appeal to you to do so in the interests of our own national security, the survival of Israel, the security and stability of the Middle East region, and to ensure a world that is free of the threat of a nuclear-capable Iran.” 

Wiesenfeld said the letter does not go far enough. He said he does not want legislators to just vote no on the deal, but to actively speak out against it on their respective legislative floors. 

“At the rally we said to Sen. Schumer to go on the Senate floor and say this is a disaster for America and all our other allies,” Wiesenfeld said. 

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