rofessor Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Laureate, said today,”Iran must not be allowed to remain nuclear,” in full page ads taken out in the New York Times. The ad will run in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
The ads were paid for by Jewish philanthropist Birthright Israel co-founder Michael Steinhardt and were produced by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s This World: The Values Network.
In the ad, Prof. Wiesel asks “should the civilized nations of the world trust a regime whose supreme leader said yet again last month that Israel is ‘doomed to annihilation,’ and referred to my fellow Jewish Zionists as ‘rabid dogs?’”
He tells readers that we must “appeal to President Obama and Congress to demand, as a condition of continued talks, the total dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the regime’s public and complete repudiation of all genocidal intent against Israel. And I appeal to the leaders of the United States Senate to go forward with their vote to strengthen sanctions against Iran until these conditions have been met.”
Of the decision to co-sponsor the ad, Rabbi Boteach said, “Elie Wiesel is the greatest Jewish personality alive and my personal hero. He is a man of incomparable humanity and he is calling the world’s attention to the unmitigated catastrophe of a nuclear-armed Iran. I salute his courage in speaking out against the human rights outrages of the Mullahs of Iran who slaughter their own people with impunity and who have repeatedly threatened Israel with extinction.”
On Steinhardt’s involvement, Boteach also said, “Nobody loves the Jewish people like Michael Steinhardt, a name synonymous with bursting Jewish pride and incomparable generosity. I thank Michael for facilitating Elie Wiesel’s warning to the world about Iran.”
The full text of the ad is posted below:
Iran Must Not Be Allowed to Remain Nuclear
If there is one lesson I hope the world has learned from the past it is that regimes rooted in brutality must never be trusted. And the words and actions of the leadership of Iran leave no doubt as to their intentions.
Should the civilized nations of the world trust a regime whose supreme leader said yet again last month that Israel is “doomed to annihilation,” and referred to my fellow Jewish Zionists as “rabid dogs?”
Should we who believe in human rights, trust a regime which in the 21st century stones women and hangs homosexuals?
Should we who believe in freedom trust a regime which murdered its own citizens in the streets of Tehran when the people protested a stolen election in the Green Revolution of Summer, 2009?
Should we who believe in the United States trust a regime whose parliament last month erupted in “Death to America” chants as they commemorated the 34th anniversary of the storming of our Embassy in Tehran?
Should we who believe in life trust a regime whom our own State Department lists as one of the world’s foremost sponsors of terrorism?
America, too, defines itself by its words and actions. America adopted me, as it did so many others, and gave me a home after my people were exterminated in the camps of Europe. And from the time of the founding fathers America has always stood up to tyrants. Our nation is morally compromised when it contemplates allowing a country calling for the destruction of the State of Israel to remain within reach of nuclear weapons.
Sanctions have come at a terrible economic cost for the people of Iran. But, unfortunately, sanctions are what have brought the Iranian regime to the negotiating table.
I appeal to President Obama and Congress to demand, as a condition of continued talks, the total dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the regime’s public and complete repudiation of all genocidal intent against Israel. And I appeal to the leaders of the United States Senate to go forward with their vote to strengthen sanctions against Iran until these conditions have been met.
I once wrote that history has taught us to trust the threats of our enemies more than the promises of our friends. Our enemies are making serious threats. It is time to take them seriously. It is time for our friends to keep their promises.
Elie Wiesel
Nobel Peace Laureate
This Ad was produced by This World: The Values Network (LOGO)
Executive Director, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
And Sponsored by Michael Steinhardt, Board of Governors, This World: The Values Network; co-founder Birthright Israel
