On a sunny afternoon on Monday, September 24, 2007, more than 20,000 people gathered from all over the country at the Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza across from the United Nations in New York to protest the appearance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations General Assembly. Among the crowd of demonstrators were many prominent political and religious figures of all persuasions.

 

Rally speakers included Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni; U.S. Senator Bob Menendez; U.S. Representatives Anthony Weiner, Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, and Eliot Engel; New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett; former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke; New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn; sister of a hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 pilot, Debra Burlingame; Karnit Goldwasser, wife of kidnapped Israeli solider Ehud Goldwasser; and Dorothy Tananbaum, chair of UJA-Federation of New York's Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal.

 

An invocation was delivered by Rabbi Robert Levine, president of the New York Board of Rabbis, and Cantor Ari Priven of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun sang the national anthem.

 

John S. Ruskay, UJA-Federation's executive vice president & CEO, commented on the importance of the rally, stating, "Together, we will send a message to a watching world: We defy tyranny and hatred. Ours is the voice of a people rooted in abiding values that cannot be silenced."
 
The rally was sponsored by the Ad Hoc Coalition for Justice, which includes leaders and organizations representing various communities who are deeply concerned about the Iranian threat to global and regional stability. Among the members are UJA-Federation of New York, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, United Jewish Communities, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.