International protests highlight Iran's abuses

The Jerusalem Post:

The United Nations and Iranian officials have yet to issue a response to a worldwide day of protest last week hoping to "break the silence" of the violation of human rights in Iran.

An Israeli student group called the Student Solidarity Movement organized a series of protests – which drew more than 2,000 in Belgium, Germany, Sweden, France and the UK – to criticize the UN meeting in Geneva, which declined to condemn Iran for human-rights violation, and to call attention to cases of missing people in Iran, such as Ron Arad. READ MORE

Meanwhile, in a parallel protest, a few hundred New Yorkers, most of them Jewish day-school students, held a rally opposite the UN.

Facing a crowd on the Sharansky steps at the Isaiah Peace Wall opposite the UN building in New York, speakers from an array of Jewish groups demanded information about Israel's MIAs, including Zachary Baumel, Tzvi Feldman, Yehuda Katz and Guy Hever.

The day of demonstrations was aimed at highlighting Iran's poor human-rights record as the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva wrapped up its session. Many believe Iran has information about Arad's whereabouts.

"The issue has kind of dropped off the community agenda in the last number of years, and we need a reeducation to get it back on the agenda," Karen Rubinstein, executive director of the American Zionist Movement, said of the Israeli MIAs.

The American Zionist Movement organized the rally in Manhattan, which was cosponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and a wide assortment of Jewish youth groups. Students from yeshiva day schools in Manhattan, Long Island and Westchester came in organized delegations to the demonstration, which was comprised mostly of young people. A sizeable contingent from Russian American Jews for Israel also was on hand.

Sarit Feldber, a member of the Israeli Student Solidarity Movement, pointed out that in many countries people from outside the Jewish community decided to join the protests. "In Sweden and Germany there was an encouraging cooperation between Jews and Iranians during the protests," said Feldber. "We had many different people with different interests take part."

Germany had one of the largest protests, as hundreds of students stood in front of the Iranian Embassy in Berlin. The event was cosponsored by the Federal Society of Jewish Students in Germany (BJSD) and the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS).

At one point, an Iranian woman joined the president of BJSD in the protest and expressed her solidarity with Israel. She also asked whether there are possibilities of obtaining an Israeli passport for her.

"We don't want to sit back and watch how the oppressive Islamic government perpetrates systematic violations of human rights," said Elena Eyngorn, the head of BJSD. "Thousands of political opponents are held behind bars, ill-treated and killed. The list of people who disappear without a trace is getting longer day by day."

"If Iranian students are in mortal danger for expressing their political views, we, the students of democratic countries, have to do it for them!"

In the course of the protest, students appeared with posters reading "Solidarity with Israel, against anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism" and "521 people are still missing in Iran."

Later, an Iranian dissident gave a speech in which she called upon Germany, as a democratic state, to support the fight for human rights in Iran.

The high point of the demonstration was supposed to be the handing-over of a "Message in a Bottle" to the Iranian ambassador in Berlin. The message was a list containing names of political opponents held prisoner in Iran.

However, no embassy officials came out to receive the message. Likewise, the embassy did not comment on the matter.

While Israel officially classifies the five as MIAs, most believe that the four who went missing in Lebanon – Arad, Baumel, Feldman and Katz – are dead. Hever disappeared from an IDF base in the Golan Heights in 1997.

"This is one of the forefront issues we need to be looking into," said Yael Schiller, a student at Yeshiva University's Stern College for Women who came to Wednesday's New York demonstration.

Karen Rubinstein said the days before Passover were an auspicious time to hold a rally supporting Israel's captive soldiers. "It's Passover, the festival of freedom," she said. "It's a good time to be remembering them."