Dear Dave,
We received your note and appreciate you telling us of your concerns about the Rally to Stop Iran Now.
Unfortunately, the current focus on the speaker lineup and about the politics surrounding these speakers is diverting us from the overall objective. This was never the intention of the team of organizations planning for the rally, which, by the way, we conducted last year with not one objection expressed about this approach.
This year, in the face of a highly charged national election campaign, we became exposed to concerns about our tax-exempt status, due to what developed as an unequal representation of the parties. In the face of this advice from counsel engaged by two of the sponsoring organizations, we determined that it was not in the best interests of our humanitarian mission to risk our status in this regard.
We are trying very hard now to keep the focus on the main point of the rally, which remains as pressing as ever: to draw the world's attention to the dangers of a nuclear Iran . With Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearance at the UN this Monday, it is crucial that our community and others continue to gather to make our voices heard: a nuclear Iran poses a dire threat to the United States and to Israel .
We must act now.Having said that, naturally, we would wish that all of this could have been avoided. Just know that all of the organizers acted in the best interests of the community given the facts at hand.
Shabbat Shalom.
Sincerely,
Howard Rieger
Maybe J STREET should worry about THEIR TAX EXEMPT status since they are supporting ALL DEMOCRATS, just take a look at their website. Most of the ‘leaders’ are former staff members of Democrats too.
J STREET = the usual THUGS