Sarah Stern’s Speech at WH Rally Against the Iran Deal

“Protesting a Bad Deal with Iran, American Hostages Left Behind”
Transcript of Sarah N. Stern’s Speech
Rally in Front of the White House, organized by Concerned Women for America, LAC
July 23, 2015

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are living in perilous times. We woke up on the morning of July 14, 2015 to a much more dangerous world.

Since, as opposed to J Street, organizations such as EMET have not been invited into the White House to meet with you to discuss this deal, I happen to be in the neighborhood, and I have a few questions to ask you.

Why, Mr. President, have you just negotiated away the security of our children and our grandchildren to the world’s leading sponsor of Islamic terrorism?

Why, Mr. President, have you concluded this deal just a few short days after Iran celebrated its annual “Death to America Day” commemorating the 1979 seizure of our American embassy in Tehran, and the holding of our American hostages for 444 days, replete with the burning of the American flag and chants of what they intend to do to us, when they can?

By the way, Mr. President: what is it exactly, about the words, “Death to America” that you do not understand?”

Mr. President: why did you negotiate this deal with the one nation most responsible for thousands of U.S. serviceman coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan in body bags or without limbs because of the Iranian manufactured IEDs with Farsi imprinted upon them?

Mr. President: why did you negotiate this deal with the nation who in 1983 bombed a marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 US marines while they were peacefully sleeping in their beds?

Mr. President: why did you assure us on at least 28 separate occasions that “Iran must NEVER get a nuclear weapon?”

Yet, suddenly we are told that yes, Iran CAN get a nuclear bomb, with the full consent of the international community — if it just waits out 10 to 15 years.

10 to 15 years? What are 10 to 15 years in the life of a nation?

And THAT is assuming that they don’t cheat.

Why, Mr. President, did you assure us that the IAEA could have anywhere/anytime inspections? Now we are told that the inspections must go through an elaborate application process to a committee—On Which Iran Sits –– requiring at least 24 days before entering the site — or as the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday for up to 3 months — certainly more than ample time to clean it up.

Why, Mr. President, did you assure us that the sanctions would be lifted gradually, commensurate with Iran’s fulfilling of their commitments? Now we learn that Iran will be getting a windfall of 150 billion dollars upon signing.

We have no idea how much of this 150 billion dollar signing bonus will be going to HAMAS and Hezbollah—But even if it is only a tiny fraction of this, terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah could do a tremendous amount of damage with that money.

Why, Mr. President have you lifted the economic sanctions for the Central bank of Iran, the major vehicle for money laundering to terrorist groups?

Why did you lift sanctions on Qasem Soleimani, known as the “Shadow Commander” or “Dark Knight,” Commander General of the Al Quds Force, who is personally responsible for planning most of Hezbollah’s most notorious activities?

Why, Mr. President, did you bury deeply in annex III, article 10, a clause saying that the world powers and Iran will foster “cooperation through training and workshops to strengthen Iran’s ability to protect against, and respond to, nuclear security threats, including sabotage, as well as to enable effective and sustainable nuclear security and physical protection systems?”

Are you telling us that it is okay for the United States of America to collaborate in the protection of the Iranian nuclear project if they are working at plans to eviscerate the United States of America and her allies?

Why, Mr. President, did you make an end-run around Congress and go to the United Nations on Monday with this deal? Why are you trying to enshrine this agreement in the international community?

Mr. President: Do you have no respect for the American people and their elected representatives? Mr. President: Do you have no respect for the constitution of the United States of America? Mr. President: Don’t you realize that this deal is actually an international arms treaty and you were violating the constitution by not immediately going directly to the Senate and allowing 2/3 of that August body to ratify it?

And why, Mr. President, are you allowing the Iranians to purchase intercontinental ballistic missiles?

They do not need intercontinental ballistic missiles to go from Tehran to Tel Aviv. But they do need them to go from Tehran to Tampa.

Why, Mr. President, did you tell us that you could not negotiate the release of anything other than the nuclear issue, so you had to leave our four innocent American citizens behind, when you threw in as deal-sweeteners to the Iranians, conventional weapons, ballistic missiles and the release of Qasem Soleimani?

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a brutal, tyrannical, genocidal, theocracy devoid of any respect for human rights. In fact the executions of prisoners has only increased since Hassan Rouhani was elected President. They have executed at least 1,195 prisoners, and that is only up until March of this year.  That is at least two prisoners a day. Why? For such crimes as being gay, being of a different religion or blogging against the regime.

As the late noted Soviet dissident, Andre Sakharov, used to say, “One can tell a nation’s foreign policy by the way they treat their own dissident population.”

Did we even request the Iranians to end their sponsorship of terrorism?

Did we even request from the Iranians to please release our innocent American citizens?

Why could we not simply demand the release of   Pastor Saeed Abedini, a Christian pastor who was jailed and sentenced to eight years, simply for practicing his Christian faith?

Or Sergeant Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who was originally sentenced to death in Iran on charges of working for the CIA, and has spent the last 3 ½ years in prison.

Or Washington Post Reporter Jason Rezaian who has been held in Iran over charges of espionage and distributing propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Or of Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing in Iran for over 8 years.  Levinson’s family has no idea of his whereabouts, or any leads on what the administration is doing to get him back.

Mr. President, Secretary of State Kerry:  How could you forget about American citizens wallowing in some jail cell probably in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran? How could you have negotiated a deal and left these innocent Americans behind?

President Obama, This is not what I call negotiation; this is what I call appeasement, this is what I call capitulation. This is what I call groveling to the very face of evil incarnate. As Sir Winston Churchill said, “He who appeases the crocodile is only eaten last.”

Mr. President: You have children like I do. Don’t you worry about an Iran with nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles when they routinely burn the American flag and chant “Death to America?” Don’t you think Israeli parents worry the same way when they burn the Israeli flag and the Ayatollah talks about wiping Israel off the map?

That is not what America is all about. America is about moral clarity and intellectual honesty.

The American people deserve better than this from our elected officials.

Ladies and gentlemen. This is the pivotal moment of our generation. Please, call your Congressmen and call your Senators, and tell them they are not just Republicans or Democrats. Tell them that they are Americans first. Tell them that they have to do what is moral and right for America.

Tell them that children and grandchildren, and those of our cherished allies, such as Israel, deserve to grow up without fear and in safety and security.

Tell them to reject this horrible deal. It is empowering our enemy, who is sworn to our destruction and throwing our friends under the bus.  It is giving them the world’s consent for a path to a nuclear bomb.

Mr. President in the words of Sir Winston Churchill, “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and we will get war.”

I can promise you this, Mr. President, we, the American people, are not stupid.  According to the results of a recent Pew poll, the overwhelming majority of Americans do not trust Iran. You cannot deceive us by concealing the details of the deal in dense legalese and in hidden or secret annexes or side deals, or by subverting the Congress and going directly to the United Nations to try to have this enshrined in international law.

And I can promise you this, as well: we Americans will never, never ever give up. Because our children and our grandchildren and those of our allies, deserve much better than this.

Thank you very much.