The Jewish Star by The Jewish Star

tehilla r. golDberg view from central park

n every generation, there are those storied lives of people, basically seemingly regular, ordinary people, whose sense of moral clarity, compassion and courage to act in historic moments is so crystal clear that they ultimately come to pierce the definition of ordinary. They become truly extraordinary. Among us is just such a person. And he needs all of our help. I want to tell you about Steve Maman. But first, you should mentally cue the hauntingly sad, lyrical and melancholic melodies of “Schindler’s List.” That music is indelible, its evocative power flooding our emotions and thoughts with the drama of 1,200 rescued Jews from the jaws of a Nazi fate. We are constantly exposed to a news cycle featuring horrific, ever expanding brutalities and atrocities perpetrated by ISIS upon innocents. As the vicious bar of violence keeps being raised we feel helpless. Our hearts squeeze in pain for a fleeting moment as we audibly “tsk tsk” cluck our tongues, overwhelmed by the bad feeling of what can we do? Or the anger of this must be stopped! Yet, human nature presses us forward to our next task, and until the next news story about an atrocity in a faraway world we put it in the back of our minds, and forget. Not Steve Maman. s he was watching the news one day, caged girls about to be set aflame by ISIS, he reached his breaking point. Randomly glancing at his wrist to check the time, he realized the money his watch is

claiming his efforts actually fund ISIS. To that I say this: How many of us Jews have heard, time and again, of hundreds if not thousands of Holocaust survivors who shared their tales of luck in bribing a Nazi officer to escae with their lives? I can tell you right now what their answer to those opposing Maman would be. As they look upon the visages of their children and grandchildren, the look in their eyes would be enough of a reply. As Maman points out, every time we fill up our cars at the gasoline station, we are monetizing oil, helping ISIS. Claiming “principle” and pretending to act and live as purists — really, now is not the time. ere is a Jew, carrying a sense of history upon his shoulders, remembering and knowing that not long ago we were the persecuted minority that was abandoned by most of the world. Steve Maman is a person who is acting with true Jewish consciousness and compassion, representing the Jewish people with kindness and ethical responsibility. What Maman is doing is something every single Jew can agree on. Maman’s humanity represents the essence of what a humane Judaism looks like and demands of us. We can all contribute a musical note to the score that is at these very moments in the making. As another Jewish rescuer, Lord George Weidenfeld, a British publishing magnate who escape Nazi-occupied Austria with the help of a Christian group, rescently commented about his work in rescuing Syrian refugees, “I had a debt to repay.” Now is the time to do the right thing by these Yazidi Christians. Maman has made it possible. I hope our Jewish community will be a significant partner in this humanitarian effort, in helping Maman and CYCI prevail. Let’s be part of this story. This melody. This mitzvah.

Steve Maman meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

worth could buy one of these persecuted Yazidi girl’s way out of persecution, torture and death — to freedom. And so it was. Steve Maman, a Moroccan Montreal Jewish businessman, began sinking his personal funds into saving Yazidi girls captured by ISIS. As his efforts grew, he enlisted the help of his family, friends and community in trying to bring the release of these Kurdish ethnic victims of Iraqi kidnapping. Working side by side with huamanitarian Canon Andrew White, he has saved over 100 children. As the operation grew, Steve Maman’s im-

Steve Maman/CYCI/Facebook

mersion and commitment to this endeavor intensified. Not satisfied with saving some of these captured girls, he is forging ahead until all the Yazidi children are released to a safe haven. This has become this “ordinary” man’s life’s work. In anticipating of achieving his objective within one year, Maman in June established the liberation of “Christian and Yazidi Children in Iraq” (CYCI). To be sure, the journey has not been an easy one. Maman faced obstacles from those trying to stymie his efforts, with some foes going so far as to shut his efforts down. Some expressed doubts about Maman’s work,

Gillibrand and other pro-Dealers got Iran cash Jeff Dunetz politics to go

ne of the many unanswered questions about P5+1 agreement with Iran is why so many Congressional Democrats are rallying behind the President on this issue when recent polls show the majority of Americans want Congress to reject the deal. Part of the reason is obvious: they are supporting a president from their own party, but a not-so-obvious reason may be that there is a “nefarious” lobby trying to control American foreign policy, and for a change the anti-Semites can’t blame the Jews. Iranian lobbyists are making big campaign donations to Democrats and are funding pro-deal propaganda. Writing in Front Page Magazine, Daniel Greenfield pointed out that many of the Democratic legislators who announced their support for the deal are getting money from the Iran lobby, specifically the Iranian American Political Action Committee, IPAC, which maxed out its contributions to Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Al Franken (D-Minn) — each received $5,000 in the 2014 election cycle. “Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the Iran lobby’s third Dem senator, didn’t bother playing coy like her colleagues. She came out for the deal a while back even though she only got half the IAPAC cash that Franken and Markey received.” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who

represents the state with the largest Jewish population in America, surprised many with her support of the deal. In addition to IAPAC cash, “Gillibrand had also picked up money from the Iran lobby’s Hassan Nemazee,” Greenfield reports. “Nemazee was Hillary’s national campaign finance director who had raised a fortune for both her and Kerry before pleading guilty to a fraud scheme encompassing hundreds of millions of dollars. Nemazee had been an IAPAC trustee and had helped set up the organization.” Barbara Boxer, who also came out for the deal, also Iran lobby funds. Getting IPAC cash on the House side were Mike Honda (D-CA), Andre Carson (D-IN), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Donna Edwards (DMD) and Jackie Speier (D-CA). Each of them supports Obama’s P5+1 turkey. But the Iran lobby’s biggest wins weren’t Markey or Shaheen. The real victory had come long before when two of their biggest politicians, Joe Biden and John Kerry, had moved into prime positions in the administration. Not only IAPAC, but key Iran lobby figures had been major donors to both men. “That list includes Housang Amirahmadi, the founder of the American Iranian Council, who had spoken of a campaign to ‘conquer Obama’s heart and mind’ and had described himself as ‘the Iranian lobby in the United States.’ It includes the Iranian Muslim Association of North America (IMAN) board members who had fundraised for Biden. And it includes the aforementioned Hassan Nemazee. “A member of Iran’s opposition had accused Biden’s campaigns of being ‘financed

by Islamic charities of the Iranian regime based in California and by the Silicon Iran network.’ Biden’s affinity for the terrorist regime in Tehran was so extreme that after 9/11 he had suggested, ‘Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran’. Another part of the Iran lobby pushing the deal is the Ploughshares Fund. Ploughshares is not pushing the deal directly, but it’s financing many of the other groups pushing Congress to vote “yes.” Michael Rubin exposed the Plowshares money in a recent Commentary piece. According to Rubin, Ploughshares Fund is “a multimillion-dollar group which defines itself as a foundation seeking nuclear disarmament but which has, for several years, taken a consistently apologetic line toward Iran.” Ploughshares has been throwing its weight behind influential organizations such as the National Iranian American Council, the Arms Control Association, and the Atlantic Council, among others, in an attempt to garner support for the deal, Rubin reported. Ploughshares gave $150,000 to the National Iranian American Council for “advocacy” about the Iran Deal, $210,000 to the Arms Control Association to “influence US policy toward Iran,” and another $25,000 to fund an “expert workshop” and press briefings, according to Rubin. Per its annual report, Ploughshares also gives money to the anti-Israel group, J Street ($100,000) that has not only fought additional sanctions over recent years but also that has worked to promote the Iran agreement. J Street’s support also comes from the

fact that it was President Obama, not the Jewish community who gave the group legitimacy. “In short, Ploughshares spread millions of dollars around to pro-administration groups to support whatever Iran Deal came out of Vienna. To criticize the Iran Deal would be to risk a significant source of funding—double digits percentages of their total budget in most cases—of these various groups,” rganizations receiving funding from Ploughshares rarely acknowledge they’re being lobbied. They produce biased analysis and host one-sided panel discussions in order to advance the agenda they are being paid to move forward. “Hence, various organizations hosted one-sided panels in the wake of the Iran Deal announcement with multiple Ploughshares grantees without acknowledging their funding from the Ploughshares grantees.” At various times during the debate about his Iran agreement, President Obama has talked about nefarious lobby money pushing against peace. Something that many have commented was a not-so-veiled reference to the anti-Semitic meme that some hidden “Jewish lobby” controls the government. The lobby that neither the president nor the congressional supporters of his deal will talk about is the pro-Iranian lobby that, either through campaign cash or directly in support of the deal, are a huge force in trying to give Obama his short-term legacy, the P5+1 agreement. Long-term, that deal may very well be remembered by the ultimate war to end all wars waged by an apocalyptic Iran.

THE JEWISH STAR September 4, 2015 • 20 Elul 5775

Acting now to save Christian and Yazidi children