By World Israel News Staff
Eighteen organizations sent a letter drafted by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) to U.S. President Joe Biden Wednesday, urging him to deny an entry visa to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation in the interest of national security, ZOA’s national president Morton Klein announced in a media statement.
The Iranian president is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly next month.
Raisi is subject to U.S. sanctions and is a human rights violator who was a member of Iran’s notorious “death committees,” which ordered the killing of thousands of Iranians, the letter states.
The letter details pressing national security concerns, including Iran’s recent threat to activate a nuclear weapons program and use nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) “to turn New York into ruins and hell” and to “turn the West and Israel’s nightmare into a reality”; Iran’s pursuit of assassination plots against U.S. residents and officials in New York and elsewhere in the U.S.; and Iran’s use of diplomats to carry out terror attacks.
The letter also sets forth precedents for denying visas, and explains that the UN Headquarters agreement was signed subject to U.S. law – a U.S. authorizing resolution which includes a national security reservation.
The eighteen organizations signing the letter are: The Zionist Organization of America; Americans Against Antisemitism; Americans for a Safe Israel; Americans for Peace & Tolerance; American Friends of Ateret Cohanim; AMIT; Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV); Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN); Emunah; Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET); Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization of America; Iranian-Americans for Liberty; One Israel Fund; Pen & Shield Ltd.; Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC); StopAntisemitism.Org; Students Supporting Israel (SSI); and The Lawfare Project.
Seven prominent Senators previously sent a letter urging President Biden to deny a visa to Raisi. Former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman and former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mark Wallace published a Wall Street Journal op-ed last week urging the president to deny the visa.
Notwithstanding the State Department’s announcement that it will issue the visa to Raisi, ZOA will continue urging Biden to cancel it, Klein said.
Image: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <;, via Wikimedia Commons
