By Sarah Stern, Emet—
There are certain moments in history where we as a civilization are put to the test.
Such a moment occurred during the Soviet Jewry movement, when thousands of American Jews did everything in their power to support brave dissidents. They struggled for the right to emigrate so that they could live out their lives in quiet dignity and religious freedom outside of the “Iron Curtain.” It was successfully used by Sen. Henry (Scoop) Jackson (D-Wash.), and Rep. Charles Vanik (D-Ohio), to expose the abysmal human-rights record of the Soviet Union and to link their trade with America to their ability to let the Soviet Jews leave for other countries.
This movement created the beginning of a fissure in the massive wall of fear that the Soviet Union had hid itself behind, despite the fact that they had already accumulated a formidable stockpile of nuclear weapons. Our ability to use the human-rights issue was one important factor that eventually led to the fall of what President Ronald Reagan had dubbed “The Evil Empire.”
Such a moment exists today with regards to Iran.
After 41 years of blood-soaked terror, beginning in 1979 with the Islamic Revolution, there is a hopeful chink in the horrific wall of terror and fear that the Iranian regime has painstakingly erected around itself.
Today in Iran, thousands of tremendously courageous young men and women have been protesting on the streets, knowing full well that since at least 1,500 demonstrators have already been murdered by the regime, they are taking their very lives in their hands.
Knowing that in fear-based regimes, such as the former Soviet Union or Iran, when those in power feel threatened they will stop at nothing to be able to preserve their grip on power.
Knowing that thousands more of the demonstrators have been carted off to the notorious Evan prison to be tortured and possibly never heard from again.
Such is the depth of the thirst for freedom from the suffocating chokehold of their Islamist theocracy.
The Iranian government has done everything in its power to shield the depth of their evil from the outside world, including jamming the satellites and establishing a nationwide shut down of the Internet. If they feel that the world is not paying attention, then they will get away with many more years of the repression and terror they inflict not only on their people, but upon the rest of the world. Continue Reading….