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(NYP) Thousands of protesters gathered in Times Square on Wednesday evening to rally against the controversial deal to lift sanctions against Iran in exchange for limits on its nuke program that are supposed to keep it from building a bomb.
Speakers included legendary former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who said opposing the pact “is not only a strategic issue, but a moral one.”
“In in the face of Iranian threats, does this agreement make us and our allies safer? I believe it does not,” he said.
“This accord seeks merely to kick the can down the road, and for these reasons, I urge the Senate to reject it.”
Morgenthau noted that deal doesn’t require Iran to stop “sponsoring terrorism around the world.”
He also called it “particularly galling” that Iran would get access to $150 billion in frozen funds without having to pay “large judgments” won in court by the victims of terror attacks to which it’s been tied.
Republican presidential candidate and former New York Gov. George Pataki said the deal “poses a threat to our safety and security here in New York,” and said he believed President Obama had “violated his oath of office” in connection with it.
“This administration is giving hundred of billions, knowing some of it will go to crimes against humanity. How bad is that?” Pataki said.
He also said the agreement would further destabilize the Middle East and “guarantee an arms race.”
“This is a bad deal. Republicans and Democrats, remember: You’re Americans first. Stop Iran now!”
Conservative commentator Monica Crowley compared Iran to Nazi Germany by calling the Islamic state an “unapologetic denier of the Holocaust” and repeatedly invoking the phrase “Never again.”
“We must fight this deal with every bone in our bodies,” she said to cheers from the crowd at the “Stop Iran Rally.”
“Because this is a potential death sentence for the West and for Israel.”
Crowley also called out U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), calling him “cowardly” and saying it was time for him to “stand up.”
“We all know you would wall over your grandmother to be Senate leader,” Crowley said.
“Here’s your chance to lead.”
Schumer was at the Capitol in Washington D.C. for a Senate briefing by Secretary of State John Kerry, who helped broker the pact.
“I’ve read the agreement and I’m seeking answers to the many questions I have. Before I make a decision, I’m going to speak at length with experts on both sides,” Schumer said in a statement issued ahead of the protest.
Schumer emerged from the meeting around 6 p.m., telling reporters: “It’s a serious issue and I’m studying it carefully.”
He ignored a question from The Post about the 10 questions that the paper’s front page said he “must answer” about the deal.
