Open letter from NYC Iranians to Mayor de Blasio: When you stand by AIPAC, you do not stand by us

The following letter was shared with Mondoweiss:

Dear Mayor Bill de Blasio,

We are a group of Iranians and Iranian-Americans living in New York City. We are firmly committed to opposing state repression — regardless of the race, ethnicity or nationality of the people suffering, and regardless of whether the oppressive government is Iranian, American or otherwise. Throughout your mayoral campaign, we were encouraged by your call for an end to the NYPD’s systemic racial profiling of Black and Latino men under the “stop and frisk” policy. Many New Yorkers hoped that City Hall, under your leadership, would become a new and loud voice for human and civil rights.

That very same commitment to justice and human rights underscores our opposition to the devastating sanctions against the Iranian people. We were surprised and dismayed to find that the single foreign-policy position that you took as Public Advocate was calling for increasing sanctions on Iran. We were deeply concerned to see you encouraged ordinary New Yorkers to enforce the sanctions regime through your “Iran Watch List” web site, thus promoting the profiling of Iranians and aggravating post-9/11 Islamophobia. Because of sanctions, Iranians in the U.S. were arbitrarily chosen to have their bank accounts closed, and refused service at several retail stores, based on their appearance or names alone. We ask that support for sanctions against Iran be excised from your future political messaging. The Iranian people are not a threat to New Yorkers, or to any Americans, and the Iranian diaspora is a proud and integral part of this city.

We also ask that you reconsider your relationship with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Last month you addressed a private meeting with this group and said, “City Hall will always be open to AIPAC. When you need me to stand by you in Washington or anywhere, I will answer the call and I’ll answer it happily ’cause that’s my job.”

We disagree. AIPAC has relentlessly pressed for a more adversarial U.S. posture against Iran, explicitly promoting increased sanctions and implicitly pushing the U.S. to the brink of war. In a 2010 letter to members of Congress, AIPAC demanded “crippling” new sanctions on Iran. U.S. sanctions on Iran are a form of collective punishment that hurt the most vulnerable members of Iranian society first and foremost. AIPAC has similarly been a consistent supporter of Israel’s atrocious violations of Palestinian human rights.

As the mayor of NYC – one of  the most diverse cities in the world – you were elected to represent all of us who live here. We stand with those Jewish New Yorkers who have recently said in their open letter to you, “AIPAC speaks for Israel’s hard-line government and its right-wing supporters, and for them alone; it does not speak for us.” We hope that you keep all of us in mind when formulating your foreign policy perspective and withdraw your unqualified loyalty to an organization that promotes policies so destructive to the children, women and men in Iran–and in Palestine–whom so many of your constituents hold dear. When AIPAC promotes collective punishment, neither they, nor the government of Israel, share our values. When you stand by them, you do not stand by us.

Signed,

1. Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, Zanan TV Executive Director
2. Ali Abdi, Ph.D. candidate, Yale University
3. Ervand Abrahamian, Professor of Iranian and Middle Eastern History and Politics, CUNY
4. Golnar Adili
5. Milad Afrasiabi
6. Padide Alizadeh
7. Yahya Alkhansa, Musician
8. Sheila Aminmadani
9. Kamrooz Aram, Artist and Adjunct Faculty, Parsons The New School for Design
10. Maryam Aryai Rivera, Raha Iranian Feminist Collective
11. Mohammad Asgari
12. Farid Ashkan
13. Pooyan Aslani, New York University
14. Shoja Azari, Artist
15. Sepideh Azin, Architect
16. Shirin Barghi, Freelance Journalist
17. Golbarg Bashi, Professor of History, Pace University
18. Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
19. Samira Darvishi, Ph.D. candidate, Stony Brook University
20. Saeid Divanbeigi
21. Bahareh Ebnealian
22. Kouross Esmaeli, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU
23. Yasmine Farhang
24. Ali Fouladi
25. Gisela Fouladi
26. Hadi Ghaemi
27. Setareh Ghandehari, Raha Iranian Feminist Collective
28. Arya Ghavamian, Filmmaker
29. Fahimeh Gooran Savadkoohi
30. Sara Hosseini
31. Koohyar Hosseini
32. Shima Houshyar, MA candidate, NYU
33. Nima Jafari, Architect
34. Mazdak Jafarian, Architect
35. Kiana Karimi
36. Mahdis Keshavarz, The Make Agency
37. Arang Keshavarzian, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, NYU
38. Mina Khanlarzadeh, Ph.D. candidate, Columbia University
39. Mana Kharrazi
40. Sina Mesdaghi, Associate at Handel Architects
41. Kamran Mirfakhraei
42. Ali Mirsepassi, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Sociology, NYU
43. Nazgol Moshtaghi
44. Mani Mostofi
45. Nahid Mozaffari
46. Saara Nafici, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
47. Nicky Nodjoumi, Artist
48. Sara Nodjumi, Filmmaker
49. Nazanin Norouzi
50. Naseem Nowruzi
51. Manijeh Nasrabadi, Ph.D. candidate, NYU
52. Mehrnoosh Oghbaei
53. Afshin Parvaresh, Artist
54. Hamid Rahmanian, Filmmaker/Graphic Artist
55. Saba Riazi, Filmmaker
56. Reza Roodsari, MD/MPH
57. Bahar Sabzevari, Artist
58. Mehdi Saharkhiz, Art Director
59. Samin Sajadi
60. Faride Sakhaei, Artist
61. Saman Sarraf
62. Niki Shah Hosseini
63. Sadra Shahab, City Planner, Pratt Center for Community Development
64. Narges Shahroudi
65. Setareh Shohadaei, Ph.D. student New School for Social Research
66. Amin Torabkhanian
67. Azin Valy, Architect
68. Shouleh Vatanabadi
69. Hanif Yazdi
70. Rustin Zarkar, Ph.D. student, NYU
71. Sina Zekavat