Protect Our Future. Defend Our Past.
PLEASE SIGN THE DECLARATION BELOW: A letter to European Commission President, Ursual Von der Leyen asking her to reconsider funding to Palestinian Authority. AGPI has included the President's email addresses for our constituency to send its own letters.
April 14, 2022
Joseph R. Biden, President,
The United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
N.W. Washington, D. C., 20500
Mr. President:
We are writing urgently on behalf of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI), an international Canadian NGO, about our steadfast opposition to the removal of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.
We agree with the seventy national security professionals and former Administration officials who have already written to you this week citing their “grave concerns” with respect to this possible revocation.
Nevertheless, we, as international activists, believe the removal of the FTO designation is not only “strategically short sighted and dangerous to U.S. national security interests”, as the seventy national security professionals and former officials contend, it is also extremely harmful to America’s allies, including Canada and Israel.
Iran has engaged in terrorist activity for decades. In the last number of days, Argentina commemorated the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. Two years following that bombing, Iran also bombed the Jewish Community Centre (AMIA) building in that city, killing 86 people.
This, of course, is merely the tip of the iceberg of crimes Iran has committed, and the toxic Antisemitism it has bred. It has bolstered terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, while expanding its own terrorist activities into Syria – engaging in the slaughter of thousands of civilians – in order to protect Bashar Al Assad, now believed to be the world’s #1 war criminal.
Canadians know Iran’s terrorism well. On January 8th, 2020, Iran shot down Ukrainian Airlines Flight 752 with 167 people on board, including 63 Canadian citizens. Like the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, the Iranian community in Canada has been calling for justice. As always, Iran continues to evade accountability when it comes to its terrorist activity. We echo the assessment provided by the security professionals and former officials who argue that the IRGC is engaged in active terrorist plots to kill former U.S. government officials.
In fact, just this week, one of Iran's most senior commanders with the IRGC said, "Qassem Soleimani was such a great character that if all American leaders are killed, this will not avenge his assassination".
As stated in their letter, “the IRGC has provided missiles, drones, and training to the Houthis in Yemen to attack the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, including a recent attack on a base housing U.S. forces. Just last month, the IRGC directly launched a ballistic missile attack near the U.S. consulate in Erbil, Iraq. The IRGC is, of course, also responsible for the repression of the Iranian people and for the killing of innocents across the Middle East region.”
As an organization concerned with universal human rights, we are equally concerned with Iran’s repression of its own people and the green light the removal of the FTO will provide to the Ayatollah.
Because past behaviour is usually indicative of future behaviour, we remain skeptical about a nuclear agreement with Iran. It is clear to us that Iran is working to acquire nuclear weapons to use as a shield to inflict terrorism, pain, and suffering on the world. Worse, it has repeatedly threatened to “wipe Israel off the map” – in blatant violation of Article III(c) of the International Genocide Convention – and has made abundantly clear its intent to one day choose to use these weapons on the Jewish State. We cannot allow for this to happen.
Mr. President, we call on you to realize that the decisions you are making concerning Iran are not for America alone – but for the rest of the world. If you were to remove the IRGC from the Foreign Terrorist Organization listing, this would have a dangerous ripple effect around the world. For the sake of our global security, we implore you to maintain the IRGC’s terrorist designation and even to reconsider the dire consequences of making a new nuclear deal with Iran.
Yours truly,
Brigadier General Amir Avivi (ret), Israel Defence Forces Founder & CEO, Habithonistim
Hon. John Baird, P.C. Canadian former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Avi Abraham Benlolo, BA MA, Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) Founder & Chairman AGPI
Professor Aurel Braun, Ph.D. Professor of International Relations and Political Science University of Toronto
Ellie Cohanim former Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism at the United States Department of State
Richard Cravatts, Ph.D. Freedom Center Journalism Fellow in Academic Free Speech President Emeritus, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Hon. Stockwell Day P.C., ICD.D, MBA Canadian former Minister of Public Safety
Hon. Jerry S. Grafstein, Q.C. Canadian former Senator
Paul Godfrey, C.M. Founder and Chairman of Post Media Board of Director
Nazanin Afshin-Jam Iranian-Canadian human rights activist, author and public speaker. Former Miss World Canada and president and co-founder of Stop Child Executions
Colonel Richard Kemp, CBE British former Chair of Cobra Intelligence Group and head of the international terrorism team at the Joint Intelligence Committee
Henry Kopel, L.L.B. U.S. former federal prosecutor in Connecticut with over 30 years' experience investigating and prosecuting national security matters, domestic terrorism and genocide.
Hon. Peter MacKay, P.C. Q.C. Canadian former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Colonel (res) Kobi Marom Former Brigade Commander and Middle East Expert
Marina Nemat Iranian-Canadian human rights activist, former prisoner of Evin in Tehran, author and speaker.
Raheel Raza President, Muslims Facing Tomorrow Pastor Sam Rodriguez, Jr. President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Edwin Shuker Vice President, British Board of Deputies Imam Mohammad Tawhidi Vice President, The Global Imam's Council
Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon Israel's former Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Defence
We Remember. We Stand. We Speak. We Defend. We will not Walk Silently into the Night. Join our Movement.