Busloads of protesters from New Jersey and the tristate area converged on the United Nations Monday, Sept. 24, to denounce Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was to appear at Columbia University that day and address the UN's General Assembly the next.

Thousands of people came from a host of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations in New York, New Jersey, and even as far afield as California to denounce the Iranian president.

The protestors rallied in the dappled shade of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, across the street from the UN, at the gathering organized just in the past few weeks by the Ad Hoc Coalition for Justice. They were there to express their rage at Columbia for inviting the Iranian president to its venerated podium, and to protest his scheduled presence at the UN.

Speaker after speaker warned of the danger Iran poses — not just to Israel and to Americans, but to the world. From the crowd came bellowed cheers of agreement and yells of "Stop him now!" as protesters waved posters merging a picture of Ahmadinejad with a Nazi swastika. The most prominent posters were the blue and white ones held aloft by hundreds of members of the group Christians United for Israel.

Speakers stressed the need to take strong action to block Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"All options are on the table," said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), employing a phrase commonly understood to include military action, as he addressed the crowd outside the UN.

Menendez said sanctions and divestment were not enough, and he urged congressional action to confront the threat of a nuclear Iran.

"It is time for the United States to act now," Menendez said.

The only people not joining that chorus were the 20 or so ultra-Orthodox men lined up at the far end of the plaza from the speakers, silently holding up posters opposing Israel's statehood. Two lines of barricades and a couple of stoical police officers separated them from the steady trickle of rally-goers scolding them for their stance.

Howard Cohen of East Brunswick was heading into Manhattan anyway on Monday, but he arranged his work schedule specially so that he could get to the rally, and he was frustrated that others didn't do likewise. "If it wasn't for the yeshivas, it would have been very empty. There were far fewer people than I expected," he said.

He suggested that the protest at Columbia might have caused the lower numbers outside the UN, but that reason didn't satisfy him. "You would think that people would feel some sense of urgency about this. I just shake my head. The rabbi announced it at the Yom Kippur service [at the East Brunswick Jewish Center] during the Israel Bonds appeal, and there were about 2,000 at the two services. But people are complacent; they think someone else will go."

Zivia London of Highland Park, who was among four busloads of students from the Jewish Educational Center's Bruriah High School for Girls in Elizabeth, said it was worth missing school to attend the rally. "It's important that we show how we feel, and the more people that are there, the better."

The rally had a very personal aspect for another senior from Highland Park, Leora Hakakian. Her father who is from Iran, experienced the anti-Semitism there in his youth and has been appalled by the current Iranian leadership. His sister, Roya Hakakian, wrote a book about their experiences, Journey from the Land of No. Her father "said I should represent him at the rally," Leora said.

Vito Delbuono isn't Jewish or a regular at pro-Israel events, but the burly, tattooed political science graduate from Fordham University in the Bronx said he was so appalled by Columbia's invitation to Ahmadinejad, he had to come.

The Rev. Katherine Fosse and her friend Wendy Sundseth had come all the way from Minneapolis just to attend the rally. They held up a long banner that read, "We will not forget the Holocaust or 9/11."

"God told me to come, and to have a banner saying this," Fosse said.

The church she works with, In Christ International Ministries, belongs to Christians United for Israel, the umbrella group that brought hundreds of placard-bearing supporters to the rally. Pastor Victor Styrsky, the California regional director of CUFI, was among the speakers.

Tom Stewart and John Valencia, CUFI members from Toms River, said it was their first time at such a gathering.

"I just feel it's important that we all stand together to support Israel," Stewart said.