Display of support for Israel in Gaza war 'very disappointing'
New Yorkers rally for Israel on July 28th – at 8,000 people it included a tiny proportion of New York city’s Jews and immigrants from Israel. Photo Reuters.
Where were world’s Jews during Gaza op?
Only very small percentage of Paris and New York Jews turned out for pro-Israel rallies. It’s hard to take pride in these numbers.
By Noah Klieger, Ynet Op-Ed
August 10, 2014
An Israel solidarity rally was held last weekend in Paris. According to the local police, it was attended by some 4,500 people. According to the organizers, there were 6,000 participants, both Jews and non-Jews.
It was a large demonstration which we can only welcome. It’s true that the city’s Jews took their time getting organized, on the fourth week of the fighting in Gaza, but as we know, it’s better late than never.
So far, there seems to be no problem. But the truth is that there is a problem. There are more than 600,000 Jews living in France today, about half of them in Paris. At the most, 6,000 of those 300,000 living in the French capital participated in the rally.
Not exactly encouraging numbers, to say the least, because even if we deduct the small children and elderly people, there are still about 150,000 Jews in Paris who were capable of taking part in a show of support for the state where many of them have not only relatives, but also apartments.
Six-thousand out of 150,000 is four percent. As the Americans would say, it’s not something to write home about. It’s hard to take pride in these numbers.
I know that many Jews in France, not only in Paris, are living in fear today. They avoid wearing a skullcap, they don’t go to synagogue and they ponder whether they should send their children to the Jewish schools, which anyway look like fortresses.
Because of the Muslim gangs, they are even afraid to go see a movie about with a Jewish theme, like “Victor Young Perez,” which tells the story of a Tunisian Jewish boxer who became the world flyweight champion and was murdered in Auschwitz.
But I really can’t understand the fear to participate in a mass protest which was approved by the authorities and therefore guarded by the security forces.
It’s disappointing. Very disappointing.
Earlier, in New York, there was another solidarity rally. Some 8,000 people gathered for that protest. It seems nice, but here too – and even much drastically – it can be seen as a mixed blessing.
There are two million Jews living in the Big Apple, which means that every fourth resident is member of the Jewish people. And among those two million, about 170,000 are former Israelis, as the emigrants are called today.
So let’s assume that not every Jew in New York is connected to Israel or is among its supporters. It happens. Moreover, many of them have never visited Israel anyway and have no plans of visiting the country. This happens too. You can’t make every single Jew feel a connection to the Jewish state.
But what about the former Israelis? Only few of them came to express their support for the state which although they abandoned at some stage, for certain reasons, most of them were born and raised in it, it’s where their roots are, it’s where they still have relatives and friends, it’s where their first language came from and it’s the home of the soccer teams which they still support.
The Jews of New York, after all, have no reason to fear an attack by Muslims. Like I said about Paris, it’s disappointing. Very disappointing.
Unlike the marches protesting against the attack on Gaza as in London, below setting off from the BB, on August 9th 2014.
IN PICTURES: Thousands rally around the world to support Israel
From Guatemala to Zurich, pro-Israel activists gather to show their support for Israel during the Gaza conflict.
By Ynet news
Published:08.04.14, 22:58 / Israel News
Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered all over the world to protest the operation, but numerous people worldwide have also come together in support of Israel.
From South America to South Africa, Australia, the United States and no few European countries, supporters have rallied in solidarity over the past few weeks.
In the United States, people have gathered everywhere from New York to San Francisco to Dallas to show their love of Israel.
Support for Israel in New York undated photo by AFP)
An estimated 700 people from around the Bay Area marched through San Francisco on Sunday to show their unwavering support of Israel. The rally was organized by three students from Stanford University. Demonstrators from about 40 different Bay Area Jewish organizations were bused to the San Francisco City Hall with Israeli flags and banners. They sang the Israeli national anthem as they marched through the city.
New York City was a host for several pro-Israel events over the past couple of weeks, but what was likely its largest took place last Monday in front of the United Nations building on the east side of Manhattan, where around 10,000 demonstrators and a host of prominent elected officials gathered to hear religious leaders and influential politicians profess their support for Israel.
New York. Undated photo by AFP
When Senator Chuck Schumer asked the crowd “who is responsible for the deaths of so many of these Palestinians civilians?” he was answered with a resolute “Hamas!”
“That is exactly right. The bottom line is very simple. We must send a message from one corner of this globe to the other and to that building over there that you will not have peace as long as Hamas has power. Hamas is a terrorist organization sworn to Israel’s destruction who believes they have a moral right to start war at any occasion,” Senator Schumer went on to say.
Last month, a spontaneous pro-Israel rally erupted in Manhattan’s Diamond District in response to pro-Palestinian protesters chanting anti-Israeli chants like “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “resistance is justified, when people are occupied!” and calling for an “intifada.”
Some of the business owners in the area closed their stores to demonstrate in favor of Israel, following the pro-Palestinian rally and chanting “Is-ra-el!” over and over again. More and more people joined them along the way, drowning out the sounds of the anti-Israel rally by singing “Am Israel Chai” and “David Melech Israel” (“David the King of Israel”) and shouting “Hamas terrorists” and “I-D-F.”
In Dallas, thousands gathered at the City Hall Plaza to listen to Gov. Rick Perry speak.
“It’s difficult for most of us to imagine what life must be like when our children walk to school and they are diverted by a rocket attack, where terrorists tunnel under our cities,” Perry said. “Yet Israel endures.”
But the support for Israel did not just come from Dallas’ Jews. More than 50 churches, community groups and other pro-Israel organizations attended the rally. Demonstrators came armed with hundreds of Israeli flags – and some American flags – and signs that said “Dallas stands with Israel.”
Dallas, photo: MCT
In Brazil, some 2,500 people gathered in at the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, singing “Am Israel Chai” and other Hebrew songs, as well as the Israeli and Brazilian national anthems.
They too waved Israeli – and Brazilian – flags, and carried signs in Portuguese and English calling for peace and condemning anti-Semitism.
Another recent pro-Israel rally in Brazil took place in Sao Paulo, where some 3,000 people marched.
Hundreds of Israeli supporters also marched in Guatemala City. A sea of Israeli flags was led by one massive flag. Signs in Spanish called to “Repudiate any terrorist act against Israel,” with one sign urging Guatemala to stand with Israel, otherwise, “friendship can die.”
Guatemala City (Photo: Reuters)
Pro-Israel protesters also descended upon two of Australia’s major cities – Sydney and Brisbane.
On Sunday, a blue and white sea of 10,000 people gathered under tight security at Dudley Page Reserve in Dover Heights in Sydney’s eastern suburbs to support Israel’s right to defend itself. Despite that, rally attendees stressed, this was a rally calling for peace.
Sydney, Australia (Photo: Getty Images)
“Every single person here is talking of peace. Today is about singing, camaraderie and friendship,” said Rabbi Eli Feldman of the Chabad Synagogue in Bondi. “The overwhelming sentiment of Jewish people here and in Israel is for love and peace, which is in contrast with the chants and anger we saw in other rallies last week.”
Demonstrators held up Israeli and Australian flags, waved signs in support of Israel and sang the Israeli national anthem under the clear blue sky. They also observed a minute’s silence for IDF officer Hadar Goldin, who had been declared dead the day before.
Several hours later, some 5,000 people gathered at the Sydney Town Hall for a peaceful rally in support of the people of Gaza, condemning the Israeli operation.
A more modest showing of approximately 200 people gathered in Queen’s park in Brisbane on Sunday, in a rally promoting a peaceful resolution and protesting anti-Semitism in Australia as a result of the conflict.
Over in The Netherlands, dozens gathered in Amsterdam’s Leidse Square for a pro-Israel flash mob that started with a piercing rocket-alert siren blaring through the square. Onlookers looked curiously on as many demonstrators quickly fell to the ground, protecting their heads with their hands, some even protecting others with their bodies – just as Israelis with nowhere to seek shelters from the Gaza rockets have to do.
“In Israel, you have 15 seconds to save your life,” an announcer said over a speaker. “This is the reality in Israel.”
Supporters of Israel also gathered in Zurich, Switzerland. Swiss riot police stood guard over the demonstration.
Zurich (Photo: Reuters)
In the city of Gori in Georgia, many came together for a support rally of Israel, with children painting their faces with the Israeli flag, wrapping themselves up with their blue-and-white flags and holding up pro-Israeli signs.
Meanwhile, in Budapest, thousands crammed into and around the main synagogue in the city last week for a rally attended by the Israeli Ambassador to Hungary Ilan Mor.
”It is not the Islamic faith or Palestinian people that Israel fights; rather, Israel is at war against terror. Israel’s existence is a miracle, but we must fight for it, as the only democratic state in the Middle East,” Mor said.
Budapest (Photo: Laci Molnar)
In France, thousands turned out to a rally near the Israeli Embassy in Paris on Thursday for a pro-Israel rally. Demonstrators waved signs with slogans like “Gaza hostage of Hamas” and “We protest for peace.”
Rallying in Paris (Photo: Reuters)
The demonstration happened amid persistent reports the Jewish Defense League faces a government ban. JDD militants stepped in to assure security at synagogues during pro-Gaza protests, but were blamed for provoking violence at pro-Palestinian rallies.
Yaara Shalom contributed to this article