Calif. Pro-Israel rallies draw political heavyweights

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined thousands of Israel supporters in the withering heat Sunday to rally behind Israel's recent attacks in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Loudly condemning the "relentless rocket attacks of Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel," Villaraigosa drew a cheer when he said: "We're here to defend (Israel's) unassailable right to defend itself."

Schwarzenegger also affirmed Israel's right to self-defense and offered prayers for peace in Lebanon.

"I hope they can recover their country and live without violence or strife," he said.

In a separate pro-Israel rally in San Francisco Sunday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told a crowd waving blue-and-white Israeli flags that Hezbollah and Hamas rocket attacks against Israel represented "clear acts of war."

"Israel is not fighting just to protect its citizens," Feinstein said. "It is fighting to secure its borders. It is fighting for its very existence."

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom also appeared briefly at the rally near San Francisco's Ferry Building, waving to the crowd from behind dark sunglasses.

Sure did. The turnout was great and it was good to see all the liberal Jews and Dems (finally!) figuring it out.

However, there was far too much "peace" rhetoric for my taste. The one guy carrying a "Destroy Hezbollah" (and something funny underneath it about the "Filistinist Entity") sign had one of the few gutsy messages there. Also, the guy with a sign that said, "Israel: Only through Victory Will You Achieve Peace." But it was mostly "Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace" signs and not one speaker cheered on the IDF or mentioned that "peace" is what got Israel where it is today.

Also, the organizers tried to stop members of SFV4I (San Francisco Voice for Israel) from counter-protesting (behind the barrier) the few pro-Pali types who showed up to protest. They did it anyway, but the cowardly "monitors" pissed me off!

Other than that, it was all good ;-)

Just got this from a local "proud Zionist" who was also at the rally. Seems I'm not alone in my criticism:

Sunday's peace rally in San Francisco was a pleasant and spirited event, with an estimated 700 pro-Israel supporters coming out despite the heat. A large contingent of young people, many of them singing songs, added to the festive atmosphere. But it seemed to me that the rally's message was strangely disconnected from reality.

It seemed oddly inappropriate to have a "peace" rally in the middle of a war. A "victory" rally might have made more sense. But the "V" word was nowhere to be seen. A long list of speakers, headed by Senator Dianne Feinstein, gave very polite speeches in which they praised Israel, blamed Hezbollah for starting the war, and expressed hope that Israel would someday be able to live in peace. But no one was bold enough to suggest that Israel might actually have to win the war before the hoped-for peace could be attained.

No one proclaimed that Jews have an inalienable right to the land of Israel. No one mentioned God or Judaism except in the most perfunctory terms. One rabbi did read a prayer, which he presumably wrote himself, which seemed to suggest that Judaism has no higher value than peace.

Meanwhile, off to the side, a group of Israel supporters was facing off against a small group of pro-Arabs, with the usual police barricades between the groups. The rally organizers were trying to get people to "disengage" from the Arabs, by not responding to their insults, threats and outright lies, and by turning our backs to them. They encouraged people to hold Israeli flags, but tried to discourage them from holding up signs with any verbal messages, since these might "inflame" the situation.

I felt that I was seeing a lot of the same type of thinking that led to Israel's hasty retreat from Lebanon, it's destruction of Jewish communities in Gaza and subsequent retreat from there, and the current mess it now finds itself in.

I don't claim to fully understand this type of thinking. Perhaps, and this is only a guess, the idea is that if we can only show the world how peaceful, ethical and civilized we are, the world will support us and maybe even fight our battles for us so that we don't have to fight them for ourselves.

If so, this is pure wishful thinking. All nations act on the basis of self-interest, and no nation, including the U.S., is going to help Israel unless they perceive it to be in their own interest to do so, no matter how peaceful and ethical we are. Since national interests and alliances can change very quickly, it would be very foolish for Israel to gamble its entire existence on the strength of such an alliance.

Ultimately, we have to fight our own battles. Because of our small numbers, we need to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies, and prove through deeds, not words, that waging war against the Jews will seal their doom. Our message should be that Israel is an extremely formidable foe who no one can attack with impunity.

This is the message that did NOT come through at the peace rally.

Thanks for the report. Frankly, that is sad.

Although, in Los Angeles, we heard statements that "Israel has a right to exist; Israel has a right to defend itself," I was surprised to see signs and t-shirts stressing "Peace" and statements that all we want is peace. There was some talk about putting an end to Hizb'Allah and a few signs to "Stop Terrorism." Also, many were wearing IDF t-shirts and caps. The kidnapped soldiers and the killed soldiers were remembered by name.

But still, there was enough talk of peace to grate on my nerves and puzzle me. And although the U.S. was praised as the best ally of Israel, what denial that is considering the setbacks for Israel that have been coerced by this administration. I don't like what I am hearing from Rice thus far today, nor the Saudi visit to the White House yesterday.

We have more Zionists here but also more liberal Jews, probably the most outside of New York. I wonder how many out of the thousands who rallied yesterday truly believe in fighting to victory over Hamas and Hizb'Allah.

I arrived early enough that I was able to walk right through the palestinian, pro-terrorist group and feel their hate vibe, before I went to join the Israeli crowd. A while later, the police presence was more visible, but too dramatic for my taste as they basically made prisons for each group. We couldn't even cross the street without being threatened with a billyclub.

The local media seems to be owned by islam by now, as their only coverage of this huge event was in terms of how much the Arab muslim community was pouting over the appearances of the governor and mayor.

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