Posted on 06/23/2002 11:45:53 AM PDT by xvb
Thousands of supportive New Yorkers demonstrate for Israel
By MELISSA RADLER
NEW YORK - Thousands of New Yorkers gathered outside the Israeli consulate today to demonstrate their support for Israel and voice their opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Sponsored by 30 Orthodox, Reform and Conservative rabbis and six local Jewish groups, the demonstration featured the chief rabbi of Efrat, Shlomo Riskin, who led the crowd in a chant: "No, no, no, to a state of the PLO!"
After the names of 31 Israeli civilians and 2 IDF soldiers who were killed this week were read out and commemorated, Adura resident Ya'acov Katz was remembered by his daughter, Anat. Katz was murdered on April 27 by Palestinian terrorists who killed four people, including a five-year old girl, during a shooting rampage inside the small, West Bank community. Katz's son Daniel, age 8, stood next to his sister as she spoke, holding a picture of himself laughing in his father's arms.
"We can't go to a pizza place, to a mall, we can't leave our houses because guess what, we're going to be exploded because we are Jews," she Katz.
"People that are so bloodthirsty don't deserve anything whatsoever."
The rally was organized by the president of the Coalition for Jewish Concerns-Amcha, Rabbi Avi Weiss. An action alert circulated by Weiss through the crowd called on rally-goers to travel to Israel, donate funds to terror victims and their families, buy Israeli-made goods and call family and friends in Israel.
"They need to know they are not alone," the alert states.
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