Israel Gets Some Local Backing
By Charles A. Radin
Boston Globe
BROOKLINE - More than 2,000 Boston-area Jews and other supporters of Israel held a sometimes solemn, sometimes exuberant demonstration of solidarity with the Jewish state outside Congregation Kehillath Israel last night.
About a dozen critics of Israel, several of whom said they were Jews, raised posters decrying killings of civilians by Israeli forces. But the numbers of those who opposed the solidarity rally were far lower than police had expected. Areas on Harvard Street reserved for counterdemonstrations eventually were filled with people headed home from work, senior citizens, and children fresh from summer camps expressing support for the Israelis.
There was a strong police presence, supplemented by security officers who made little effort to hide that they had multiple weapons under their jackets.
Many acknowledged divisions in their ranks about what should be done in the region.
"We all come from the same place of wanting peace and security for Israel, an end of terrorism and return of the soldiers" kidnapped by the Hezbollah and Hamas extremists, said Beth Wasserman of Somerville, spokeswoman for the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace . But, she added, "This conflict will never be settled by use of force. For Israel to achieve security and terrorism to end, there needs to be a brokered, lasting cease-fire."
Her group advocates a greatly heightened US role in negotiations. Others say they felt force is exactly what is needed.
"We should do the maximum we can -- phone calls, letters, whatever we can do to express to our government that we want them to let Israel finish the job this time," said Alexander Rosin, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union and an activist in Brighton.
"The Israelis should do the maximum they can do to deprive Hezbollah of the capacity to shoot rockets into Israel," Rosin said.
However, Rosin said, notwithstanding Israel's military power, "there is danger that if they act too forcefully, the democratic government of Lebanon will fall and the people who come to power will be more radical.
"So I do believe they should try to strike a balance," Rosin added.
Nancy Kaufman -- executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, which sponsored the rally -- said such considerations meant that the mainstream of the Jewish community would generally support the policies of Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert.
She, like Olmert, rejected the suggestion made by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and supported by some Jewish groups for an immediate cease-fire.
"I think it is time to wipe out the Hezbollah infrastructure," Kaufman said.
Olmert has said that a cease-fire could be negotiated only if kidnapped soldiers were returned and UN Security Council resolution 1559, calling for the disarming of Hezbollah, was enforced.
Efforts were made to keep the rally somber, due both to current events in the Middle East and the three-week period of mourning observed by Jews before the anniversary of the destruction of the Biblical temples in Jerusalem. Two rabbis read psalms.
A moment of silence was observed for all, Jews and Arabs, who have been killed.
But the event was punctuated with cheers, as Peter Meade , a Catholic community activist, led a "we support Israel" chant, the Rev. Hurmon Hamilton of Roxbury Presbyterian Church made a rousing call for peace free of terror, and other rabbis led the singing of "Am Yisrael Hai!" -- Hebrew for "the people of Israel live."
Kaufman said that despite the political differences over the Middle East,"there is solidarity around the pain we are all feeling and seeing every minute."
"There may not be agreement on what the [Israel Defense Forces ] should do today, tonight, tomorrow, but there is a complete identification with what people there are going through," she said. "There is wall-to-wall unity around that."
Unlike some of Israel's critics, the counter demonstrators here yesterday seemed to recognize Israeli's right to exist and defend itself.
But one, Michael Rainho, 36, of Brookline, said "it does not have the right to collectively punish the Lebanese people for the acts of one militant segment of their society."
Rainho, became involved in an argument with Israel supporters as the rally ended.
