Residents join to back Israel

This is a fairly accurate representation of what happened yesterday, with
the exception of the demonstrators across the street. They were yelling some
nonsense about "stop[ping] the Zionist Genocide" and "Jews go back to
Poland", "Jews go back to Germany" etc. Their hatred was clearly more
directed at Jews as Jews rather than the situation in the North of
Israel/Southern Lebanon. But this is exactly the point: the terror groups
are and have been engaging in a genocidal effort when they aim their weapons
at Jewish civilians whether they are rockets or suicide bombs packed with
nails or ball bearings. One wonders if these people have a brain of their
own, or if they are just the dupes of their so-called leaders who have
encouraged them to remain as victims for the past 60 years instead of
building a new life for themselves as Israeli refugees from Arab countries
that they were exiled from after 1948 have done.

Just today, a rocket hit an old-age home in near Haifa. As I was walking out
of the rally, there was ONE guy from the rally yelling at the stupid
protesters who were at first trying to block the entrance to the parking
facility across the street. The police were soon called, and I assume that
they were told not to interfere with people or they'd be broken up, as the
situation looked more orderly on the way out than on the way in. People who
live in San Diego and who stoop to yell like this at ignoramuses should
think twice about rooting in the dirt with the Islamofascist scum that
showed up yesterday.

The report likewise did not mention the speeches of some teens from JITLI
(Jacobs International Teen Leadership Institute) which brings together
Jewish American, Jewish Israeli, Arab Israeli, and Palestinian high school
students. There were three young people who made brief remarks about their
hopes for peace in the region; none made any controversial remarks, as all
who attended the rally all want peace, but not at the end of a rope or as
hostages to terrorists. For more on JITLI, see www.jitli.org )

RS

Residents join to back Israel

38 local Jewish groups sponsored La Jolla event
By Jenny Lim
UNION-TRIBUNE

July 24, 2006

As fighting continued in the Middle East, more than 1,500 representatives of
San Diego's Jewish organizations and synagogues rallied to support Israel
yesterday afternoon.

More than 1,500 people attended a pro-Israel rally yesterday in La Jolla
with speeches by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and Rep. Susan Davis, D-San
Diego.
The crowd gathered on a soccer field at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community
Center in La Jolla, where volunteers passed out free sunscreen, Israeli and
American flags and T-shirts that read, "Israel, We Stand With You."

Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, received cheers when she announced the House
had passed a bill condemning the recent attacks against Israel. Israel and
the Hezbollah militia have been fighting in Lebanon since Hezbollah captured
two Israeli soldiers July 12.

Davis said some in the international community have criticized Israel's
military response as disproportional.

"I can understand and appreciate the concern for the well-being of innocent
civilians in the region," she said. "But I have seen the Hezbollah's
military capability, and I know they are not a benign force."

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, whose sister-in-law has lived in Israel for
36 years, said he understood the concern for family and friends in Israel.

"Extremists must not be allowed to continue to dictate the terms, to
continue to break the peace, to continue to harm our family members and our
allies all over the world, but especially in Israel," Sanders said.

The loudest applause greeted speaker Jacob Fine, a 20-year-old American from
Saratoga who completed a two-year stint as an Israeli Army soldier last
month. Fine's aunt and uncle, Bob and Susan Halstead of Carmel Valley, were
in the audience.

The United Jewish Federation of San Diego County coordinated the gathering,
which was co-sponsored by 38 local Jewish groups. The event was the
federation's first rally since the violence in Israel and Lebanon began.

Across the street from the center stood two dozen protesters, including
members of the Islamic Center of San Diego and the organization Right of
Return for Palestinian Refugees. As the rally ended, attendees and
protesters exchanged verbal taunts across Executive Drive.

Mona Kadah of North County said she hoped the small protest would call
attention to the need to "stop the bombing and killing" in Lebanon.

"No one here has issues with the people of Lebanon," said Yaron Lief, an
attendee who owns a water damage repair company in San Diego. Lief said his
grandmother and two sisters have relocated to a bunker in Haifa, Israel,
since the fighting started.

The conflict has stirred mixed feelings for many Israelis because Lebanese
civilians are being hurt, Lief said.

"We love the people of Lebanon, but we don't appreciate people shooting at
us from that land," he said.

Jewish agencies and congregations held similar rallies in San Francisco, Los
Angeles and Orange County yesterday, said Michael Rassler, executive vice
president of the San Diego federation.

During the rally, Rassler encouraged the crowd to call relatives in Israel
and make contributions to the federation's fundraising campaigns.

Since July 17, the federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of San
Diego have raised more than $125,000 to help programs in Israel during the
recent violence. The federation will distribute the funds to five programs,
including one that will send children in Northern Israel to summer camps
away from the fighting.

Tina Friedman, the federation's Community Relations Council director, said
24 San Diego teenagers are in southern Israel for the organization's annual
Scott Stone Israel Teen Trip. The sophomores and juniors will return from
their month-long tour of Israel on Wednesday.

Friedman's 15-year-old daughter, Aliza, is in Israel on a separate, six-week
tour until Aug. 7.

"I'm a little nervous about it, but I know that her program is taking very
good care of her," Friedman said. When Friedman spoke with her daughter
Saturday, she said teens from the north were being relocated to her dorm.

"She says she's having a great time," Friedman said. "She's living through
history. There's nothing I'm able to teach her that can replicate what she's
learning now."

Jenny Lim is a Union-Tribune intern.