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April 19, 2002
A rallying cry for Israel
Thousands come out to BI to show their solidarity.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
A crowd estimated at more than 2,000 gathered outside Beth Israel
Synagogue April 14, to offer a united voice of solidarity with the
homeland of the Jews.
Braving chilling winds and threats of rain, the crowd, which overflowed
into and across Oak Street, waved Israeli flags and held signs that
read, “We Stand With Israel Now and Forever” and “Arafat
= Terrorism,” among many others.
At the top of the steps of the neighboring Talmud Torah elementary
school, several speakers addressed the crowd and the many media
representatives as demonstrators cheered and jeered in unison.
Naomi Frankenburg, chair of the Israel Action Committee, opened
the rally and introduced the past president of the Jewish Federation
of Greater Vancouver, Dr. Jonathan Berkowitz, who spoke on behalf
of the current president, Sondi Ritter, who was out of town.
“We Jews are, as Moses and God described us, a stiff-necked
people,” he declared. “We are a community of leaders.
So stick your neck out and don’t be afraid to lead. It’s
time to act. To demonstrate to all our brothers and sisters in Israel,
your love and support of Israel, now and forever.”
Berkowitz also briefly introduced a new community-wide plan to support
Israel that will include various forms of education, advocacy and
fund-raising for relief of terror victims and their families and
additional security measures. (See April 19 cover story in Archives.)
He also announced that Michael Moscovich and Rabbi Charles Feinberg
have agreed to lead a solidarity mission to Israel in June.
Berkowitz was followed by Rev. Ken Smith, the leader of Bridges
for Peace, who expressed support for the Jewish people on behalf
of Christians.
Dr. Michael Elterman of Canadian Jewish Congress then talked to
the crowd about the threat of suicide bombers in North America.
“How much further is it from a fire bombing of a synagogue
to a suicide bombing of a Jewish institution?” he asked. “There
have been hundreds of anti-Semitic acts over the past couple of
weeks and I pray that it is not too late to stop this from spreading.
We need to make Canadians less complacent about this danger.”
The final speaker at the rally was Israel’s ambassador to Canada,
Haim Divon, who flew in from Ottawa to attend the event.
Divon educated the crowd on some of Israel’s history with the
Palestinians and the Arab nations surrounding it so that they could
understand why Israel has had to fight so hard to defend itself.
“Last week we commemorated one of our darkest days, on Yom
Hashoah, and still the world is preaching to us when we are fighting
a legitimate war, we are fighting terrorism,” he said. “We
are not fighting a Palestinian state. We are not fighting the Palestinian
people. We are fighting terrorists who are there to destroy the
very existence of the state of Israel.”
Divon used the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan as examples
of how far Israel has been willing to go in order to have peace
with her neighbors.
“The Egyptians and the Jordanians didn’t need terror in
order to reach peace with us and to be satisfied,” he said.
As the rally concluded, many community members stayed behind, danced
and sang songs for Israel.
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