Hundreds rally to back Israel

[JohnLocke]

Hundreds Rally to Back Israel
By CINDY SWIRKO
Sun staff writer

Israel is the only democracy in the Mideast and the region's only long-term, consistent ally of the U.S. — a message that was the dominant theme of Sunday's rally for Israel in Gainesville.

The event culminated Israel Awareness Week at the University of Florida and drew an estimated 500 students and other participants from around the state. Among them was Miki Arbel, Israel's consul general for Florida.

snip

"I want peace in general. I want peace in Israel. I believe there can be coexistence between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people," Rubinstein said. "I'm a Zionist. I believe in a strong Israeli state but I also believe in the rights of the Palestinians."

http://gainesvillesun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031124/LOCAL/31123022/1007

[EFF BrandyWine]

1. I agree with Mr Arbel completely.

.

[Blitz]

3. Me too

eom.

[tinnypriv]

7. "I support Israel unconditionally"

Gotcha.

[Blitz]

8. Gotcha???

First, Mr. Arbel never said "I support Israel unconditionally." The quote is:

"I want people to support Israel unconditionally, but I also want people to understand why they should support Israel — it is the only democratic state in the Middle East and is an example and model for all the countries around us," Arbel said. "Having a strong, democratic Israel is very important to all of us and we should support it. I want students to feel that Jewish people are one, whether they are in the United States, Israel or Europe. We are one."

That's some funny cut and paste function you have, that deletes words from the middle of a sentence. From now on, when you provide quotes, please provide the link. It seems that your quoting abilities are, shall we say, unreliable.

Second, and please pay attention because another "gotcha" moment is coming:

I stand with Israel and support her unconditionally against her enemies. I am a zionist. Israel stands behind only to the United States in my affections, ahead even of my birth country.

I may not support Israeli trade policy with Ireland or some of Israel's domestic policies or her environmental agenda (or I may; who knows?) but when it comes to the ongoing war between Israel and the Islamist murderers and other anti-semites that would destroy her and everyone in her, I support Israel unconditionally.

Got that?

[tinnypriv]

12. LOL

You think somebody who says "I want people to support Israel unconditionally" doesn't himself support Israel unconditionally?

Welcome to the world of rationality. Spare me the breathless diatribes.

[tinnypriv]

6. Or, you could have said:

"I want people to support Israel unconditionally" :shrug:

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tinnypriv]

4. Maybe the first one wasn't covered

Because it'd be too embarassing to say Wolfowitz was booed as pro-Palestinian.

Reporting that might imply those at the rally had lost their minds, hence it would be "anti-semitic".

So you could say the lack of coverage was a service to Israel. ;-)

[Blitz]

9. Maybe before commenting

You should read up on what you are talking about. Wolfowitz wasn't within a thousand miles of the San Francisco rally. The incident that you referred to happened in Washington D.C. more than a week earlier.

And, on that occasion, Wolfowitz richly deserved to get booed for his momentary foray into the idiocy of moral equivalency.

[Darranar]

10. Oh, please...

he said, I believe (this is from memory, I doubt that it is exact) that we also need to keep in mind the innocent Palestinians suffering.

Another question: What "idiocy" of moral equivalency?

[Jack Rabbit]

15. Frank Rich, "The Booing of Wolfowitz"

From The New York Times
Dated May 11, 2002
Reprinted on the website of the American Committee for Jerusalem

The Booing of Wolfowitz
By Frank Rich

Like many other Jews, I am perhaps all too willing to believe that the entire world is anti-Semitic. The Palestinians, certainly. Much of Europe, starting with the French - and not just the Le Pen 18 percent but anyone who believed Jacques Chirac when he declared "there is no anti-Semitism in France" while synagogues burned. Then there are the Muslims from Jordan to Iran who, as Susan Sachs of The Times reported, offer that perennial wellspring of hatred, "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," as a gift-shop keepsake at five-star hotels.
But Paul Wolfowitz?
Mr. Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, is on the hawkish right of the Bush administration. He is a Jew whose father's family was wiped out in the Holocaust. Nonetheless, he was booed when he spoke on behalf of the president at the large pro-Israel rally held by American Jews in Washington last month. His transgression? During an encomium to Israel, he acknowledged aloud that "innocent Palestinians are suffering and dying in great numbers as well" in the Middle East.
That Paul Wolfowitz, of all Americans in public life, would be vilified for stating the obvious was a sign, to me anyway, that justifiable rage and horror at Palestinian terrorism is, in some American Jewish quarters, boiling over into something less justifiable.

Read more.

[Violet_Crumble]

16. Thanks for posting that...

I remember reading about it when it happened, but I'd never seen the article you posted. Unfortunately it seems that there's a segment of the American population who believe that being a 'friend of Israel' means a strident denial that Palestinians are suffering, and that the only people who suffer are Israeli Jews. They're the same sort of people who label anyone who disagrees with their views as the enemy and who think the only issue worthy of taking notice of or discussing is terrorist attacks on Israeli Jews. They may even trot out the 'moral equivalency' card to try to argue some weird scenario where they believe that the only people that suffer are on their 'side'. And anyone who dares to point out the blatantly obvious fact that the Palestinians do suffer, and that we're all human and suffering isn't confined to just one group in any conflict automatically becomes the enemy. What they don't seem to grasp is that their hysterical and ugly reactions turn people right off, and they're doing much more harm to Israel and Israelis than any real enemy ever could...

Violet...

[bluesoul]

17. Those that think Wolfowitz

was wrong with his remark are to the right of the neocon hawks. More radical and extremist then those already radical...

[Violet_Crumble]

18. I think they're different forms of radicalism...

Not that I'm in any way a fan of Wolfowitz, but I think when it comes to intelligence and a sense of compassion for individuals, Wolfowitz would have out-wattaged any of the hecklers many times over. I may be wrong on this, but the radicalism of the neo-cons is one where they put a distance between themselves and the individuals that their policies affect and they look at the big picture because it's more tolerable looking at big, strategic, global goals than aiming their ire at the individuals they cause harm to. Most of the neo-cons used to be liberals, and some may even still hold liberal views on issues other than US foreign policy, and a few of them probably do have a heart and do display it at times...

Those who heckled him and who agreed with the hecklers are like most extremists - intellectually under-endowed, and trying to compensate for it with huge dollops of hatred and hysterical rage...

Violet...

edited to remove some crappy grammar that's peppering my posts tonight :)

[Darranar]

22. I disagree...

Wolfowitz is doing it for political gain, not anything related to compassion for humans.

[tinnypriv]

11. LOL

The rally was a week earlier than April 15 2002?

If you say so ;-)

[Darranar]

14. It was the one in DC...

the exact date I cannot recall.

[Muddleoftheroad]

19. You are right

I was there and damn if I know when the hell it was.

[edzontar]

20. Did you witness the booing? I saw it on TV.

The incident actually registered a small blip in the coverage.

[Muddleoftheroad]

21. Yes, saw booing

I couldn't get super close to the stage until he talked. He pissed some folks off or the crowd was dwindling, so I moved in at that point.

[Jack Rabbit]

13. "Idiocy"?

In what way is the suffering of an innocent Palestinian not equal to the suffering of an innocent Israeli?

I hardly think Wolfowitz deserved to be booed that day. It is one of the rare occasions he's shown that he might possibly have a heart.

[BrokenSegue]

5. Well...?

It's nice to know they're having rallies for peace. Maybe we should pass out a petition. It seems the only thing that Israeli Awarness week acomplished was to draw attention to Israel.
I'm sorry to be such a cyinic but the Israel/Palestine conflict won't be resolved anytime soon. The Middle East Conflict usually isn't an issue in election years and this one doesn't seem very different.
So no movement either way..to bad.