Israel's Enemies are America's Enemies
By Yocheved Golani

Tom Ridge explains the Homeland Security Advisory System
 

On Sunday, March 31, 2002 over 1000 Jewish New Yorkers and New Jersey residents demonstrated at the PLO Mission in New York city, protesting against the primitive and barbaric terror practices of Israel's neighboring Palestinian Muslims.

Outside of the Israeli Consulate, Betar/Tagar, the International Zionist youth movement of the Likud, and other American Jewish organizations rallied in support of the State of Israel. Participants stressed that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, a haven for Jews since the Holocaust, and the legitimate God-given land of the Jewish People.

Hundreds of supporters of Israel holding Israeli flags, mock coffins representing the hundreds of Israeli victims of terror actions, and signs called on the Israeli government to stand strong in the face of worldwide censure.

The rally culminated with a march to the United Nations, where protesters denounced the UN's continued anti-Israel stand. Elected officials and dignitaries addressed the rally. Pro-Israel activists from Betar, the Zionist Organization of America, and other groups protested outside PLO offices there.

Undeterred by heavy rains, protesters held signs declaring that "Arafat = Bin Laden" and "Arafat Must Be Defeated," and urged the Bush administration to recognize that Arafat is as much a terrorist as Osama Bin Laden.

They urged Bush to shut down the PLO's offices in New York and Washington and to add Arafat's Fatah and Force 17 groups to the U.S. list of terrorist groups.

The Jewish community of Los Angeles, California held a solidarity rally for Israel on April 2, 2002. The theme of the gathering was "There is No Acceptable Reason for Terrorism." The Jewish Los Angelenos encouraged other cities throughout the world to host similar rallies in support of Israel.

Answering the call, Sunday, April 7, 2002 will see several hundred protesters from Baltimore, Maryland joining the ACT (Americans Combating Terrorism) Rally in Washington, DC.

The anti-terrorism demonstration will be held on the southeast corner of Constitution Avenue and 17th Street, just south of the White House and north of the Washington Monument.

The group will gather from 10:30 am until 12:00 noon to protest the US government's continued support -- financial and otherwise -- of the terrorist organization calling itself the Palestinian Authority.

One of the slogans that will appear on posters at the demonstration quotes popular WCBM radio show host Tom Marr, who frequently points out that "Israel is the canary in the mine shaft: If she dies we're all doomed."

A recent letter-writing campaign from Jewish Baltimore residents to the New York Times underscored that "The Arab world recently abused the NYT and its readership with Arafat's specious clamoring for a peaceful solution of side-by-side Palestinian and Jewish states on the NYT's pages.

Palestinians want all of Israel. Note the Palestinian Authority's use of maps with no reference to Israel but with Palestine marked out on the discredited outline of Israel proper.

There are the slogans in Arabic: "Liberate Palestine, not Gaza, and the West Bank."

Arab attacks on Jews in Europe, Moslem killing of Jews outside Israel are another indication of the profound hatred of the Jew by the radical Muslims. And Muslim hatred of Christians: "The campaign also notes the feature story, Christians in the Crosshairs (page 31, The Jewish Press, 2/15/02) as a somber warning to all freedom loving people."

These rallies follow months of phone calls, E-mails, letters and faxes to the White House from concerned American Jews who understand anti-Israel terrorism as one element of a worldwide threat upon innocent civilians and democratic governments.

Pro-Israeli American Jews have repeatedly stressed, since the Al-Aqsa Intifada that began in the fall of 2002, that no one disputed the legitimate historical rights of Jews to Israel before 1967.

It is only with the advent of Yasser Arafat upon the world scene that any group sought to discredit the Biblical account of God's promise to Abraham. Rabbi Chaim Silberstein of Jerusalem's Beit Orot Yeshiva stood outside during former President Clinton's Camp David meeting with Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Thurmont, Maryland, reading the account.

Joined by protesters from Maryland, DC, and Delaware, Silberstein rebutted Palestinian claims of purloined properties with evidence of modern day deeds, wills, and other documentation of the legitimate sales of Israeli real estate between Arabs and Jews. None of the dignitaries acknowledged the evidence or the presence of the protesters, who remained peaceful and orderly throughout the conference.

Many American Jews clamoring for President Bush, Secretary of State Powell and Vice President Cheney to take decisive action to protect Israel -- and the world -- from further terrorism. For truly, peace for Israel equals peace for the world.