After being ambushed in Beirut and wounded in a rocket attack, Doron Levitan figured he’d done his bit for Israel.
However, over two decades after he fought in the Lebanon War and 17 years after leaving his native land for San Francisco, Levitan has drafted himself into service again — in a different way.
“For many years, I didn’t do political stuff, pro-Israel stuff. In Israel, I served in the army, I did my duty,” said the 39-year-old Haifa-born businessman.
“But the last few years, things have gotten so bad, I felt I’ve just got to get involved.”
Levitan, his business partner Aaron Zeff and friends Eric Gold and Jeff Halbrecht reached their breaking point in early April, when they learned of plans for a huge, pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of the Consulate General of Israel in San Francisco. The foursome rapidly assembled an e-mail chain, called everyone they knew and encouraged others to do the same.
The result: Thanks in part to their efforts, an estimated 600 pro-Israel demonstrators hit the street on April 5 and Grassroots for Israel was born.
Grassroots’ next rally, a “March Against Terror,” is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco. Organizers are hoping thousands will show up.
“It’s similar to ‘Field of Dreams’ — what I’ve learned is that ‘if you build it, they will come,’ said Halbrecht, a 43-year-old orthopedic surgeon.
In the decade Halbrecht has lived in San Francisco, he’d always been told “this is not a pro-Israel community. But I think what we’ve found is that this is an extremely pro-Israel community and people were looking for a venue. Before the first event, we were wondering if people would care or show up. But we’ve found that people will come.”
Tapping into what they dub the “silent majority” of Bay Area Israel supporters, the Grassroots group has staged demonstrations at the French Consulate, held an Israel Independence Day celebration at city hall, helped inform demonstrators of other groups’ pro-Israel events and started up letter-writing campaigns.
With the “March Against Terror,” organizers are hoping to make the leap from attracting several hundred protesters — as they’ve done in the past — to 5,000 or more this time.
“Our intent is to have a broad appeal. The goal of our organization is not to quibble about politics or specific actions of the Israeli or American governments,” said Halbrecht. “Our intent is to support Israel, acknowledge that Israel has an absolute right to exist as a free nation and defend herself, all politics aside.”
In supporting Israel “unconditionally,” some strange bedfellows from across, and outside of, the Jewish community have found themselves demonstrating side-by-side at Grassroots rallies.
Zeff characterizes supporters as “right-wingers, left-wingers, gays, lesbians, Jews and non-Jews.”
Levitan, a former Peace Now activist, adds, “some people in the group are very liberal, others are very right-wing. It doesn’t matter to me. We are all pro-Israel.”
Janna Sundeyeva, the editor of the San Francisco Russian-language newspaper Kstati, met Grassroots’ leaders at their Israel Independence Day rally and subsequently became a core member of the group. Now hundreds of Russian-speaking Jews can be counted on to show up at any Grassroots event.
“There are a lot of organizations here that give money and do a lot of good jobs, and I really appreciate what they do,” said Sundeyeva. “But I was waiting for an organization like [Grassroots for Israel]. We do not need to scream on the streets, but we have to stand up for democracy. We have to stand up for our own future.”
Grassroots’ purpose, according to Gold, is two-fold. While providing Israel supporters with a “conduit,” demonstrations also garner media attention.
“I was having a conversation with someone the other day and they said ‘What impact can you really make on everything? Is this going to change anything?’ Listen, even the people at Camp David can’t really change things,” said Gold with a laugh.
“I don’t get down and think it’s bad that we can’t bring about peace by next week. But we can create a small ripple, it adds up. If Nancy Pelosi’s assistant clips out a story from the Chronicle that says a bunch of her constituents protested against terror, that’s done something. Not that she isn’t already on our side, but it’s good to give reinforcement.”