A bus traveling around the country is coming to the Bay Area. It’s a bus without a driver, passengers, or engine: It is the remains of bus No. 19, blown up by a suicide bomber on Jan. 29, 2004, in Jerusalem, killing 11 and wounding scores of others.
The wreckage of the bus was first on exhibit outside of the International Court of Justice in The Hague when the court was debating the legality of Israel’s security barrier. The newly named Jerusalem Connection, formerly known as Christians for Israel, has teamed up with Zaka, the organization of Orthodox Jews that collects the remains of the victims, to bring the bus to the United States, and is offering it to communities around the country.
Sanne DeWitt of Berkeley saw the bus in Washington, D.C., while attending a conference of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby. Angry that her East Bay congresswoman, Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) had come out against Israel’s security barrier, DeWitt said, “I thought that she and her constituents needed to see this bus and why this security fence is needed.” DeWitt resolved to bring the bus to the Bay Area, and it will be the centerpiece for two “Rallies Against Global Terrorism.”
The bus will be on display from 12 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Berkeley and from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 17, at Joseph L. Alioto Performing Art Place (Civic Center Plaza), S.F.
San Francisco Voice for Israel is the main sponsor of the Civic Center rally, with the help of the Russian emigre community. “We are reminding people of the devastation of terror, and bringing people together to better understand it and to stand in solidarity with people suffering from global terror around the world,” said Dan Kliman, of Voice for Israel.
Speakers include Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center and David Bedein of the Israel Resource News Agency. Bedein, a Philadelphia native, wrote that he is coming from his West Bank settlement carrying letters from families “whose loved ones have been murdered by Arab terrorists.”
In Berkeley, DeWitt, a Holocaust survivor, has the backing of a few grassroots groups, and a Walnut Creek church is also having a private showing of the bus for its members.
A number of area groups, some of them Jewish, are planning to counter-rally.
DeWitt said she approached area synagogues for financial help, as well as Israel-related organizations to co-sponsor the bus and rallies, and they all turned her down.
“None of them are supporting this effort at all,” she said, suggesting that it is because they fear an anti-Semitic backlash. “That Jews are so intimidated, and afraid, I feel very let down by that. I’m very disappointed.”
Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, said the JCRC decided not to co-sponsor the rallies “in part because we have so many activities going on that we think are vitally important in terms of reaching important audiences … on behalf of Israel.”
The Consulate General of Israel also chose not to co-sponsor. Said Vice Consul Omer Caspi, “The consulate welcomes grassroots, pro-Israel activities that further the public’s understanding of Israel’s situation. Many times, the strength of such efforts comes as a direct result of its grassroots nature. We feel that official involvement in this specific program would be counterproductive.”