Saturday, March 20, when International ANSWER was holding its hate-America, hate-Israel rallies in more than 100 cities, a group of committed pro-Israel activists staged a counter-protest in San Francisco.
While the largest group was unaffiliated Russian Jewish immigrants, there were also people who claimed affiliation with the Libertarian Jewish Coalition, Club Maoz, Protest Warrior, the Republican Jewish Coalition, the Anti-Defamation League and the Israel Action Committee.
Unexpectedly, we were joined by people who were walking past us and decided that it was their fight, too. There were former servicemen, a tall blond German tourist, and even people who were bused from Sacramento by the ANSWER organizers.
We came out to support Israel in the face of vile, racist lies spread by the socialist and Arab-supported International ANSWER. We began at the corner of Market and Van Ness. With our balloons and signs, we were soon overflowing the sidewalk and causing the bank on the corner some concern about the crowd. The anti-American element in San Francisco is so hateful that as we were preparing for the rally, some people driving past us attempted to pop the balloons just because of their U.S. flag color combination. Other drivers honked their horns in our support. We then moved as planned to the Civic Center, the location of the hate-America, hate-Israel rally.
At the Civic Center we found the stage marked with an oversized flag from the terrorist Palestinian Liberation Organization. The tone was decidedly ugly and the main march had not yet shown up. A lieutenant from the San Francisco Police Department directed our group to an area in front of City Hall and between lines of San Francisco sheriff deputies at the top of the steps and SFPD officers in the street between us and the main rally.
When the marchers arrived, we were thankful for the police line. The marches for “peace” subjected us to the most vile taunts and accusations, but our group stood firm, holding U.S. and Israeli flags and our signs denouncing hate. We showed signs supporting Israel as the oldest democracy in the Middle East. (See our sponsor’s Web site, www.bluestarpr.com.)
Our signs pointed out the fact that Israel is the only Mideast country in which Arab women can vote. Other signs mentioned Israel’s open policy toward homosexuals in the military, in stark contrast to the policies in Arab countries where homosexuals are legally discriminated against and live in fear for their lives. Still other signs pleaded yet again for an end to terrorism and a stop to its support by Arab nations.
For all this, those “peace” marchers in kaffiyeh, dressed as suicide bombers with their faces covered, shouted accusations of “oppressor” and “murderer” at us.
We stood for hours between the lines of police and the imposing edifice of City Hall at our backs. The SFPD did a great job keeping those “‘peace” protestors from harming us with more than their hateful taunts. The police were also protecting us from the sides, but individuals from the “peace march” would slip by and try to cause trouble in our midst by attempting to goad us into fights or subvert our message with their “Hate Bush [& America too]” signs.
Our group did not allow a single fight to start. We held our ground and showed that hate is not an appropriate way to achieve peace.
After 2 1/2 hours, a small handful of hardcore, pro-PLO demonstrators was still there staring and accusing us. We decided that we had delivered our message to the majority and could leave. Now the issue was to get our people, including a large number of brave senior citizens who had lived under both socialism and fascism, out of danger and safely home. Heeding the SFPD’s suggestion, we stashed our signs and flags in a safe place and anonymously trickled out through the hostile sea of rabid fanatics all claiming to want peace but more likely wanting a piece of us.
I came back that night and salvaged what materials I could. Many signs were damaged, but I’m glad that those were the only things hurt. We learned on the news that night of the arrests and were pleased that no one from our group was involved. Our protesters have a right to be proud.
In the face of hate we stood for true peace. In the face of taunts and incitement, we stood as adults, never descending into the mob-mentality of our opposition. In the face of those who would censor our right to speech and to assemble, we stood for real American values.
Those who marched for “peace” but shouted nothing but hate could learn a lot from us.
Robert Fliegler, a Daly City resident, has been a supermarket
clerk, aircraft mechanic, shipyard machinist, aircraft inspector, computer motherboard tester, computer network engineer and computer network architect.