It was a battle of the bullhorns, as pro and anti-Israeli demonstrators squared off in front of San Francisco’s City Hall on Saturday, Aug. 12. Before it was over, ugly anti-Jewish slurs were hurled across Civic Center Plaza.
Flag-waving Israel supporters on the west side of Polk Street tried to shout down an anti-Israel rally on the other, one of several such protests organized by the far-left ANSWER Coalition across the country.
Turnout on the pro-Israel side was high, numbering several hundred. The reason was a change in tone coming from the other side, according to Mike Harris of San Francisco Voice for Israel, which organized the rally. “We haven’t had a turnout like this in years,” said Harris. “Previous ANSWER rallies were basically anti-Iraq war, with anti-Zionism thrown in. They did this one as an anti-Israel event.”
With the conflict in Lebanon as backdrop, the dueling rallies engaged in an angry war of words, while police separated the two sides. Two people were arrested, one for allegedly trying to burn an Israeli flag, but overall the event was peaceful.
Unless it’s true that words can hurt.
At the ANSWER rally, speakers from assorted Muslim, socialist and leftist groups took the stage to denounce the United States and Israel, at times employing harsh rhetoric. One Arabic chant exalted Muhammad’s 629 C.E. massacre of Jews in Khaybar (Hezbollah has named one of its missiles the Khaybar). Another ran, “O Nasrallah, O beloved! Strike, strike Tel Aviv!”
Both sides taunted each other throughout the two-hour event. At one point, one Muslim speaker said over the loudspeakers, “We don’t want to give so much attention to people on the other side,” which elicited loud cheers from the pro-Israeli camp.
More disturbingly, a handful of young men stood against the metal barricade shouting “F—k Jew pigs, f—k you Jews. You want a war? Let’s do it right now.” One of the young men said to another, “Call them Nazis. They’ll love it.” His friend replied uncomprehendingly, “Nachees?”
Another had a sign that read “Kill the Jews,” but police confiscated it.
Said Mark Litwin of Greenbrae, “It’s clear they [the anti-Israel protestors] have gone over the top in terms of extremism. The lid has been lifted. There’s no pretense. The Muslim political posture is clearly anti-Jewish.”
Added Israel supporter Gabrielle Jones of Concord, “They have the media and the sympathy. We need to make sure it’s not all about them. We want to make sure our side is heard.”
Anthony Lecours of San Francisco showed up waving both an Israeli and rainbow flag representing the gay and lesbian community. “I want to let the other side know that in Israel a gay or lesbian person can do this,” he said. “Where else in the Middle East can you mix your flags?”
Among the 1,000 or so anti-Israel protestors were several Jews. Rob Kanter, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, said he came to “draw attention to the fact that Israel is killing civilians and should stop. I don’t think the message is anti-Jewish. It’s anti-Israel.”
He added that he does not support Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel.
Henry Dorr of Berkeley, recently returned from two months in the West Bank, felt otherwise. “To me, Zionism is a moral disaster. I think they should send Palestinians Apache helicopters and F-16’s.”
As the rally wound up, Orthodox Jew Ross Meltzer of Berkeley gave one last blast on his shofar aimed at the other side. “The sound is a mystical thing,” he said. “I hope it will activate the Jewish spark in the lost Jews on the other side. Normally I’m in shul [on Saturday morning] but this was something I was compelled to do.”
Yitzhak Santis, director of Middle East Affairs for the Jewish Community Relations Council, was pleased with the day’s events. “We needed a good turnout,” he said.
And apparently all the energy the pro-Israel side generated made an impact on the other side.
At one point a woman wearing a “Free Palestine” T-shirt stared at the sea of Israeli flags and muttered out loud to no one in particular, “They really believe it.”