The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, along with the Israeli Consulate, convened a community meeting Wednesday evening, June 2, to plan what they hope will be a large rally on Sunday, June 6, to support Israel. The rally will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday in front of the consulate at 6380 Wilshire Boulevard.
Federation President Jay Sanderson, was joined by Israeli Consul General Jacob Dayan and Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz in spearheading the rally.
Koretz said a strong turnout Sunday would send the message of the L.A.’s community support for Israel to the international community in a time of crisis. “A small turnout would be embarrassing,” Koretz said.
The upcoming pro-Israel demonstration will be the third rally to occur on Wilshire Boulevard since the violent shipboard clash on Monday, May 31, between Israeli naval commandos and pro-Palestinian activists attempting to enter Gaza, allegedly with humanitarian aid. The confrontation left nine activists dead and several Israeli soldiers wounded.
Just hours after early reports of the flotilla tragedy were released an anti-Israel demonstration gathered outside the Israeli consulate. Protestors lambasted the tactics of the Israeli soldiers and called for the end of Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
The following day, Tuesday, hundreds of pro-Israel supporters gathered outside the Turkish embassy, located only a few buildings away from the Israeli consulate. Many in the crowd charged the Turkish government, which had been a longtime Israeli ally, with unofficially sponsoring the flotilla, and alleged that the ship where the fight broke out was also carrying weapon to Gaza and aimed to break Israel’s legal blockade of the Hamas-controlled region.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Dayan said continued strong diplomatic ties between the Israeli and Turkish governments are vital, and said Israel must make sure the relationship with Turkey “doesn’t go in the direction of Iran.”
“We will try to bring the relations between Israel and Turkey on the right path,” Dayan said.
For more information on the rally, visit www.jewishla.org.
