July 20, 2006
By Jacob Sugerman

Locals with family overseas express anguish for those caught in conflict

As fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies, the Boston Jewish community has reacted to the ongoing crisis in an enormous showing of solidarity with the state of Israel.

More than 3,000 people packed Brookline’s Harvard Street on Tuesday for a rally at Congregation Kehillath Israel in support of the Jewish state. Organized by Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the Jewish Community Relations Council, participants braved the scorching temperatures brandishing signs supporting Israel and waving American and Israeli flags as they called for the release of soldiers kidnapped by terrorists last week.

Speakers at the event included businessman Steve Grossman, Nancy. K. Kaufman of the Jewish Community Relations Council, Rabbis William Hamilton and Gershon Gewirtz, Reverend Hurmon Hamilton and Israel’s Consul General to New England Meir Shlomo.

“This is a time where, like the rest of the community, we’re grieving at the tragedy that is being suffered by Israelis … and by Lebanese and Palestinian civilians that are dying as well,” said Beth Wasserman, community liaison for the Boston Chapter of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, who led a delegation to the rally. “This is a time when we need to show our support for Israel and bring our message of support. We need to show that within the Jewish community there are multiple ways to support Israel. At a time like this we need to be sharing our views and coming together as a community and focusing on our similarities.”

Eva Radding of Newton said: “I believe in an undying support for Israel, and whether or not a person agrees or disagrees with me – or the policies of the state – it is still important for all Jews to support it.”

Fighting has escalated between Israel and Hezbollah terrorists loyal to Syria and Iran since the capture of Israeli soldiers last week and a rapid increase in rocket attacks against northern Israel in recent days. Israel has since responded with retaliatory strikes on the Lebanese capital of Beirut and across southern Lebanon, leveling a number of Hezbollah strongholds.

“What we’re seeing, this is the reality we have to face … and we have to defend ourselves,” said Consul General Meir Shlomo.

He added that since withdrawing from southern Lebanon in 2000 and from the Gaza Strip in August of last year, rocket attacks on Israeli sovereign territory have continued.

“There is no country in the world that lives with this kind of threat, and we’re doing what we have to do to remove it,” said Shlomo.

While the U.S. government urges caution in traveling to the region, organized trips to Israel continue more or less as planned. All Birthright Israel trips scheduled to depart for Israel will go ahead with their scheduled departure dates. Groups already in the country are being rerouted away from the northern border.

As with many international crises, the conflict has struck at the hearts of a number of local residents. Campers visiting the Jewish state with the JCC Teens for Tzedek Summer Israel Experience, a program geared toward connecting Americans and Israelis from Haifa through community service, will return to Boston on Friday, a few days earlier than scheduled. The delegation of 31 students was in the city of Haifa when the first attacks began, and has since been relocated to Jerusalem.

“We had to make the decision to grab all our stuff and head south,” said David Cohen, Teens for Tzedek program director at the JCC of Greater Boston. Cohen spoke to the Advocate from Jerusalem on Monday. “As things have progressed, we know there could be escalating incidents and we are being realistic in seeing what happens.”

Swampscott resident Desiree Gil, whose husband is Israeli, is worried for her two daughters, Rebecca and Chantal, who are studying at the University of Haifa. Both girls have since been moved to a kibbutz outside of the city to stay with relatives out of harm’s way.

“The girls were on campus on Thursday in their room when the sirens went off,” she said. “At the time I was trying to keep them calm. But thinking back, I still get goose bumps thinking about it … I could hear the fear in their voices.”

Gil’s daughters expressed their fear and anguish when they spoke to the Advocate from Israel.

“It has been a hard couple of days, especially since Chantal and I really love Israel,” said Rebecca. “We’re debating the different options of what we should do, if we should go home or not. I just hope this ends soon.”