LOS ANGELES—Thousands of people gathered in West Los Angeles Oct. 15 to express solidarity with Israel, one day after a similar march and rally took place in support of Palestinians.
Sunday’s march began in the morning at Young Israel of Century City on Pico Boulevard and continued to the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance.
California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis was among the attendees at the march and the subsequent official program at the Museum of Tolerance, while Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a message of solidarity via video.
“The time has come for the world to wake up and to confront the terrorists,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder, chief executive and president of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which helped organize the event, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Let us stand up to the terrorists as we stood up to Hitler,” he said.
Los Angeles has the second largest Jewish population in the world outside Israel, reported the newspaper.
On Saturday afternoon, several hundred people marched to show support for Palestinians in front of the Consulate General of Israel on Wilshire Boulevard, in an event organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, which held similar events in cities around North America amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.
Emily Holshouser with the Southern California News Group reported, “Things got very tense in the crowd when a man holding an Israeli flag and wearing a kippah approached some people. Police separated everybody after a few minutes.”
At one point during the demonstration, someone released tear gas or a similar agent.
Some demonstrators wore or carried Palestinian flags and signs reading “Resistance is Not Terrorism,” “Long Live Palestine” and “Free All Palestinian Political Prisoners. End the Occupation.”
The California Highway Patrol briefly shut down the northbound and southbound Wilshire Boulevard on- and off-ramps from the 405 Freeway.
A group of activists also staged a protest in south Los Angeles on Oct. 12 in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Protesters equated the plight of Palestinians to those of “indigenous peoples,” called the Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip an “occupation” steeped in racism, and called for a socialist revolution.
The protesters shouted, “From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have got to go,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” among other chants.
The demonstration, at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Figueroa Street, was organized by Unión del Barrio and the Association of La Raza Educators, among other activist groups.
