Counter-demonstrators speak out against Israeli attacks

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - The Israeli-Lebanese conflict briefly spilled into downtown Baltimore Tuesday morning with passion and emotion, but little conflict and certainly no threat of violence.

Across the street from the pro-Israel rally at Baltimore’s Holocaust Memorial, dozens of protesters quickly formed a counter-demonstration. They called for an immediate cease-fire by all parties and asked that the U.S. government support protections for innocent civilians in Lebanon, Palestine and Israel. Kevin Zeese, the Green, Libertarian and Populist U.S. Senate candidate from Montgomery County, and the Green Party candidate for governor, Ed Boyd, stood with counter-demonstrators and said Israel has overreacted to Hezbollah’s abduction of two Israeli soldier earlier this month.

“I’m opposed to what the Israelis are doing,” Zeese said. “And I’m

trying to break a political taboo in the U.S. that we can’t debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — it’s always a one-sided discussion. Israel’s recent action is going to create more terrorists.”

Many members of the Baltimore-area Jewish community on hand also expressed dismay at Israel’s bombing campaign and invasion of Southern Lebanon following the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. According to the Associated Press, the nearly two-week-long battle has taken the lives of at least 391 people in Lebanon and 42 in Israel.

“What I learned from Rabbi Murray Saltzman at the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation is that life comes first,” said Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois, a member of the Baltimore Chapter of Tikkun. “Tikkun means to heal the world,” DuBois said. “When we speak out against the country’s practices. We aren’t against Jews, but against a policy.”

Michele Levy, 22, a recent Dickinson College graduate from Rockville, stood near DuBois at the Holocaust Memorial plaza.

“Life is valuable no matter what side of the border it falls on,” Levy said. “I’m very proud to be Jewish. My parents were engaged in the social and civil rights movements and I’m the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors,” she continued. “And I think it is important to speak up for the voiceless, including the Lebanese civilians.”

rcassie@baltimoreexaminer.com

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