Both Sides Here Take Message To Streets
– New York PostApril 15, 2002
By Ikimulisa Sockwell-Mason and Angelina CappielloThousands of demonstrators yesterday showed up for rival rallies in New York supporting Israel and the Palestinians.Pro-Israeli demonstrators – many of them Jewish immigrants from Russia – rallied in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.”We want to send a message to President Bush. He should stop with the double standard,” said Rabbi Hershel Okunov.
The rabbi said that while the Bush administration fights terrorism against Americans, it criticizes Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for fighting terrorists who kill Israelis.Later, at a rally a block from the PLO Mission to the United Nations, Bronx activist Rabbi Avi Weiss told the crowd, “Jewish blood is more precious than Arab oil. Arafat must be held accountable for the slaughter.”Pro-Palestinians rallied outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral holding signs denouncing Israel. Father Thomas Zain, of the St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral Church in Brooklyn, said he was there because “both Christians and Muslims are under occupation … Our churches are being massacred.”