N.J. activists rally for Israel at Rutgers

NEW BRUNSWICK — The pistachio nuts that Danny and Mara Frei had given Rabbi Uri Cohen and his wife on the previous Sabbath were only half finished when Rabbi Cohen answered the telephone one early morning in 1994 and in Hebrew uttered, "Blessed is the true Judge."

The Cohens learned that a terrorist had entered the Israeli settlement where the Freis, and their young son, were living and stabbed Danny to death and critically wounded a pregnant Mara, killing her unborn baby.

This was the first personal experience with terrorism the Cohens, who came to Princeton last month to become educational directors of the Center for Jewish Life, had suffered since they moved to Israel from the United States in the early 1990s to study and teach.

Yesterday Uri and Yocheved Cohen led a tiny group of University members to a massive student-led pro-Israel rally at Rutgers University, called "Israel Inspires," that drew New Jersey's leading politicians and that organizers enthusiastically announced was attended by 7,000.

It was the Cohens' first public attempt to rally behind Israel since returning to the United States.

"Jews should move to Israel if they can," Rabbi Cohen said. But if they can't, "people can give support with rallies."

In addition to Jeremy Kahn '02, who recently started a business near the University, Josh Goldsmith '07, of Sarasota, Fl., was the only University student to travel by bus from the CJL to the rally.

"I'm Jewish," Goldsmith declared. "Israel is fundamentally important to me. It's my homeland."

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But at a rally that featured some of the fiercest pro-Israel positions, Goldsmith said politics didn't motivate his decision to attend.

"I am more pro-peace than pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian," he said. "I hope that coming here doesn't make me anti-Palestinian."

The rally came at a particularly troubling period in Palestinian-Israeli relations. After several months of relative calm as both sides tried to implement a U.S.-backed road map to peace, recent weeks witnessed several violent episodes in which dozens of Israelis have been killed and Israeli forces have struck back at Palestinian targets, as well as a site in Syria.

New Jersey officials, in a heavily Jewish state, praised Israel and the traditionally close ties between the United States and what was universally referred to at the rally as the only democracy in the Middle East. Democratic Gov. James McGreevey, Senators Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg and Rush Holt, the congressman for Princeton, were among about 10 speakers in an energetic two-hour session.

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"I stand strongly and unequivocally in support of a strong, independent nation-state of Israel," McGreevey said.

The members of Congress were even more explicit in their support of Israel, backing a controversial Israeli fence being built around Palestinian areas.

"The U.S. Congress will always be there for Israel," said Congressman Frank Pallone, who represents Rutgers' district.

About 30 protesters nearby wished that the United States, however, would be much less supportive.

Separated by a waist-level fence and several police, they shouted loudly at passersby entering the rally, "End the occupation now" and "Zionism is racism."

"I think people would cut their support if they knew what Israel was doing, its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians," said Said Shekada, a Rutgers psychology graduate student who calls Palestine home.

The pro-Israel rally was partly a response to a planned conference this weekend by pro-Palestinian Rutgers groups.

That conference is going forward nearby after a back-and-forth between organizers and the university over whether Rutgers would support it.

While the rally could not escape controversial issues, Princeton student Goldsmith picked up a sign at the rally precisely because it was simple and innocuous.

"I STAND FOR PEACE," the nondescript black on white text declared.

Goldsmith has already been involved in various CJL activities and said, "I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing."

While happy that Goldsmith came, the Cohens were disappointed more University students didn't.

"It would have been nice to have seen more people," Rabbi Cohen said. "People in America are just naturally involved in their own lives."

In Israel, where the Cohens plan to return in a few years, they said people celebrate Israeli culture and independence, living normal lives, despite the bloodshed.

Mara, the Cohens' friend whose husband and unborn baby were killed by a terrorist, has remarried and had three more children, twins included.