The Muslims of California have been outraged by a highly partisan Sunday rally led by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in support of Israel. “We’re all here to do one thing, and that is to support the state of Israel,” Schwarzenegger said, noting that he first travelled to Israel as a bodybuilder and has been back many times since. “Any nation has the right to defend itself against terrorism,” he added, according to the Los Angeles Times. “We’re here to affirm the basic truth that there can be no peace without security,” Villaraigosa said.At a counter-rally a block away, about 100 protesters waved Palestinian flags and banners with slogans that included “Jews against Israeli terrorism.” Earlier, local representatives of nine major Islamic groups met to plan a unified response to the escalating conflict and to counter what they see as a pro-Israeli bias in US politics and the media. They argued that the massive destruction in Lebanon would not bring peace and would jeopardise US interests in the region. “We do not have any sympathy for any of these groups, Hamas or Hezbollah,” said Maher Hathout, chairman of the Islamic Centre of Southern California. “But supposing those guys really are the bad guys, by no stretch of the imagination does that justify what is going on now.”
The newspaper reported that the Middle East fighting has strained local interfaith ties, especially among traditional allies on the religious left. Rabbi Steven Jacobs, an active proponent of interfaith activity, said he was offended by a Christian petition urging an immediate ceasefire and criticising the US government’s “cynical, inhumane and uncritical support of Israel’s military actions in Lebanon”.
The petition acknowledged Hezbollah’s threat to Israel and called for the militia’s disarmament but asserted that Israel’s response “lacks all proportionality” and that “the sovereignty of Lebanon has been trampled in the Israeli rush into escalation”.
Some Jews have also criticised Israel. David N Myers, UCLA professor of Jewish history, expressed concern that the Israeli response was “disproportionate and might be counterproductive”. He said a shorter, more focused attack on Hezbollah, combined with international pressure to disarm the Shiite militia, could have been a reasonable alternative. But that view is dwarfed by the sentiment among most in the local Jewish community that Israel needs to do whatever it must to neutralise Hezbollah once and for all, the Los Angeles Times reported.