Wednesday, January 7, 2009

What To Do At A Pro Israel Rally

As Zuz posted below, it's about time for a rally!

What's that, you say? You've never been to a rally?

Never fear, The St. Lou Jew is here to give you all the advice you need to act like a rally veteran.

The first thing is to mentally prepare yourself.

Ask yourself, "Why am I attending a Pro-Israel rally?"

Did you have a fantastic Birthright trip in which you forged a connection to the land and people?
Are you appalled that people are appalled at the appalling behavior of (insert offending side here)?
Is it the Jews?

Perhaps you recognize the nuances of the issue, and while you don't totally support every Israeli action (like tank shells exploding outside of a school that in which civilians were congregated, even though you've seen the video's of combatants launching mortar rounds from in front of the very same school), you still believe that Israel has the fundamental right and responsibility to protect its citizens.

Now that we have that question answered, perhaps we should ask, "What do I bring?"

Considering that backpacks, signs on polls, packages, and Qassam rockets aren't allowed, you may just want to grab a poster board, write a pithy slogam like, "Free Palestine. . . From Hamas", or even better:
"GENEVA CONVENTION, PART IV, Section 1, Chapter II, Article 50, 7."

(The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favor or impede military operations. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.)

Brushing up on your Hebrew folk songs is probably a good idea too, but only bother with the first line or two because nothing says, "rally" to me like a bunch of people chanting the same thing over and over.

Finally, "What will the rally, and my attendance actually achieve?"
Now here is the real question. In the PR war, it is a small, but important step to show both our elected officials as well as the members of our larger community, that we are, in fact, crazy. Just kidding, it is important to show that, even as we (I) are aghast at the civilian casualties, at the most fundamental of levels, we acknowledge Israel's right to exist and to act in order to preserve its sovereignty and the safety of its citizens.

See you at the rally, I'll be the one dancing in circles from all of the spin.

3 comments:

LC said...

Dearest Y?, can you help our "More Ish than Jewish" readers and tell us how we can brush up on our Hebrew songs? I'm all about that.

Y? said...

I'm thinking they pretty much break down into traditional Jewish songs like Mi Yimalel and Banu Choshech Legaresh, which are both incidentally, Hannukah songs.

More classic favorites include 'Am Yisrael Chai', and perhaps most appropriately, 'Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu'

For bonus points, see Rak Po by Hadag Nachash

!JustDance said...

ah, Rak Po. Why is Hadag so good!?

I don't think anyone will be singing Banu Choshech, but they will sing Dovid Melech, and maybe but less likely Kachol v'Lavan OR Ani v'Ata Neshaneh et HaOlam (a personal fav)