Los Angeles Leaders Mourn Slain Israelis With 'Unequivocal Unity'

LOS ANGELES, CA — City leaders in Los Angeles Tuesday mourned the deaths of those killed when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel last weekend, and to share a message of standing "clearly and unequivocal in solidarity" with Israel.

Councilman Bob Blumenfield called a news conference at City Hall, where, surrounded by a number of his colleagues and Israel Bachar, Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Southwest, he said they gathered in recognition "of Israel's right to exist as a nation, and its right to defend itself from such brutal and unprovoked attacks."

Early Saturday, Hamas forces fired thousands of rockets into Israel as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated several locations, catching the country off-guard as the weeklong Jewish festival of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of the Tabernacles, came to an end.

Israeli authorities said a second round of rockets were fired Saturday evening and struck multiple locations inside Israel, including in Tel Aviv.

In addition to the casualties, Israel said at least 100 of its soldiers and civilians were captured and taken to Gaza as hostages.

More than 1,000 people were killed, including 14 Americans, and another 2,500 were wounded, according to updated reports.

Israel estimated that more than 700 of its military personnel and citizens were dead, and several hundred Palestinians have been killed in the retaliatory fighting, with thousands more wounded.

The fighting came on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when Israel was attacked by a coalition of Arab states.

Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist group, founded in 1987, that disputes Israel's right to territory in the West Bank.

Blumenfield said there are no words that can "adequately describe the horrors and depravity that's been on display."

Bachar called the attack one of the "largest massacres of Jews since the Holocaust." He added, "It did not work and it won't work now. This devastation will not destroy us. Israelis are good, brave, and strong people. Allies are more important now than ever before. We will need your steadfast support in the long and difficult days."

Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky said she spent the weekend alternating between watching the news and talking to neighbors, friends and family about loved ones in Israel.

"The pain has touched every single one of us and it is a mess," Yaroslavsky said. "Our sense of isolation, anger, and fear is palpable."

She took a moment to speak directly to the Jewish community to say that "the city of Los Angeles is committed to doing everything in our power to keep them safe."

The councilwoman noted that the Los Angeles Police Department has increased its patrols around synagogues and surrounding neighborhoods, and will continue to do so to ensure the safety for everyone.

Other Southland law enforcement agencies have done the same, stepping up security measures for local Jewish and Muslim sites.

Supporters of Palestinian rights have long accused Israel of human rights abuses in the West Bank.

"It is imperative to understand that Palestinians have suffered under occupation for decades, and resistance is a response to the daily violence, dehumanization, and colonization that Palestinians face," Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA said in a statement provided to City News Service over the weekend.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council echoed those sentiments in a statement Saturday in Washington, D.C.

"To truly understand what is happening, we must look to the source of the problem; an ongoing occupation in violation of international human rights law that has left the Palestinian people, in particular Gazans, stripped of their basic rights and human dignity. By actively, and often violently, preventing their pursuit of a self-defined identity, national autonomy, and global recognition, Israeli occupation and the world's continued silence has offered Hamas and other groups the political vacuum needed to propel themselves into positions of leadership and justify their violent attacks," the group said.

"Terrorism is never justified, period," Yaroslavsky said. "There is no moral superiority in barbarically murdering innocent civilians, dragging children from their homes or kidnapping people to use as barter insurance. We must continue to work toward peace without the further loss of civilian life."

Several council members gave remarks expressing their support of Israel and condemned Hamas for the attack.

Councilwoman Traci Park noted that Los Angeles has one of the largest populations of Jewish people outside of Israel. Park added, "The attack on Israel was an attack on the U.S., the city of L.A. and democracy itself."

In West Los Angeles, dozens of people gathered outside the federal building on Wilshire Boulevard in a show of support for Israel, waving Israeli and U.S. flags and drawing support from some motorists who honked their horns as they drove by.

Roz Rothstein, co-founder of StandWithUs, the group that helped organize the event, told KTLA5 at the scene the participants wanted to send a message of solidarity with Israel.

"We're here to show support and we're here to educate the world," she said.

City News Service