Bostonians stand with Israel on the Common

Hundreds of Boston-area Jews and supporters crowded the area around the Parkman Bandstand to support Israel and denounce Hamas - and Harvard student groups that came out in support of that group.

Gov. Healey, Mayor Wu, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and state Treasurer Deb Goldberg all declared their support for Israel following Saturday's Hamas raids into Israel that so far have meant 900 Israelis dead and 150 kidnapped. So did Tanisha Sullivan, head of the local NAACP.

"It's a reminder of the darkest moments in Jewish history and also human history," Marc Baker, president of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, said. Baker said his 19-year-old daughter is in Israel and, when he got her on the phone, she told him she spent the night in and out of a bomb shelter. He asked her if she wanted to come home. She told him no, because while she could come home, "abba [dad], where can my Israeli friends go?"

Baker said that even as Israelis and Jews in the Boston area mourn the dead, they are springing into action: He said a new Boston-area fund to aid Israel raised $1 million over the past 48 hours alone.

"There is no justification for terrorism, ever," Warren said.

"I am here to grieve with you," she said. She said she stands solidly with Israel - and said it's time for Republicans to stop blocking appointments, including that of a new ambassador to Israel and several hundred military leaders. "When our allies are attacked by those that would destroy them, we need a military command that is at full strength," she said.

Governor, mayor, senator, state treasurer:

Markey echoed Warren in his full support of Israel and condemnation of Hamas - but was roundly booed when he said de-escalation is ultimately needed by both sides. Markey put up his hand to try to stop the booing and condemned anti-Semitism in the U.S. and called for a renewed emphasis on tikkun olam, an attempt to "heal the world" through social justice.

Also booed was state Treasurer Deb Goldberg, when she said that, after crushing Hamas, part of the ultimate answer to peace is the creation of two states, Israel and a Palestinian one. But unlike Markey, she confronted her vocal critics: "Don't boo me!" she said, noting that some Israelis support the idea as well, and saying that booing her is booing them. She said her Zionist roots are as strong as anybody's - her husband is from the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan, he lost family members in the Holocaust and she herself was conceived in Jerusalem.

Hamas, she said, "murders and tortures their own people."

And speaking to people without direct connections to Israel - she specifically referred to Brookline's Corey Hill - she urged them to try to live in Israel without changing their minds about the country and the attacks it suffers, like "a Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair, a 97-year-old woman dragged into the Gaza Strip so she can be stepped on and spit on and tortured."

In contrast, US Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-4th) got the loudest applause of the day when he said. "De-escalation is not possible" with a group that is taking hostages and murdering people. "Israel did not ask America to de-escalate on Sept. 12, 2001," he said.

Also condemned: Harvard student groups who blamed Israel for the attacks.

"We don't want to see the crimson become blood on the hands of those student groups that signed that despicable letter," Jonah Steinberg, New England regional director of the ADL said.

The NAACP's Sullivan said "there was never a question for me where I would be today, because we are more than friends, we are family."

Sullivan prayed to God to help sufferers find the love with which to confront the hate, of "children kidnapped, civilians killed, and terrorism allowed, in a moment, to take hold.

Healey said that the ties between Israel and Massachusetts are strong. She said that after the Marathon bombings, doctors at Mass. General used techniques they had learned from Israeli counterparts to save lives.

"We will be here for you as you have always been for us," she said. "You will never be alone in Massachusetts."

Stars of David representing the dead:

The rally ended with a recitation of the Mourner's Kaddish, a prayer recited in honor of the dead, a singing of the Israeli national anthem and the declaration that "Am Yisrael Chai" - "The people of Israel live."