Police estimated at least 600 people attended an Israel solidarity gathering at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos, Oct. 12, which included an overflow room.
The event, organized by Jewish Silicon Valley, drew a variety of regional faith and political leaders in the wake of the killing of more than 1,300 people in the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood incursion into Israel by Hamas militants.
In her speech, Assemblymember Gail Pellerin said she feels unsafe because she isn’t sure which of her friends supports the “dismantling” of Israel.
“Israel is essential to democracy in a war-torn region that has a history of conflict,” she said. “Together we grieve for those who have left us, and those who are left behind.”
Pellerin advised those in the room struggling with how to cope with the situation to follow advice once offered by her late husband.
“Take life in smaller chunks of time,” he had said, she recalled. “In some cases, it’s only possible to manage 15 minutes at a time.”
At multiple points during the program, Jamie Zimmer, the director of Jewish Life and Learning at Yavneh Day School, strummed a rhythm that was somehow both bright and mournful, while Aviva Greenberg, the director of Hebrew, poured her heart out through her voice.
Jewish Silicon Valley Chief Philanthropy Officer Daniel Klein got choked up during his speech.
“I woke up early on Saturday,” he said, looking back on how he learned of the attacks. “I couldn’t believe it was actually real.”
His mind, he said, went to the people he met when he took his family there, last December.
“I started thinking about my friends who live in Israel,” he said. “Some of us feel powerless. But we are not.”
Klein said he was gearing up to lobby government officials in Washington, D.C.
Tal Popliker Goldstein told attendees about her cousin’s son Ram Nesher Sela, who was born in 1991, during the first Gulf War.
Sela was helping out with production at the Supernova psytrance festival that was raided by marauding Hamas fighters, and was killed, she said.
Goldstein had the crowd raise imaginary glasses in memory of Sela, whose favorite drink was whiskey.
“He was a goofy, funny guy,” she reminisced in an interview after the event. “He had a very special sense of humor.”
Matan Zamir, Israel’s Deputy Consul General to the Pacific Northwest, said he got a disturbing call from his sister earlier in the day about a pair of twins she grew up with, from near Jerusalem.
Her sister told of how one had been traumatized by her experience at the Supernova rave.
“Supernova was all about coexistence—if you think about it—peace and love,” he said. “She was able to escape. She was able to survive. And last night—she took her own life.”
A collective gasp billowed up into the heavy air of the auditorium.
“She just couldn’t bear the sight,” he continued. “She just couldn’t bear the massacre that happened over there at Supernova. And I don’t even know, when we’re counting the dead, if she’s part of those numbers.”
He equated Hamas with Nazis and promised Israel would “win” the war.
“We will prevail,” he said as the crowd broke out in applause. “I ask you—I urge you—to act on social media…We cannot have lies win.”
In the wake of recent antisemitic incidents in Los Gatos, the Jewish Community Center has been in touch with the FBI, and those conversations are continuing, one Jewish Silicon Valley official told the Los Gatan.
And in a statement issued at the conclusion of the solidarity event, COO Diana Schnabel-Arevalo lauded local police for their assistance.
“We want to include a huge thank you to the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department for their incredible support and partnership,” she said. “We are so grateful for their unwavering service to our town and community.”
On its webpage, the organization shared a series of resources for individuals, organizations and allies.
The Los Gatan asked the Silicon Valley chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America for a comment on “the conflict in the Middle East that broke out last week with the Hamas attack on Israel.”
Here’s its response:
“DSA is steadfast in expressing our solidarity with Palestine,” said local committee member Steven Ortega. “Events in Gaza are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime—a regime that receives billions in funding from the United States.”
They “unequivocally condemn” the killing of all civilians, he added.
“It is imperative for international human rights law to be respected,” he said. “But we cannot forget that the Israeli state has systematically denied Palestinians the right to self-determination for decades.
“For over 60 years, Palestinians have faced ethnic cleansing, torture, bombings and housing demolitions. Gaza is still under a blockade. As socialists, we call for an end to violence and the occupation. Free Palestine.”
This followed similar words from the San Francisco chapter, and represents the sentiment District 2 Supervisor Cindy Chavez was targeting in her Los Gatos speech.
“I’m an activist in the Democratic Party,” she said, explicitly referring to the progressive wing. “We need to call out terrorism for what it is. Hamas not only brutally murdered innocent civilians, they have been tormenting the Palestinians for a very long time.”
While Pellerin’s words revealed a Jewish Caucus member personally aghast at overseas brutality and Chavez urged Palestinian-sympathetic Democrats to soften their stance on Israel, it was District 4 Supervisor Susan Ellenberg’s words that seemed most bathed in reflection.
Ellenberg studied for a semester at Tel Aviv University and is the daughter of a Vietnam War veteran, according to jointventure.org.
And she was on home turf, as she previously taught social justice and civic engagement at Yavneh Day School.
This inspired her run for San Jose Unified School District, which led, in turn, to her current governmental post—president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
She shared how she’d been wrestling, for days, with what to say.
“I pounded on my keyboard, and wrote, and deleted, created, and destroyed my own thoughts; and here’s what I was left with: grief,” she said. “As I stand here tonight, surrounded by my community, all I want to do is grieve. Grieve for the Israeli and Palestinian lives cut short by violence. Grieve for the Israelis and Americans, and others, who have been taken hostage. Grieve for the children in Gaza without access to food, water or medical treatment. Grieve for the promise of peace. And tonight feels like a massive shiva minyan [prayer service for mourners], so I know I’m in the right place.”
Now that she’s in leadership, Ellenberg said she knows she has a responsibility to act. And she pledged to use this power to “cry out for mercy” for innocent civilians.
“I will demand accountability for those who unleash terror, commit unspeakable acts of mayhem and engage in crimes of war, regardless of their claims of righteousness, retaliation or resistance,” she said. “I will extend my hand and declare my solidarity with Jews and Muslims, and others, who are targeted with hatred and violence. I will stand against any, and all, efforts to dehumanize civilians. And I will work for a world in which being Jewish does not put me—or any of us—in danger. May it be so.”
Sukhdev Bainiwal, a Sikh candidate for San Jose City Council, said it was important to come to the JCC to show his support for the Jewish community.
“We condemn terrorism to the fullest,” he said. “What Hamas did is really unacceptable.”
He said he was horrified to learn from a friend, writing in Punjabi on Facebook, about Shani Louk, the 22-year-old German tattoo artist paraded by Hamas in the back of a pickup truck.
“That image is just so horrible,” he said. “That’s really disturbing to any human I would say, not only the Sikh community.”
Rajeev Singh, a Hindu American Foundation board member, said the barbarity of Hamas’ actions were galling.
“Violence was unleashed on people in Israel,” he said. “That does not belong in this day-and-age, at all. So, if you dig deep, there is a mindset, there is a thought process about eradicating the very existence of the Jewish people that is offensive.”
He said everyone has a responsibility to root out this sort of attitude.
“It could happen against Hindus, Sikhs, any minorities,” he said. “This is the very fabric of America. If we do not contribute to that, if we do not identify these threats, if we do not understand that there is support for this heinous mindset—even in this country…if we do not raise our voice, what is the future we are living for?”
On Sunday, thousands rallied at Santana Row in San Jose in support of Palestinians. Video footage showed protesters holding signs reading “Free Palestine,” “End U.S. Funding to Israeli Apartheid” and “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free.”
