There were no surprises coming from the speakers supporting Israeli actions in Lebanon. Most of the audio file are remarks from the Oregon Delegation to Washington D.C. Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Darlen Hooley, and David Wu sent their support of Israel, as did Governor Kulingowski, and Senators Wyden and Smith.
All decried the actions of Hezbollah and condemned terrorism, calling for the successful defeat of both. Nothing was mentioned of state terrorism. Nothing was mentioned of the western terrorist creating machine recently placed in Iraq and now in Lebanon. There was a large amount of flag waving, often Israeli flags backed with the U.S. flag; little flags, big flags, waved by adults and children.
Almost to a person all remarks sympathized with the innocent dead, the collateral damage, yet, many also said that the invasion must continue to root out the evil terrorists and make the world safe for the only "real" Democracy in the Middle East region.
Perhaps a little surprising, at least to me, was the large turn out and the vehemence, even belligerence, of those who support Israel.
A handful of people showed up protesting Israeli activities in Lebanon, carrying pictures of Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people, and standing, for the most part, as silent reminder that there are two sides to every story.
The rally ended with the National Anthem of Israel.
Following the rally I interviewed a Palestinian woman who stood defiantly close to the stage throughout the presentations. She spoke bravely, compassionately and with a large amount of knowledge of the issue
She did not stand alone, and these few brave souls received a small amount of heckling at various times from those around them. Some of this comes through in the first audio file towards the end.
This is an 18 minute audio file
Israel, RealPlayer
Israel, MP3
This file is 16 minutes in length. Palestine, RealPlayer
Palestine, MP3
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