About 100 Attend Doylestown Rally for Israel
Around 100 people rallied for Israel outside the courthouse in Doylestown Sunday, many waving Israeli and American flags.
Ellen Cox, with the Doylestown Republican Club, was one of the organizers and spoke to the crowd.
“There are thousands of children in Israel who lost their mothers and countless mothers who’re waiting for their children to come home,” said Cox, acknowledging that it was Mother’s Day. “This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and we will not be silenced.” Both Jews and Christians are “under attack,” she said. Just under the surface, there is “horrific antisemitism.”
“The latest trend is in college campuses all over the United States,” she said. “Jewish kids are afraid to attend classes.” Those who are protesting for Palestinians “are cowards who are hitting soft targets of colleges and graduations. They’re so brave. I think we should send them to fight in Gaza. Guess what? No green pup tents. No organic and vegan food and no Wi-fi. They are cowards.”
“It’s now here in CBSD [Central Bucks School District],” she said. “We condemn it. It is not OK.” Jewish people “are our friends, our coworkers.”
“We need to stand with them or we—you—will be next. We don’t want our Jewish family and friends and neighbors to feel scared and alone,” said Cox.
She read from a 1790 letter George Washington sent to the Jewish congregation in Newport, R.I., telling its members they were welcome in the newly-founded nation.
“May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants,” Washington wrote. “While everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree.”
Rabbi Mendel Prus, director of Chabad of Doylestown, thanked the group for coming to support Israel. Israel contributes technology “to make the world a better place,” he said. “And a more peaceful place.” It’s contributed military advances to the U.S. and intelligence to “make the world a safer place.”
He then spoke of the Biblical history of the Jews in Israel from the time of Abraham. 
Richard Tems said, “I am a Jew. I am an American. I am an Army veteran. I am the son of Holocaust survivors. We will not bend. We will not surrender. We will not comply.”
He noted that all the Jews left Gaza nearly two decades ago and billions [of dollars] poured in to help the inhabitants make “an idyllic homeland.” The residents voted in Hamas to lead them and Hamas spent the money on miles of underground tunnels and “thousands of rockets to fire into Israel” and mansions in Qatar for Hamas leaders.
On Oct. 7, Hamas invaded Israel and attacked farming communes and a music festival near the border. They raped, tortured, mutilated and incinerated thousands defenseless men, women, children and small infants.”
Tems said, “[President] Biden, on the day he delivered a speech to remember the Holocaust, cut off military supplies to Israel. He told Israel he forbade them to secure the final Hamas stronghold in Rafah.”
Cox introduced Steve Mekanik, who is running for state representaive in District 29.
“It’s not about me today. It’s about Israel. We’re here for the support of Israel,” Mekanik told DVJournal.
Huntingdon Valley resident Monique Hofkin attended the rally because she is concerned about antisemitism at colleges and also in schools. She noted the U.S. Department of Education is investigating Central Bucks for antisemitism. And there was also a teacher at Baldi Middle School in northeast Philadelphia, who crossed Israel off a list of countries and substituted Palestine. There’s “systemic antisemitism [in the schools] and we aren’t going to allow it to continue,” she said.
Mara Witsen was wearing a sweatshirt with the images of the hostages Hamas is holding. The five American hostages are Keith Sieel, Omer Neutra, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Dan Alexander, and Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Jack Potok of Warrington noted that while the pro-Israel group carried both American and Israeli flags, “where on campus have you seen an American flag, except being burned on the ground? They’re not just anti-Israel, they’re anti-West.”
The Israeli army is the only army in the world that tells civilians to leave before it attacks, warning civilians with flyers, phone calls, and knock-knock (warnings) on their roofs,” he said.
Philadelphia resident Malcolm Ratson added that historically, armies kill 30 civilians to one soldier. The IDF has a 1 to 1 ratio in Gaza. “That’s how stringent the Israelis are,” he said.
A small group of pro-Palestinian counter-protesters came as the pro-Israel rally was winding down, and stood in a traffic island across from the pro-Israel rally and began chanting slogans: “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
People at the pro-Israel rally began singing “Am Israel Chai,” dancing and chanting “Free Palestine from Hamas,” and “Islamist terror will not be a threat to our democracy.”
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