Pro Israel Street Corner Demonstrations
submitted by the Israel Advocacy Task Force
of the St. Louis Chapter of ADL

Our Israel Advocacy Task Force organized twice-a-month pro-Israel street corner demonstrations from April to October 2004.  We held up placards at busy street corners during rush hour from 5-6pm. We stopped in October only because it was too dark to see our signs! 

This project was a source of unity for the Jewish community.  Pro-Israel demonstrators included observant/secular, young/old, men/women, Republican/Democrat, and affiliated/unaffiliated. Ages ranged from 6 -74 and participants have included members of ADL, Aish, CAMERA, Hadassah, as well as reform, conservative and orthodox synagogues.

We had 3 goals for the pro-Israel street corner demonstrations: 1) to foster the general public's recognition of Israel's decency, the shared values between Israel and the U.S., and Israel's right to self-defense against terrorists 2) to foster Jewish pride in Israel and a willingness to openly speak up for Israel...to remind Jewish passersby that there is nothing shameful about supporting Israel and 3) to provide a fun and easy way for friends of Israel to meet and express their love of Israel.  Particularly on days when Israel is taking an unfair hammering in the press, what a joy and relief it is to be able to take action in support of Israel!
 
Recall that Arafat was still alive and terror attacks were still frequent events during this time period.  Slogans included "Israel Offered Peace, Arafat Gave Them War", "U.S., UK & Israel: Allies Against Terror", "Stop the Jihad, Start the Peace", "Support U.S. Troops, Defeat Terrorism", "The Fence Saves Lives", "We Stand With Israel" and "Stop Child Abuse (with photo of Palestinian baby dressed with bomber belt)". 
 
We received countless thumbs up, waves and heartening comments of support from passing drivers, such as "I wish there were more people like you!" and "God Bless Israel!" 
 
When we resume the street-corner demonstrations in April, we'll have placards with a different focus, if, God willing, terrorism remains low and the Palestinians appear to be taking serious steps toward peace.
 
Many of the placards were made by going to a copystore and downloading slogans from www.standwithus.com (click on signs and flyers, click on signs).  They printed it out in a large size, 20" by 30", and put it on a foamcore board.  Standwithus.com was very helpful.  In addition to providing good slogans, they also took some of our suggested slogans, created a good design for them, and posted them on their website for us to download.
 
As long as the demonstrations are done regularly, there is no need to have large numbers of participants to achieve the goals.  Our numbers ranged from 5 to 15, with a core group always attending, and new people coming and going as their schedules allowed.   
 
It's very important to pick a street corner where you will not be a hazard.  Make sure you are at a stop light, so people will be stopped while they read your signs.  Pick a place where there is plenty of room for you to stand safely away from the traffic and also where it is easy for your participants to park nearby.
 
We would gather at the same location for 4 times, then move on to another busy intersection.
That way many of the same commuters would see our messages 4 times.  Repetition is good!
But we didn't want to stay in the same place too long, because then people would stop noticing us.  Also, we didn't want to be an easy target for a counter-demonstration. By the time someone figured out where and when we would regularly meet, we would be at a different location!  So every 5th demonstration, we would move to a new location and share our message with new commuters/drivers.
 
If you have questions or comments, contact Lee Green.