Rally for Israel - Jewish Federation - Remarks by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Rabbi Marvin Hier

July 23, 2006

Rally for Israel
Jewish Federation

Remarks By Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Thank you.  Thank you very much.  First I want to say thank you, Rabbi, for the kind words.  And I want to say also thank you to Mayor Villaraigosa for being here today.  A big hand to the Mayor.  Thank you very much. 

Thank you to the Consul General Danoch, and thank you to John Fishell and Mike Koss from the Jewish Federation for having us here in the first place.  Thank you all very much.  It is wonderful to be here today. 

But let me just say first of all a few words about Rabbi Hier, because as Rabbi Hier was saying earlier, we have had a great relationship for 25 years.  He and I have had a lot of fun in those 25 years, but I got to know him because he asked me to help him with fundraising activities for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.  And so for the last 25 years that's what we have been doing; doing a lot of fundraising not only in Los Angeles but all over this country.  And I want to say thank you, thank you to Rabbi Hier for his great friendship and for his great enthusiasm.  A big hand to Rabbi Hier for his great, great leadership. 

And let me tell you that he has helped me a lot.  He has helped me.  This is a friendship that goes both ways.  He has helped me with the After School Programs.  He has helped me anytime I needed advice, especially after I became governor.  Anytime I need advice I can call him.  And he has been extremely helpful.  So I want to say thank you to him.  So when he asked me to come out here for this rally, for this pro-Israeli rally, of course I didn't hesitate, and I said, "I'll be there, no two ways about it." 

So it is great for me to be part of this great rally, with entertainers, athletes, business leaders, religious leaders, political leaders, everyone, Democrats, Republicans, everyone coming together here in this very difficult time that Israel is facing.  We are all here to do one thing, and this is to support the state of Israel. 

And as Rabbi Heir already mentioned so eloquently, every nation and any nation has the right to defend itself against terrorist attacks. 

And while we all regret the loss of innocent life that occurs when a nation does defend itself, there is no question that Israel is entitled and has the right to take all appropriate steps to go and take care and keep its people safe. 

So my thoughts and my prayers go out to Israel and to the people in California and elsewhere with friends and families in that region.  And I also pray for peace for the people of Lebanon, because they get affected by those terrorists as well. 

I hope that they can recover their country and live without war and violence or strife.  And as for the Israeli people, I have long felt a special bond with them.  I know the Israeli people very well, because I've been to Israel many, many times.  I started in the '70s as a bodybuilding champion when I went to Israel for the first time. 

I went back in the '80s as The Terminator. 

I went back in the '90s to open up our Planet Hollywood restaurant. 

And of course Israel was the first country that I visited after I became governor of the great State of California. 

And the purpose of that trip was, it was for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, to go to Israel and to go to a groundbreaking ceremony for the Museum of Tolerance.  I'm a big supporter of the Museum of Tolerance.  And I've gotten to know the people over there, and we had a wonderful trip.  But let me tell you, with all my trips I have taken to Israel, with all the business that I have done with the Israeli people, and of course I have several Israeli people working at my house, I can tell you, there is nothing that the Israeli people want more than to live in peace. 

And this is why I am so happy to be here, to be supportive of that, and to be here at this rally.  I'm so proud to stand here with all of you today to pray for peace, and mutual respect, and tolerance to return to that region.

So thank you very much, and Am Yisrael Hai. 

Thank you very much.  Thank you.  And I'll be back.  Thank you very much. 

For audio of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s remarks in Los Angeles today, please visit http://speeches.gov.ca.gov/dir/07-23-2006_peace_rally.htm

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Office of the Mayor
City of Los Angeles
ANTONIO R. VILLARAIGOSA

“Ensure Security. Imagine Peace”  -  Remarks of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Rally in Support of the People of Israel
July 23, 2006

I know it may feel like a small thing to come to a rally in West Los Angeles on a Sunday afternoon. But to the families in Haifa and Nahariyya…to all those in both the North and the South who've been terrorized in recent weeks by the relentless rocket attacks of Hamas and Hezbollah, this gathering 7,500 miles across the globe is no distant gesture.

Friends: We are here today to be counted.

And to demonstrate to the people of Israel that we can be counted ON!

We're here not only to express the depth of our concern, we're here to stand up and demonstrate the strength of our SOLIDARITY.

And we are here today -- each and every one of us -- to affirm our mutual commitment to peace. To mourn EVERY victim of this conflict - to convey our deepest sympathy to EVERY family in Israel, in Lebanon and in Gaza whose lives bear the wounds and scars of this tragedy.

But we're also here to affirm the basic truth: that there can be no peace without security.

We're here to assert the fundamental fact of the State of Israel's right to exist.

We're here defend its unassailable right to defend itself.

What's more, we're here to remind ourselves of all we share - a connection between our people woven in time and space - and in the lives and lineages of millions of Americans and Israelis.

We’re here to celebrate our mutual heritage as immigrant nations - our shared ancestry as children of Abraham - our common beliefs in the values of tolerance, free expression and democratic representation.

And we're here to recognize our common struggle -- our common OBLIGATION -- to stand together and fight the evils of religious hatred and terror!

We're here to heed the timeless wisdom of the Hebrew proverb instructing us that "opinions founded in prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence."

We are here to remember Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's famous instruction to his people that they must always strive to be "a light unto the nations" of the world.

Above all, we're here to bow our heads in observance. To remember the words of the Prophet Isaiah when he told us that we can look forward to a day when the people of this world will "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks… when nation shall not lift up sword against nation… and neither shall they learn war any more."

Ladies and gentlemen, for nearly sixty years, the State of Israel has never known a total day of complete peace and security.

Let's stand together in solidarity with its people. Let's pray together with a vision of bringing Isaiah's prophecy to life.

God bless you all.

To download the Mayor's speech, please use this link...
(Adobe Acrobat required)

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Remarks by Rabbi Marvin Hier

My friends, before introducing the Governor, a few personal remarks: We are here today to stand, shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters.  Just a year ago, Israel had a dream of a new era of peace and hope for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. But the terrorists turned that dream into a nightmare.  Israel withdrew unilaterally from Lebanon and Gaza, but the Palestinian response was Hamas and Hezbollah who crossed into Israel, murdered and kidnapped her soldiers, rocketed her cities all because they’re objective is a Middle East free of Jews.  Something we can assure them, they will never live to see.

We must not repeat the same mistakes we have made in the Middle East for 50 years, passing ineffective resolutions that portray perpetrators as victims, and victims as perpetrators. 

Let’s get it right. Hezbollah and Hamas want to destroy Western Civilization, while Israel wants to preserve it.

Every day the critics of Israel want to rewrite the script, change the focus, insert new catch phrases: collateral damage -- disproportional response -- collective punishment.  What would the nations of the world do if there were 10,000 rockets in the hands of a terrorist organizations, threatening their borders? I’ll tell you what they would do. They would do exactly what Israel is doing and no one would criticize them for it.

Yesterday, Lebanon said if Israel launched a ground offensive, the Lebanese army would fight. But that begs the question: They’re willing to fight the Israeli army, but for six years they were unwilling to confront Hezbollah so that this conflict would have never happened. Isn’t that disproportionate irresponsibility?

For six years where was the United Nations when Hezbollah stockpiled its weapons in direct violation of UN Resolution 1559?  Isn’t that collective negligence?

In conclusion, the State of Israel is doing the work the UN failed to do in the first place. We should applaud Israel for fighting terrorism and condemn Hezbollah for destroying Lebanon. 

And now it is my honor to introduce someone I have known for more then twenty years, a great friend of the Jewish Community, a man who during the ‘Intifada’, when the tourists were gone and the hotels were empty, and the people were down in spirit made his first foreign trip to the State of Israel as a sign of his friendship and admiration.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the governor of the State of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.