TORONTO —  “What would you do if it were you? If it were your family? If it were your city? If it were your country and Qassam rockets were raining down with the names of your children on the ends of them, if not literally, then figuratively?”

That was the question asked by Alan Dershowitz,
left, the Harvard University law professor and outspoken defender of
Israel, in his keynote address to the Rally for Sderot, held Feb. 25 at
the Sheraton Centre.

The event – organized by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and co-sponsored by more than 100 Jewish community groups – attracted some 2,500 people who gathered to support the southern Israeli town of Sderot, located a few kilometres from the Gaza border, which has suffered thousands of Palestinian rocket attacks over the past seven years.

“As a human rights lawyer, I tell you this: Israel has every right, legally and morally, to do whatever it takes to prevent more rockets from raining on Sderot,” Dershowitz said.

Before Dershowitz took to the podium, federation chair David Koschitsky commended the Toronto Jewish community for sending a strong message of solidarity to the residents of Sderot.

The evening’s program was broadcast live via satellite feed to a community centre in Sderot.

Despite the fact that it was 3 a.m. in Israel, about 100 Sderot residents gathered to be a part of the rally, and some had the opportunity to communicate their frustrations and fears.

A 16-year-old girl said she doesn’t feel free living in Sderot, because when she goes out, she needs to plan her route based on where the bomb shelters are located.

“Your challenges are our challenges,” Koschitsky said. “And your right to a peaceful future is just as strong as our right to a peaceful future… Sderot today is a symbol of Israel’s determination to survive, to thrive and to prevail.”

Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin spoke briefly about the frustration that both Israelis and Diaspora Jews feel regarding the “civic problem and the military problem” in Sderot.

Gissin was booed by some when he  said that patience is needed, as it will take time to find the right solution to the Qassam problem, but he was applauded when he pledged that Israel will find a way to end the constant threat of rocket attacks, just as it was able to dramatically decrease the number of suicide bombings.

Alon Davidi, the head of the Sderot Defence Council and a father of five, spoke about the hardships that his family and the rest of his community have to face on a daily basis.

“You see children who are afraid to go outside because they are so afraid that a Qassam rocket will hit them. And they are right. You know why? Because it happens,” Davidi said.

In fact, earlier that day, a 10-year-old boy nearly lost his arm when a Qassam rocket landed near him while he was on his way home from school.

“The only fault of that little kid is that he didn’t run fast enough into one of the shelters,” Yossi Tanuri, director general of the UIA Federations Canada’s Israel office, said via the live video satellite feed.

Just two days later, a 47-year-old Sapir College student was killed when a rocket landed in a parking lot adjacent to his school.

Dershowitz, who praised the Toronto Jewish community for setting an example for the rest of the Diaspora communities in North America, offered words of encouragement for the people gathered in Sderot who were listening to his address via satellite.

“You are our heroes. We love you, we support you, and we will never let you down.”

Dershowitz, who met with students for a question-and-answer session prior to the rally, said the international community imposes a double standard on Israel when it defends its citizens.

“The world is waiting for one of those rockets to hit a school bus, God forbid, to hit a school room, God forbid, to hit an ambulance, to hit a hospital, to hit a group of children. Then the world will say it’s OK for Israel to respond. As long as it’s proportionate, and as long as no civilians are killed, and as long as it’s done in a way that will have no impact on preventing it in the future. What other democracy in the world would wait until that horrible disaster occurs?”

Dershowitz said that Israel shouldn’t be criticized for cutting off electricity and supplies to Hamas-controlled Gaza, because Palestinians there “need to understand that there are consequences for putting murderous tyrants into office.”

He said that the restrictions shouldn’t be regarded as collective punishment, but as collective responsibility.

“Hamas had a fair election… The majority, the plurality of the people voted for Hamas, and they have to understand that a vote like that carries consequences.”

Dershowitz recalled a conversation he had with former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, before his stroke, who was working toward a land-for-peace deal with the Palestinians.

“Israel tried everything in its power. It gave up Gaza… and what did Israel get? It got land for rockets. Land for terrorism. Land for the kidnapping of a brave young soldier who still remains a prisoner… It’s been land that has increased the ability of Hamas to inflict attacks on Israeli civilians.”

He added that Hamas’ goal is to kill as many Israeli children and civilians as possible, and it wants Israel to kill as many Palestinians as possible, because Hamas leaders regard the victims as martyrs.

“[Hamas] has a culture of death, not a culture of life… We choose life. [But] the international community will not allow Israel to engage in proportional, lawful actions that every other country in the world facing comparable threats would engage in.”

Dershowitz, who will be travelling to Sderot this month with Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, issued a challenge to Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, who criticized Israel for using disproportionate force during the Second Lebanon War.

“Come with me to Sderot… Come with your fellow Canadian, Irwin Cotler. Let the people of Sderot show you that human rights exists on both sides of the ledger. All she does is spend her time in Lebanon and in Gaza and hears only the other side of the story. Come to Sderot. Open your eyes, open your mind, open your heart, open your soul. Understand that the killing of Jews is also a violation of human rights and a crime against humanity,” Dershowitz said.