The biggest mass actions in support of Ukraine took place in Israel
Hundreds of Israelis came out on the evening of 18 September for the “Worldwide Peace March” in support of Ukraine. Activists from the "Israel Supports Ukraine" group organized two parallel actions in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
More than 350 supporters of Ukraine stretched along a “live chain" on the embankment of the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv, and nearly 150 people gathered in Haifa near the well-known Bahai gardens.
Demonstration in Haifa.
These were the largest pro-Ukrainian actions in Israel to date. If in February-April, 2014 one hundred people attended rallies and pickets in support of Ukraine, now the number of participants has reached five hundred as activists came out on a working day to protest the war being conducting against Ukraine.
Demonstration in Haifa.
The heads of the "Israel Supports Ukraine" group Anna Zharova, Alexey Ostapenko, and Victor Vertsner stated the main goals of the demonstrations were to appeal to the world to support Ukraine, to terminate foreign aggression against this country, and also to explain to Israelis the dramatic situation in Ukraine. "It is important not to be silent, as Russian aggression can concern other countries. We want Israel to reconsider neutrality and support Ukraine," noted Zharova.
According to Ilya Sokolov, one of the organizers in Tel Aviv, some teenagers tried to attack protesters with Russian flags. After a conversation with police officers, the provocateurs were immediately removed from the “live chain". That same evening fifteen pro-Russian activists picketed the building of the Embassy of Ukraine in Tel Aviv. Seen among them was an Israeli political strategist who earlier worked for Ukraine’s Party of Regions and is accused by critics of now carrying out orders from Moscow.
Demonstration in Tel-Aviv.
Two weeks ago at the same location on the embankment in Tel Aviv, supporters of Russia arranged an exhibition of propaganda photos and posters accusing Ukrainian authorities of "genocide of civilians of Donbas". Fewer than ten pro-Russian activists came to this exhibition. In contrast, the large number of people showing up for pro-Ukraine rallies is an indication of where Israeli sympathies lie.
Demonstration in Tel-Aviv.
Many indigenous Israelis who approached rally participants in Tel Aviv and Haifa were actively interested in discussing the events in Ukraine and joined protesters in comparing the fight against terror that is being conducted simultaneously by Ukraine and Israel. Both events drew the attention of Israeli TV channels and news sites, including the Knesset TV channel.
In Haifa one of the protesters came with a poster reading "Greeks of Ukraine against Putin".
Mila Margolin of Petakh-Tikva said about the event in Tel-Aviv, "Today, Ukraine and its people are going through a terrible war that every day takes away the lives of thousands of people who protect their homeland from military annexation by the Russian government and its political strategies and manipulations. By joining the “Worldwide Peace March” we want to stop the war in Ukraine and bring peace to its people."
Israelis have thus opened a global wave of pro-Ukrainian demonstrations in the "Worldwide Peace March" which took place on September 21 in ten major cities around the world.
Shimon Briman
Photos from Tel Aviv: Miriam Bunimovich and Alexey Ostapenko ("Israel Supports Ukraine" group).
Photos from Haifa: Shimon Briman.
Video of the “live chain" in support of Ukraine on the embankment of Tel Aviv: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203905723618026&set=vb.1069507001&type=2&theater
