A rally in support of Israel was held Sunday in Thousand Oaks at the same location where a 69-year-old Jewish man died last week while voicing his support for the state of Israel.
Following the tragic death of Paul Kessler after an altercation with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator on Nov. 5, a rally for peace and unity was organized to bring an end to the rising level of hate.
Since Hamas’s bloody invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, the greater Los Angeles region has experienced shockwaves of grief and hate.
State Senator Henry Stern was pleading for peaceful gatherings and an end to intimidation of the Jewish community.
“Let’s not let Hamas spread those seeds of hate deeper into our backyard,” he said at Sunday’s rally.
Standing by Stern’s side was Ariel Ein-Gal, a survivor of the deadly Hamas terrorist attack.
“We had hundreds of rockets coming in our direction and we had to hide wherever we could,” Ein-Gal said of his experience that day.
Ein-Gal and his friends had been staying on the beach that night.
“We looked at the sea and we saw boats coming in our direction and the boats were Hamas terrorists,” he said. “They killed everyone that was on the shore. They killed fathers and sons. They killed lovers, they killed soldiers.”
Recalling that night, Ein-Gal said he had been sitting in a vehicle when his Muslim friends in the front seat were shot by Hamas.
“Hamas doesn’t care if you’re Jewish, if you’re Muslims, if you are Christian. They just want to kill everyone,” he said.
In an effort to further local peace between the Jewish and Palestinian communities, he wanted to share his story.
“This might give you the real picture of how things really are,” Ein-Gal explained. “There’s no Jewish against Arabs. It’s Israelis against Hamas. That’s it.”
The rally lasted several hours, KTLA’s Jennifer McGraw reported, and said that the demonstration was peaceful and there were no issues.
