NORTHBROOK, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Hundreds of Israeli supporters came out in Northbrook on Sunday, in response to a pro-Palestinian rally that was organized as a call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
From behind metal fencing in Village Green Park, organizer Anna Tarkov stood with a handful of other Palestinian supporters. She said they not only want a ceasefire, but for the U.S. to stop financially backing Israel.
“If any other country was behaving the way that Israel is behaving, I don’t think we would be aiding them,” Tarkov said.
Despite criticism that she, as a Jewish person, should not be leading such a call, Tarkov said she wanted to publicly decry what she considers to be immoral Israeli airstrikes. Tarkov added that she didn’t see how the Israeli deaths on Oct. 7 could support “indiscriminately killing this many people, this many children.”
Vicki Furman was among the hundreds of counter demonstrators who carried Israeli flags, posters with images of hostages, and signs rejecting any move that could be seen as aiding Hamas.
“No ceasefire,” Furman said. “Let our people go. Let the hostages — release them … they had their ceasefire.”
Alan Mangurten said he believes the war is not about retaliation, but about preventing future attacks from Hamas. He called a ceasefire “premature peacemaking.”
“If you make peace before your adversary is either defeated unambiguously or agrees to seriously make peace, then it’s only going to happen again,” Mangurten said.
Many of the Israeli supporters agreed with him that any ceasefire before all their hostages are released would be a mistake.
Sunday’s rally in Northbrook wasn’t the only one to take place over the Israel-Hamas war. Protesters rallied in San Francisco, where President Joe Biden and leaders from Asia are expected to attend a summit this week. In France, more than 180,000 people marched against rising anti-Semitism in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed calls for a ceasefire unless it included the release of nearly all of the 240 hostages captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack. Meanwhile, health officials and people trapped inside Gaza’s largest hospital said fighting continued just outside of the facility.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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