As protesters the world over stage demonstrations against Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip, thousands across Europe and in the United States turned out Sunday for rallies in support of the Israel Defense Forces' operations.
Over 10,000 people gathered on 42nd Street in New York, outside the Israeli consulate, to show their support for the offensive. Meanwhile, thousands more pro-Israel demonstrators rallied across Europe, including Prague, Dublin, Antwerp, Berlin, London and Manchester.
The demonstrations were held amid a series of pro-Palestinian protests in cities throughout Europe and Muslim states, many of which have turned violent and to anti-Semitic terms to condemn the operation.
In New York, demonstrators donned red hats as a symbol of Israel's Color Red rocket alert, chanting "Am Yisrael Chai" - the people of Israeli live - as politicians took to the stage to voice their support of the offensive.
British organizers estimated that as many as 20,000 people participated in the London demonstration, which took place in Trafalgar Square. A parallel rally was held in Manchester's Albert Square.
"It was important for Anglo-Jewry to show support and solidarity with Israel. I felt proud to be Jewish," said Theo Julius, a participant at the London demonstration.
Demonstrators waved placards reading "End Hamas Terror - Peace for the People of Israel and Gaza."
Meanwhile, in a letter published in Britain's Observer newspaper Sunday, 11 leading British Jews urged Israel to end its Gaza campaign and negotiate a settlement for security reasons.
"We are concerned that rather than bringing security to Israel, a continued military offensive could strengthen extremists, destabilize the region and exacerbate tensions inside Israel with its one million Arab citizens," the letter said.
Among the signatories were Baroness Julia Neuberger, former Local Government Association chairman Sir Jeremy Beecham and Dr Tony Bayfield, the head of the Movement for Reform Judaism.
They said the rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups were "war crimes against Israel" and that they supported Israel's right in putting a stop to the rocket attacks. But it questioned the military actions and called for a stop.
"However, we believe that now only negotiations can secure long- term security for Israel and the region," it said. "We are concerned that rather than bringing security to Israel, a continued military offensive could strengthen extremists, destabilize the region and exacerbate tensions inside Israel with its one million Arab citizens."
In Dublin, supporters gathered waving Israeli flags and singing psalms in lashing rain, separated by a police barricade from a rival pro-Palestinian rally.
"Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and has a right to defend itself," said Annette Horseman, 43, from Dublin.
Gilad Handler, 25, an Israeli high-tech worker living in Dublin, said the high number of Palestinian civilian casualties was difficult for Israelis.
"We don't want war with Gaza," he said. "But it's enough getting years of rocket barrages on our heads from there."
On Saturday, violent clashes broke out near the Israeli embassy in London as thousands of people marched to protest the Gaza offensive.
Demonstrators smashed shop windows and a policeman was knocked unconscious attempting to control the crowd. At a similar rally last week in Holland, a dutch legislator called for "intifada" in order to "free Palestine."
The London rallies on Sunday passed off without a repeat of the violent scenes from a day earlier.
Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators including high-profile actors and politicians marched peacefully through Madrid demanding increased international action against Israel's offensive, some chanting "We are all Palestinians."
The Israeli embassy in the Spanish capital issued a statement asking why demonstrators there had never protested against aggression by Hamas and calling recent anti-Israel rallies "a double standard."
In Italy, where thousands marched in Naples and Genoa to demand an end to violence in Gaza, Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said he did not oppose protests but called public Muslim prayers by demonstrators a challenge to peace.
On Saturday, thousands of Muslims knelt in prayer before Milan's central train station. A week ago Muslims held prayers in front of the city center cathedral, angering right-wing politicians in the overwhelmingly Catholic country.
"I say enough of the provocations of Islamists in Milan," La Russa, from the right-wing National Alliance, told Il Giornale newspaper on Sunday. "In Milan, a legitimate demonstration ended in a deliberately provocative mosque under the open sky."
While Sunday's pro-Palestinian protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, a Reuters photographer in Brussels reported windows had been smashed and a car overturned and set alight in the area where the city's anti-Israel march had ended.
