Outside PM’s hotel, director of San Jose shul warns Israel ‘becoming like rest of the Mideast’

Several dozen protesters greet Prime Minister Netanyahu outside his San Jose Hotel as the sun rises.

“It’s outrageous, it’s simply outrageous,” David Ginsborg, executive director of Temple Beth El in San Jose, says regarding Netanyahu’s remarks about the protesters teaming up with Iran and the PLO. “The man has no basis for saying this. We are supposed to be the light unto the nations, and instead we’re becoming like the rest of the Middle East.”

“I fight for Israel, an Israel that’s a democracy, religious pluralism. Netanyahu does not represent that,” he continues, arguing that the protests are pressuring Netanyahu to search for consensus.

“I want him to sit down and meet with the other side,” Ginzborg says. “Meet and build consensus.”

“Every Israeli and American citizen has the right to demonstrate for a country that is both democratic and Jewish,” says Nathalie Landesman, director at Stanford University Hillel. “He should spend his time uniting the nation and not dividing it.”

“I don’t think the protests help Israel’s standing in the world, but what harms Israel’s standing are actions of the Netanyahu government and the evil people he has gathered around him.”