TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2002 — It’s the season of protests about the violence in the Middle East. A Harvard Law School group called "Justice for Palestine" held a vigil in Harvard Square last night. On Saturday, while setting out for a Newbury Street stroll, I was met by scores of sign-holding protesters calling for an end to the "Occupation." And for the first time since the Al Aksa intifada (the violent struggle between Israel and the Palestinians) began in October 2000, more than 100,000 supporters of Israel rallied in front of the US Capitol.

Reports of the rally in Washington, DC, have been dominated by the news that some of the participants booed and jeered Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz when he made reference to Palestinian suffering — a statement that should have been expected from an administration official. (It's my understanding that the jerks who booed him represented a minority of the protesters.) But that’s not the big news out of the rally. This is.

The rally’s organizers, a collection of American Jewish groups (the most notable being the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations) managed to cobble together a number of speakers from across the political spectrum. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was shown speaking at length on CNN, was not the only eminent leader on hand. From the point of view of domestic politics, the most important speakers were House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, a leading Democrat, and John Sweeney, the president of the AFL-CIO.

If all you knew came from TV news reports and news shows like Hardball, you’d believe support for Israel is relegated to a few quasi-fringe characters like social conservative William Bennett and comedian Jackie Mason. Mason was once a ground-breaking comic (sometime back when my mother was in high school) but now he’s pretty much coasting on being the last of the Borscht Belt, Yiddish-style comedians. He’s not the best person to make the case for American support for Israel in the American media. (That said, David Brooks and William Kristol — both of the Weekly Standard — also offer compelling arguments for Israel's recent actions.)

But Gephardt, who is poised to become the House Speaker should the Democrats win in November, gave a speech that was among the strongest and most articulate on the issue to date. After tracing the history of Democratic support for Israel — begun by Gephardt’s fellow Missourian Harry Truman — Gephardt challenged the Palestinian Authority to give up its campaign of terrorism against Israel.

"The Palestinian Authority and other states in the region must turn unequivocally against terrorism," said Gephardt. "Chairman Arafat has not yet demonstrated a true commitment to peace." Gephardt concluded with a pledge of support for the Middle East’s only democracy — a place where Israeli-Arab members of parliament can routinely challenge the government of Ariel Sharon: "We will stand with Israel. We will stand for freedom. And we will stand for a future that brings peace and prosperity to all the people of the Middle East."

It was a speech from which urban House Democrats, such as Representative Michael Capuano of Somerville and Representative Stephen Lynch of South Boston, could learn something. John Sweeney's presence at the rally should serve as a reminder to Americans of all political stripes (including the gentleman from South Boston who once headed Ironworkers Local No. 7) that one of the most important planks of organized support for Israel is the American labor movement. The founders of Israel, after all, were committed labor Zionists, and American unions helped fund the country’s establishment. Unions comprise one of the largest organized purchasers of Israel Bonds.

"On behalf of the 13 million working women and men of the AFL-CIO, I stand with you to express our support for the people of Israel in the darkest of hours," Sweeney proclaimed. "America’s working families, seared by the horrors of September 11th here in our own country, can begin to imagine how terrifying the suicide bombs have made daily life in Israel."

Let’s hear it for Sweeney and some good old-fashioned blue-collar common sense. Sweeney’s statement was a welcome antidote to the anti-Israel vitriol coming from much of the left these days. Lunch-pail types are courageous enough to speak up for Israel.

On Saturday, the Palestinians will bring their own supporters to Washington. They will get up and hold signs and make their own speeches. And you know what? That’s good. That’s how it should be in a democracy. But Monday’s rally gave a platform to some voices that have gone too far unnoticed until now.