The first counter protest rally we were involved in was on 22 February 2014. It was outside the St James theatre in Wellington. This was in response to a call from the Jewish Community in Wellington who wanted to respond and oppose a planned demonstration of BDS (Boycotts, Divestments & Sanctions against the State of Israel) campaigners. They were protesting against the Israeli Batsheva Dance Company who were performing at the NZ Festival of Arts on the Saturday night.
We took a busload of our people from the Flaxmere Christian Fellowship (50 people) and swelled the brave Jewish counter-demo from about 12 people to over sixty. We had a police cordon between us and the BDS crowd (our opponents had 20 people there at the most-bussed down from Auckland). We learned a lot from this rally. It was our baptism into public advocacy for Israel. Although our style was very unprofessional because we were in the infancy of doing this sort of thing, yet, we felt we had won a moral victory over our opponents. Our five hour journey back to Flaxmere was one of exhilaration—we had a taste of what it was like to stand up for Israel—and we liked the taste!
