By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO, Calif.— U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego) and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders will be among the headliners at a community rally for Israel to be held at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla.  Organizers predict it will be attended by thousands of people.

Tina Friedman, director of the Community Relations Committee of the United Jewish Federation, said that just as money is pouring into a special fund set up by the UJF to help Israel, so too is the list of organizations and individuals getting behind the rally rapidly expanding.

Besides Sanders, whose wife Rana Sampson is a member of the Jewish community, and Davis, a three-term member of Congress who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, other speakers will include Greg Stevens, regional director of Christians United for Israel, and rabbis representing the range of religious movements within Judaism, including Rabbi Deborah Prinz of the Reform Temple Adat Shalom of Poway and Rabbi Jeffrey Wohlgelernter of the Orthodox Congregation Adat Yeshurun of La Jolla.

Friedman said that the Chabad movement also has signed up as sponsors, notwithstanding that it is holding an earlier pro-Israel rally at 11 a.m. at Chabad Center of University City at 3813 Governor Drive.  "I've been told that rally will be more religious in nature," she said.

Speakers expected from Jewish communal organizations include Ken Polin, president of the United Jewish Federation; Leslie Caspi, president of the San Diego region of AIPAC, Jerry Goldberg, representing the Community Relations Council, and Daniel Gardenswartz, representing the Anti-Defamation League.  Gillad Millo, consul for public relations of Israel's Consulate General in Los Angeles, also will appear.

A group from the Jacobs International Teen Leadership Institute—which brings together Jewish and Arab teenagers for travel together in Spain and in Israel—also will speak at the rally.  The group's travel is underwritten by Jerri-Ann and Gary Jacobs, active members of the San Diego Jewish community.

Fundraising for Israel through the Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation has been moving at a rapid pace, according to Barbara Sherman, UJF campaign director, and Charlene Seidle, Foundation Associate Director.  Many of UJF's largest donors maintain "advised accounts" for charitable giving with the Jewish Community Foundation, and as of Friday morning, July 21, they along with newcomers to UJF giving had directed the Foundation to forward nearly $100,000 in donations to the special UJF fund, according to Seidle. 

In addition, other contributions were being made directly to the UJF fund, bringing the combined total to well over $100,000.  The money is being forwarded without overhead charges to the United Jewish Communities and to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. In the former case, funds are being utilized to take Jewish, Druze, and Arab children in Northern Israel out of harm's way from incoming Hezbollah-fired Katyusha Rockets to summer camps elsewhere in Israel.  In the latter case, such non-military  items are being supplied for soldiers as personal care packages, air-conditioned recreation tents and canteens.