An election and a place to celebrate

The people of Israel want a change, and they made their voices heard Monday clearer than ever. Ehud Barak was elected in a landslide, beating Benjamin Netanyahu by 12 percentage points.

Whether any of us agree with how Israelis voted doesn't really matter. Until we are ready to make aliyah, pay Israel taxes, send our children into Israel's army, we have no say in who governs the country. Our job is to support the people and the government of the Jewish state.

But the vote of the Israeli public is a real mandate for change. The major difference separating Netanyahu's Likud Party and Barak's Labor Party was the peace process and whether it should move ahead at a quicker pace. Barak will be expected to quickly resume negotiations with the Palestinians, and probably the Syrians. He has indicated his desire to extract Israeli troops from Lebanon as well.

But Barak is not the leftist dove his opponents have made him out to be. As the most decorated solider in Israel's history and as a former chief of staff, he can be expected to put Israel's security first and not rush into any agreements that will jeopardize his people.

He is cut from the same cloth as Yitzhak Rabin.

Because Barak won in a landslide, we should be joining our Israeli friends and family in celebration. Fortunately, Bay Area Jews have that opportunity on Sunday.

"Israel in the Gardens," the salute to Israel's 51st anniversary, was planned long before anyone knew that Netanyahu's government would fall and a new election would be scheduled. As fate would have it, the local party occurs at the end of this momentous week.

We encourage you to come to San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens between noon and 5 p.m. Sunday to celebrate Israel's anniversary and to celebrate the democratic virtues Israelis exhibited at the polls this week.

The Jewish state has elected a new prime minister and we should voice our support for him. Sunday is a perfect time to do this.

See you at Yerba Buena.