More than 100 pro-Israel Christians and Jews demonstrated outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach last Thursday while President Bush was meeting inside with Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu.
The demonstrators, carrying signs such as “Stop the Boycott,” were protesting the compliance by Japanese companies with the Arab-directed economic boycott of Israel.
A petition urging Japan to change its discriminatory trade practices was presented to a Japanese official, who promised to bring it to his prime minister’s attention, said Mali Leitner, president of the Jewish Community Center of Orange County and one of the protesters.
The demonstration was organized by the Rev. Frank Eiklor, head of the pro-Israel Christian organization Shalom International, and Rabbi Haim Asa of Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton, Calif.
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