EW YORK - Amid loud cheers and boos at a pro-Israel rally, Hillary Rodham Clinton urged New Yorkers yesterday to set aside politics and support President Clinton's fraying peace efforts.
''I know this is the season of politics, but it is also a time of great peril. I believe it is imperative that we stand clearly with Israel and we stand in support of the president,'' she told about 15,000 people rallying near the United Nations.
Clinton briefly shared a stage with her Republican US Senate opponent, Representative Rick Lazio, who shook her hand and left before she spoke.
In his speech to the rally, Lazio accused the administration of ''leaving Israel in the lurch.''
''I ask the president, is this any way to treat a friend?'' he said.
Both Senate candidates are vying for Jewish support, about 12 percent of the New York vote. Recent polls show Jews favoring Clinton roughly 2-to-1.
Clinton was greeted by a mix of loud cheers and people booing and screaming ''hypocrite'' as she took the stage.
She criticized the United States's abstention on a UN Security Council resolution condemning the use of ''excessive force'' by Israel in recent Israeli-Palestinian clashes.
The Security Council's ''one-sided condemnation of Israel is shameful and ignores the reality of what's happening in the Mideast,'' she said.
The mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, also spoke at the rally, and condemned Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers and holy sites.
