Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered at the National Mall on Tuesday for a rally in support of Israel and against the antisemitism and bias incidents that have erupted in the U.S. since the start of the Gaza war.

The March for Israel rally came as the war between Israel and Hamas entered its sixth week and with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continuing to reject calls for a cease-fire.

“This is the moment to speak up for ourselves and be united in support of Israel,” said 21-year-old Indiana University student Jared Cohen.

The death toll in Gaza continued to climb and Palestinians trapped there by the fighting faced a dire humanitarian crisis, many hiding in packed hospitals that were struggling to treat patients while fuel, food and power remained in short supply.

The latest convulsion of violence in the Holy Land erupted Oct. 7 when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages.

Tahl Ben-Yehuda, 53, a cantor from Overland Park, Kansas, said she came to be a voice for two of her cousins, Keith and Aviva Siegel, who had been taken by Hamas.

“Those hostages need to be freed,” Ben-Yehuda said. “Israel is living right now with an existential threat. It is simply not OK to let 240 people be held as hostages. The world needs to rise.”

Organizers of Tuesday's event said they are not only calling for the return of the hostages but want to underscore "Israel's right to remain free from violence and the right of Jewish communities in North America and around the world to live free from hate."

"There's no place for such an ancient form of hate," said Gil Preuss, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, a chapter of the Jewish Federations of North America.

Preuss said the Hamas attack on Israel should be an opportunity for peace-seeking Israelis and Palestinians to seek the eradication of the militant group.

"I firmly believe that Israelis and Palestinians need to be able to live in freedom and security, and it is the goal that both populations would like to have," Preuss said. "The question is how do we get there?"

Thousands of civilians, both Palestinians and Israelis, have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip entered southern Israel in an unprecedented attack triggering a war declared by Israel on Hamas with retaliatory bombings on Gaza.

Ben-Yehuda, who considers herself a “liberal Jew,” said she, too, has empathy for Palestinians in Gaza and remains critical of Netanyahu’s policies and failures for not working toward a two-state solution.

“I believe in the state of Israel, but the government is different,” Ben-Yehuda said. “Israel has to continue, but she has to be for justice.”

Busloads of pro-Israel supporters began arriving at the Stadium-Armory in Washington well before the march got underway.

Several were chartered by New York City’s Temple Emanu-El for D.C. More buses carrying an estimated 1,250 people from the Jewish Federation of Cleveland arrived at the Kennedy Center. And a group from Hebrew Academy Miami posed with the Israeli flag before heading to the rally.

But many were greeted by sometimes profane anti-Israel graffiti sprayed in red paint on sidewalks and garbage dispensers.

"It's sickening to know that's what people are doing," said Simon Taylor, a representative from the Orthodox Union.

Ruthie Hollander, who is also a member of the Orthodox Union and had her 14-month-old daughter in tow as she greeted the buses, said in her community "every single person is one degree of separation from someone in Israel."

“And so wherever politically many fall out, on a personal level, this is such a tragedy and so difficult," Hollander said. "Many of us are really struggling even to just go day to day and there’s a lot of fear, especially in New York City. Hate crimes have risen significantly.”

Sandra Nudelman, who lives in New Jersey and was at the rally with her sister, said that she is horrified that so many people have already died in Gaza but that the Israel Defense Forces is not deliberately targeting civilians the way Hamas did on Oct. 7.

“I think they’re doing the best they can in a war that is not of their own making," Nudelman said. "Civilian casualties are never something anyone wants to see. When I see pictures of Palestinians who are dying, I feel terrible for them."

Source: NBC News

BDST: 1011 HRS, NOV 15, 2023
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