Jewish groups rally for Israel on the National Mall
Jewish organizations in the United States are planning a demonstration on Washington’s National Mall on Tuesday, with tens of thousands of people expected to gather in a show of solidarity with Israel as it wages war in Gaza in response to Hamas’ attack on October 7.
The gathering, dubbed the March for Israel, comes after major protests in the United States and world capitals denouncing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has plunged into a humanitarian crisis.
The event is intended by organizers in part as a response to critics of Israel, where about 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack.
“Over the past week and a half,” said Eric Fingerhut, president of the Jewish Federations of North America, which is helping organize the march, “it has become clear that even though every poll and every data point shows that the U.S. people have the overwhelming support of the American people. Israel, in its fight against Hamas, we increasingly heard from opposing voices that are on the fringes, but which are very loud.”
The march was quickly arranged and Jewish federations across the country, as well as schools, synagogues and community centers, sent buses with participants.
Educators, artists, students and relatives of some of the hundreds of hostages seized by Hamas will appear, along with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and a host of US lawmakers, including Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, and the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York.
Most US lawmakers have rejected calls for a ceasefire. They argue that Israel’s military campaign – which the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip says has killed more than 10,000 people – is justified by the need to eradicate Hamas.
While U.S. policy to date has been staunchly pro-Israel, there is increasing opposition in congressional offices and the Biden administration. as well as among Democratic voters in generalabout the way the war developed and the toll it took on non-combatants, especially children.
Mr. Fingerhut said the march was partly intended to remind Washington politicians that “the majority of the American people“support Israel’s actions even if they disagree on other issues. Jewish groups that do sometimes collided on the correct approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have announced plans to attend the march.
Mr. Fingerhut said the march was also intended to show unity in light of reports of the increasing number of anti-Semitic incidents across the country in recent weeks, which he called “an attempt to rally the Jewish community and others who support Israel ” to intimidate.