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More than 100,000 American Jews gathered in Washington, D.C., on Monday in a show of solidarity with Israel. (AP)
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| By Ellis Shuman April 16, 2002 |
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More than 100,000 American Jews marched yesterday on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in what was described as one of the largest pro-Israel rallies ever held in the United States. Organized in one week's time by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the United Jewish Communities, the rally demonstrated American Jewry's solidarity with Israel as it defends itself against terror and violence.
Demonstrators came from New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit and elsewhere on special chartered planes and busses. "We wanted to show our support" for Israel, said Tom Schottenstein, who came with a group of 300 from Columbus, Ohio. "It's very frustrating not to be able to do anything." Paul Jacobs, who traveled all night from Framingham, Massachusetts, said, "People feel the survival of Israel is at stake."
Speakers, appearing on the steps of the Capitol before a display of American and Israeli flags, included New York Governor George Pataki, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and the parents of several terror victims. The state of Israel was represented by Housing Minister Natan Sharansky, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior, and former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
"Israel as a nation is entitled to use strength in her self-defense," said Mortimer Zuckerman, chairman of the Conference of Presidents. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, rather than focusing on building his own state, has "focused on the destruction of another state," he added.
House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri said despite losing 450 of its citizens to violence over the past 18 months, equivalent to the United States losing more than 21,000 people, "the Israeli people remain strong? We will stand with Israel. We will stand for freedom," he said.
Wiesel condemned suicide bombings, warning that terrorism knows no boundaries. "There is no sacred cause that justifies suicide bombings," he said.
Netanyahu ignited the crowd when he defined Arafat as the "quintessential terrorist? who is nothing more than Osama bin Laden with good public relations." Netanyahu said, "Arafat does not want a Palestinian state next to Israel, he wants a Palestinian state instead of Israel."
The only point of friction at the rally came during a speech by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, considered an especially close friend of Israel. Wolfowitz was interrupted repeatedly after he said that "innocent Palestinians are suffering and dying as well. It is critical that we recognize and acknowledge that fact." The crowd erupted in boos and calls of "No more Arafat."
Janet Parshall, representing Christian broadcasters, got a big cheer when she referred to Arafat as a terrorist and said to Israel: "We stand with you now and forever." Calls on Israel to never relinquish the Golan Heights and to retain an undivided Jerusalem were cheered by the crowd.
Rallies in San Francisco, New York
Several thousand people rallied in Justin Herman Plaza in downtown San Francisco on Sunday afternoon in support of Israel. Speakers at the gathering also denounced local expressions of anti-Semitism, including the drawing of swastikas on a Peninsula synagogue, and a beating of two orthodox Jewish men in Berkeley.
"We face literally daily assaults for being Jewish and for being pro-Israel,'' Randy Barnes, a student at the University of California-Berkeley, told the crowd in the plaza by the Embarcadero Center, the Mercury News reported. "We will continue to stand resolute and in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Israel, who are facing terrorism and violence in their back yards.''
About 1,000 Israel supporters of Israel demonstrated in Manhattan on Sunday, condemning Secretary of State Colin Powell for holding talks with "terrorist" Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.
"Today, the secretary of state of the greatest democracy ever to grace the Earth spent three hours with a terrorist," Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat from Brooklyn, told the rally held opposite the Park Avenue mission of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
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