The following report is by The Times of Israel:
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff said over 290,000 people attended the event, making it the largest pro-Israel gathering in US history.
Buses and flights to the US capital were organized by local Jewish federations, schools, synagogues, Israeli expatriate groups and Jewish community centers, while many more made their own way to the March for Israel.
President Isaac Herzog addressed the rally by video link from the Western Wall in Jerusalem, demanding the return of the hostages held in Gaza, and declaring that “Never Again is now.”
Today we come together, as a family, one big mishpacha, to march for Israel. To march for the babies, the boys and girls, women and men viciously held hostage by Hamas.
To march for the right of every Jew to live proudly and safely in America, in Israel and around the world. Above all, we come together to march for good over evil, for human morality over blood thirst. We march for light over darkness.
Eighty years ago, Jews came out of Auschwitz and vowed ‘Never Again.’ As the blue and white flag was hoisted over our ancient homeland, we vowed ‘Never Again.’ Forty days ago, a terrorist army invaded the sovereign State of Israel and butchered hundreds upon hundreds of Israelis in the largest massacre since the Holocaust. Let us cry out, together: Never Again. Never Again is now.
Herzog said
Herzog also praised US President Joe Biden for the “moral clarity and bold actions of our American allies.”
Once again in Jewish history, we demand: Let our people go. Whilst our loved ones are held captive in Gaza, and our soldiers are fighting for our beloved Israel – Jews all over the world are assaulted for being Jewish. The hatred, the lies, the brutality, the disgraceful outburst of ancient antisemitism are an embarrassment to all civilized people and nations.
Jews in America must be safe. Jews all over the world must be safe.
In one of the most warmly received speeches, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries listed a history of persecution of the Jewish people through the ages, explaining that it anchored “the moral case for Israel,” and noting, “The Jewish people were violently expelled from the Middle East. The Jewish people were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime. The Jewish people were violently attacked by Hamas on October 7th, resulting in the largest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust. So we are here, more than 100,000 strong, to unequivocally declare, Never Again. Never Again. Never Again. The State of Israel must always exist as a safe haven for the Jewish people.”
He went on:
And so we stand together with the Jewish community in Israel, we stand together with the Jewish community in America, we stand together with the Jewish community all throughout the world. We stand together in the effort to crush antisemitism. We stand together in the effort to crush anti-Jewish hate.
We stand together in the effort to bring home the hostages. We stand together in the effort to make sure that America will always be a safe space for the Jewish community in every single zip code.
After weeks of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests with calls for a Palestinian state to be established “from the river to the sea,” a phrase also used by US House of Representatives Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the US congressional leadership slammed the chant, seen by many as a call for the elimination of Israel.
When Hamas says from the river to the sea, they mean all the present-day Israel should be a Jewish-free land.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the crowd.
“We stand with you, and we will not rest until you get all the assistance you need,” Schumer said before leading the rally-goers in chants of “Am Yisrael Chai.”
Speaking after Schumer, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said:
We’ve heard many echoes of Hamas’s rallying cry, ‘From the river to the sea,’ and I’m convinced that a lot of these college students who are engaging in these protests do not understand that is an explicit call for the extermination of Israel.
It is unacceptable for any political leader in this nation to give credence to this dangerous rhetoric.
Johnson also described the calls for a ceasefire as “outrageous.”
Israel will cease their counter-offensive when Hamas ceases to be a threat to the Jewish state.
Johnson said, to cheers.
Israel has said there will not be a ceasefire without the release of the hostages, and that a ceasefire would merely aid Hamas and help it regroup and replenish its stocks. The US has supported Israel in its stance, but is instead promoting the use of humanitarian pauses for the entry of aid into the beleaguered Gaza Strip and to allow civilians to evacuate from the battle-zone northern part of the enclave, where Hamas has many of its strongholds.
The Biden administration’s antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt told the crowd that the US government “stands shoulder to shoulder against Jew hatred.”
Today in America we give antisemitism no sanction, no foothold, no tolerance, not on campus, not in our schools, not in our neighborhoods, not in our streets or the streets of our cities. Not in our government. Nowhere. not now, not ever.
When protesters chant ‘Peace and glory to the martyrs,’ that incites more hatred, more deaths.
It is a danger to the values and underpinning of the stability and decency of any society anywhere in the world. Hate is not a zero-sum game, hate and violence directed at any member of our society because of who they are is un-American and wrong.
Lipstadt declared.
The rally was also addressed by relatives of the some 240 hostages taken captive by Hamas and other terror groups as they rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, also killing some 1,200 people.
Rachel Goldberg, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was seriously injured before he was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova desert rave, told the rally that the families of those kidnapped “have lived the last 39 days in slow-motion torment.”
“We all have third-degree burns on our souls,” she said.
“But the real souls suffering are those of the hostages and they want to ask everyone in the world, why? Why is the world accepting that 240 human beings from almost 30 countries have been stolen and buried alive,” she said, referring to the fact that many of the hostages are believed to be held underground in the Hamas terror group’s labyrinth of tunnels underneath the Gaza Strip.
“These children of God range in age from 9 months to 87 years. They are Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus,” she said.
Describing a Christian who saved Jews during the Holocaust, she said, “What the world needs to start thinking about today is what will your excuse be?”
“Bring them home now,” Goldberg concluded.
Orna Neutra, mother of hostage Omer Neutra, described her son as “a big guy, six foot two, always with a smile on his face.”
She said the dual US-Israeli citizen is crazy about sports, and was raised with a love and a passion for both of his homelands.
From a place of deep pain, we hold strong for you, Omer. We speak in your name, tirelessly… Omer you’re not just my beloved son, you touch so many in deep and profound ways.
She said.
Alana Zeitchik, whose six cousins were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz, said that for too many in the West, the suffering of families “has become a footnote.”
“To demand the release of the hostages is not an act of politics, nor is it an act of war,” she said.
In a fiery speech, Columbia University student Noa Fay described how over 100 professors have advocated for the destruction of Israel on her campus.
I am a Black, Native American Jewish American woman and I will not be silenced…. I will continue to shout.
We are the Jews of the Diaspora, this is how we fight. We fight loudly and we fight peacefully. We are far from helpless, we are far from hopeless.
Said Fay
However, not all the speakers at the rally were welcomed — progressive groups fumed over the decision to invite controversial evangelical Pastor John Hagee as a speaker, even though no Jewish clergy members were on the speakers’ list.
The Homeland Security Department designated the march a “Level 1” security event, the highest classification in its system and one usually used for the Super Bowl and other major events, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
The designation meant the event required substantial law enforcement assistance from federal agencies, the officials said.
Police stationed snowplows as temporary roadblocks nearby and a military-style armored vehicle was deployed, while protesters’ bags were searched before being allowed to enter the area.
Many of the demonstrators wore Israeli flags wrapped around their shoulders, flowing behind them, or held small Israeli flags in their hands.
“I hope that it shows solidarity” with Israel, said Jackie Seley of Rockville, Maryland, who came with friends from New York. “And I hope that it raises awareness for the hostages that are currently in danger.”
Sergei Kravchick, 64, said he was “proud” to see the large turnout in Washington
“We of course support Israel… We’re doing exactly what we have to do,” he said.
Mark Moore, 48, a Christian pastor from Chicago, said he considers Israel “the only bastion of freedom” in the Middle East and that although he wanted peace ultimately, “I’m praying for peace… secured through victory so it does not continue with this endless cycle of violence.”
The demonstration, which was also seen by many as a message of gratitude to Biden for his strong support of Israel in its war against Hamas, came after multiple pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests in the US, as well as a sharp spike in antisemitism, particularly on college campuses.
Unable to make it to the rally was a delegation of 900 people organized by the Jewish Federation of Detroit that was left stranded at Washington’s Dulles Airport after their bus drivers refused to take them to a pro-Israel event, Daroff said.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
Proverbs 11:10
There is a lot you can take away from this and you can draw your own conclusions from it, but clearly across the U.S. and around the world the peoples are getting very contentious and testy about this, and more of these types of rallies for a number of camps will rise up.
It is noteworthy to again point out the obvious uniparty in front of everyone’s eyes, where U.S. politicians are once again far more concerned with everyone else’s countries and wars than actually supporting America. In the case of Speaker Johnson, the problem here is that Hamas is not just a militia group, it’s an idea, a philosophy, a tribal code of radical Mohammed zealots. Hamas in that sense will never be wiped out in this sense. Furthermore, Netanyahu himself has already made it clear that this war will be “long.” This war, like all others, will drag on and on with no clear end in sight – kind of like we just witnessed with Ukraine…
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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They can come together to support Israel and the Ukraine, but can’t get together on our own country. Quite the clown show
My thoughts exactly.
Speeches can incite for good or for evil; they accomplish one or the other. Protests accomplish nothing, and the politicians laugh at them from behind closed doors. When I was learning to type way back in 1978, one of our drill lines was: “Now is the time for every good man to come to the aid of their country.” How true, that is today, but it’s not going to happen.
Bravery and ambition have become extinct in our nations. The elite made sure of it by killing off all of our truly brave men and others in both world wars, and then indoctrinating students in schools and universities ever since. They start their education as bright and intelligent students and come out as mental midgets…all by design.
The politicians who spoke at this protest are there for show and votes only. The way the N. Amerikan governments treat their own people is more than sufficient proof that we are nothing more than expendable cash cows, to be milked dry and then starved to death or mercilessly slaughtered.
“Never again”, empty words. Like the word “race”, they must’ve taken on another meaning because it is happening again. Sadly, I believe N. America is going to erupt into civil war in the very near future. Both sides have made their presence known in the past few days. The “urge to merge” (in battle) is boiling and festering just below the surface. This cannot go on for much longer before it explodes into a blood bath.
Oh, how the elite love blood sport. It reminds me of the Roman gladiator days. That’s why our politicians have bent over backwards to bring in “immigrants” and “refugees”…blood sport…”climate change”. It cools off rather quickly when the streets are littered with cold dead bodies. One really has to ask the question, “What do they mean by “climate change”? Do they mean the weather or do they really mean the political / public “climate” (attitudes and behaviors)? I believe it’s the latter, a smokescreen for population control and totalitarian takeover.
The politicians speak empty words; always have, always will. At the end of their speeches they walk around with a big smile, a stick to beat us with called “power”, and our money in their pockets. The people speak loaded words and will be left to look after the bodies.
I used to feel really badly for the Jews, God’s chosen people, because they’ve been so mercilessly persecuted throughout their history. Now, I feel badly for Jews, Christians, and Conservatives because the majority see us as a scourge that must be gotten rid of.
Jesus Christ could solve quite a lot of the world’s problems if He came today. Maranatha!