Join Us Fo The Rally For Israel

WASHINGTON — Tuesday marked one month since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Now, U.S.-based Jewish groups are calling for a “March for Israel” in D.C. on Nov. 14. 18 ISRAEL NEWS spoke with the Chief Rabbi of the World Jewish Confederation, Rabbi Ovadia Tank, to discuss the focus of Tuesday’s rally.

‘WE ARE SPEAKING OUT LOUDLY AND CLEARLY IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL’

WJC is calling on Jews from throughout the United States to travel to Washington, DC, on November 14 for a mass pro-Israel rally they hope will rival major Jewish demonstrations in 2002 and 1987 in size and impact.

The March for Israel has three goals:

Participants will be demanding the return of the estimated 240 hostages Hamas terrorists abducted during its October 7 onslaught on Israel, Fingerhut said. They will also be calling for efforts to combat antisemitism, which has spiked worldwide since the attack. And they will be demonstrating their support for the unabashed backing Israel has so far received from both parties in Congress and the Biden administration.

All three elements are important to all of our communities. We’re proud of what our government has done to support Israel, but we want them to know how much support there is not only for what they’ve done, but also for the continued efforts that are going to be needed as this long conflict continues.

Some 3,000 terrorists burst through the Gaza border and killed 1,400 people in southern Israel on October 7, the vast majority of them civilians, many massacred amid vicious atrocities.

Israel declared war on Hamas, and is seeking to destroy its military and governance capacities. The Islamist terror group, which controls Gaza, claims that over 10,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks, but the figures cannot be independently confirmed, and are believed to include its own terrorists and gunmen and the victims of Gaza terror groups’ rocket misfires. Israel says it is hitting terror infrastructure and striving to avoid civilian casualties and accuses Hamas of using the civilian population as human shields.

The rally was formally announced on Monday. But efforts to fill buses and planes were already breaking into public view over the weekend.

“All classes for Yeshiva University undergraduate schools and high schools for Tuesday November 14 are canceled,” Rabbi Ari Berman posted on social media on Sunday. “We are going to Washington to stand with Israel.”

The Biden administration has so far backed Israel in its refusal to consider a ceasefire until the hostages are returned and Hamas is incapacitated, though there have been calls from some on the progressive left for a ceasefire. Biden has asked Congress for $14 billion in emergency assistance for Israel, including $10 billion in defense assistance.

Reports of antisemitic expression and assault have spiked since Oct. 7 on campuses and in cities across the world. On Monday, a man in Los Angeles died after a pro-Palestinian protester reportedly struck him in the head.

A Jewish man falls to the ground after allegedly being struck with a megaphone by a pro-Palestinian protester in Los Angeles on November 5, 2023.

Biden wants Congress to appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars to help secure vulnerable institutions; on Monday, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Jewish Democrat who is the majority leader, announced plans to up the annual funding for security grants to $1 billion, from $250 million.

The rally follows mass pro-Palestinian demonstrations in cities around the world, including in Washington on Saturday, and aims to show that Israel enjoys just as much support.

“We’ve all heard voices of hatred and antisemitism around the globe glorifying the October 7 attacks,” a flyer for the event says. “But these voices will never drown out this of Americans who stand against terror and with Israel.”

Ronald Halber, the director of the Greater Washington, DC Jewish Community relations Council, said he expected all 10 campuses in the DC area to empty their buildings on the day.

“We have an obligation with a 300,000-strong Jewish community to bring a substantial number of people,” Halber said.

Please come to support Israel.

G’d Bless you.

Rabbi Ovadia Tank