Protesters from across the United States gathered on Tuesday at the National Mall in Washington in a broad show of solidarity with Israel as it wages war in the Gaza Strip in response to the October 7 Hamas attack.
The rally, called March for Israel, was aimed, organizers said, at responding to criticism of Israel, where about 1,200 people were killed in the attack. to the ceasefire. In the speeches of lawmakers invited to speak at the rally, there was no sign of such hesitation.
“We suffer with you, we stand with you, and we will not rest until you get all the help you need,” said Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and, as leader of the majority in the Senate, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the country. .
Following Mr. Schumer, in a bipartisan list of speakers, was Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana and the new speaker of the House. “Calls for a ceasefire are outrageous,” he said, sparking a cry of “No ceasefire” from the crowd. “Israel will cease its counter-offensive when Hamas ceases to be a threat to the Jewish State. »
The march was organized within days by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Schools, synagogues and community centers sent busloads of participants. By the time the speeches began, the mall was filled with people from Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia and other places around the country, waving American and Israeli flags and holding signs declaring their support.
During the event, tens of thousands of people converged on the Mall, the national park located between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. The United States Park Police, which has jurisdiction, does not provide official crowd estimates, nor does the city’s Metropolitan Police.
Tamara Wilkof, 71, was one of hundreds of people who came to Washington aboard about 20 buses from Cleveland. “It’s definitely a message of unity,” she said, adding that she believed people had been galvanized by the rise in anti-Semitism since the attack. Another protester mentioned that a Jewish cemetery in suburban Cleveland was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti last weekend.
