Tens of thousands rally for Israel at U.S. Capitol

Busloads from Baltimore join Jews from across country, 
top officials 

By Stephen Kiehl
Sun Staff
Originally published April 16, 2002
http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.md.rally16apr16.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

WASHINGTON - Tens of thousands of supporters of Israel poured 
onto the U.S. Capitol lawn yesterday, to pray for peace and 
to assert that nation's right to defend its people and strike 
back against Palestinian attacks.

By car, bus, train and chartered plane, demonstrators descended 
upon Washington and made their way by 1:30 p.m. to the sun-splashed 
West Front of the Capitol with Israeli and American flags, 
anti-terror signs and a forceful message that Israel will not 
be defeated and will not go away.

Among the crowd were schoolchildren, their parents and grandparents 
from Baltimore-area synagogues. They packed about 100 buses, 
which joined hundreds of others on the clogged roads into 
Washington.

"We will win this war, we will secure our state, and we will 
preserve our liberty," former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu told the cheering crowd, as members of Congress and 
their staffs watched from balconies behind him.

Netanyahu and other speakers denounced Palestinian leader Yasser 
Arafat as a terrorist on a par with Osama bin Laden.

"Do you negotiate with him?" he asked the crowd.

"No!" they responded.

"Do you make peace with him?"

"No!" they shouted back.

"You do the same thing with him that the United States just 
did to the Taliban," Netanyahu said. "You defeat him."

He called the three-hour rally the largest gathering in support 
of Israel since its creation in 1948. The Capitol lawn was 
packed with demonstrators who spilled onto nearby streets and 
created traffic snarls for blocks.

Buses that were supposed to park at RFK Stadium were diverted 
when the parking lots filled up, and hundreds of demonstrators 
abandoned the buses on Interstate 295 and hiked the 32 blocks 
to the Capitol under a blistering midday sun.

U.S. Capitol police declined to estimate the size of the crowd. 
Officials with Washington's subway system reported that by 
4 p.m. the subway had carried 440,160 passengers, or 80,276 more 
than it did by the same time the previous Monday.

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations 
and United Jewish Communities sponsored the rally.

It came together in just a week, as Jewish leaders across the 
United States decided to make a strong, visible statement of 
solidarity with friends, family and fellow Jews living in Israel.

"Because of the distance, the Jews in Israel don't know how much 
we care, but this is tearing our guts out," said Rabbi Moshe 
Hauer of the Bnai Jacob synagogue in Northwest Baltimore, which 
filled seven buses for the rally.

As the buses idled on I-295, Hauer led congregants in chanting 
psalms and called his parents in Jerusalem on his cell phone. 
"The road is filled with buses," he told them. "We're rallying 
for Israel sitting in traffic."

Some people said they were motivated to attend the rally by 
the frequent pro-Palestinian rallies in Washington and around 
the world.

"It seems like it's the world against Israel," said Andy Tarr, 
34, a Miami lawyer who held a blue sign that read, "Miami 
Stands with Israel." Others signs let it be known that New 
Jersey, Ohio, Atlanta and Chicago stood with Israel, too.

Besides Netanyahu, the speakers included House Majority Leader 
Dick Armey, House Democratic leader Richard A. Gephardt, 
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryalnd, former New York Mayor 
Rudolph W. Giuliani, author Elie Wiesel and Deputy Secretary 
of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

Wolfowitz was drowned out by chants of "no more Arafat" and 
booed as he told the crowd that "innocent Palestinians are 
suffering and dying as well. It is critical that we recognize 
and acknowledge that fact."

There were few counter-protests, and police officials described 
the demonstration as peaceful and well-organized.

Abba David Poliakoff, a Baltimore lawyer, sat with his family 
in the shade by the Capitol Reflecting Pool, listening to the 
speeches. They had come down on the bus with Bnai Jacob.

"We have to take active steps. It's not enough to be passively 
for Israel," said Poliakoff, 50, who has a son studying in 
Israel.

"During the Holocaust, millions of American felt they could 
do nothing. I don't want to be guilty of that same charge - 
that while Israel was dying, I sat at home and did nothing 
about it. This is vitally important."

Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun