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News :: Miscellaneous |
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50 UI Students join 100,000+ at Israel Solidarity Rally |
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by Josh Michaels
Email: michals1 (nospam) uiuc.edu (unverified!)
Phone: 217-384-5341 |
29 Apr 2002
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In this article I review the Israel Solidarity Rally which took place in Washington DC on April 15th, 2002. (article 4) |
 In this article I review the Israel Solidarity Rally which took place in Washington DC on April 15th, 2002. (article 4) |
A bus full of U of I students sponsored by the University of Illinois Hillel Center for Jewish Student Life raced to Washington D.C. on April 15th for the Israel Solidarity Rally. The rally, sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, took place from 1:00PM to 4:30PM on April 15th on the lawn in front of Capitol Hill. More than 100,000 people were in attendance.
There were several overall themes throughout the rally that were emphasized by various speakers. The primary issues that the speakers were emphasizing were:
-> Israel wants Peace, Israel has Always Wanted Peace
-> No double standards – Israel must be allowed to defend itself
-> Stop Terrorism Now
-> Arafat is a Terrorist and must be treated like one
-> Action by the Israeli Army is purely in self defense after over 18,000 terrorist attacks in the last 18 months by Palestinians
-> Israel protected civilian lives in Jenin by searching door to door, rather than carpet bombing.
The rally was arranged on under a weeks notice, and was declared by the organizers to be the largest ever in support of Israel in the U.S. since its inception in 1948. The group of UI students who traveled to the rally included a wide cross section of the university community. One of the passengers had just finished serving in the Israeli Army, and many others had friends and family in Israel who they were supporting in their attendance at the rally. The bus left Hillel on Sunday evening at 7PM, and returned back to the university at 8AM Tuesday.
The bus was one of many from the Champaign-Urbana area, and hundreds from around the United States that descended on DC for the rally. On the bus ride to DC, students made posters many with messages of hope and peace. Many discussed issues of politics while others watched movies and played games. The bus ride took approximately 11 hours and students had only an hour of free time while in DC.
At the rally a diverse set of leaders in the Jewish community as well as the US government and Israeli government spoke to an impassioned audience. Talks were given by former New York Mayor Rudy Guilliani, New York Governer George Pataki, and Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US Government representatives present at the rally included Representatives Dick Gephardt, Robert Wexler of Florida, Peter Deutsch of Florida, Jerry Nadler of New York, Jane Harman of California, Al Wynn of Maryland, Steve Rothman of New Jersey, Ben Gilman of New York, Connie Morella of Maryland, Eric Cantor of Virginia, Brad Sherman of California, Anthony Weiner of New York and Senators Russ Feingold, Ron Wyden, and Bob Smith.
Senator Reid spoke to the audience supporting Israel’s right to defend itself. He said "hundreds of Israelis have been killed by suicide bombers, but the total would be even higher if Israel did not have the ability to protect herself." Reid pointed out that "it's been estimated that up to 85 percent of planned terrorist attacks against Israelis have been foiled."
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke to the audience in support of Israel. Giuliani stated that "Israel is an oasis of freedom in a desert of authoritarianism and worse. It is an outpost of democracy where democracy is unique. And in all ways, it's America's good friend." Giuliani continued defending Jerusalem as the undivided capitol of Israel, saying that historic sites "have never been treated as fairly as they have since Israel has been guiding the fate of Jerusalem. So for all of us, it is important that it stay that way."
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the peak of the rally to a supportive audience. Netanyahu came out swinging at Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, declaring that "an enemy that sends children to die and to kill other children is an enemy that cannot be placated." He questions the Palestinians desires for peace, stating that "An enemy that openly preaches the destruction of our state is not a partner for peace."
Netanyahu continued to speak to the Palestinian Authority and request that they take the path of peace to independence, and not terrorism. Pointing to the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, he requested that the Palestinians choose to take the path of peace and denounce terrorism.
Though the audience generally treated all of the speakers with respect, they did not act so friendly towards the media. The audience frequently chanted "go home CNN" and signs littered the audience labeling CNN as the "Central Nazi Network," the audience showed it was unhappy with the representation of Israel in mainstream media.
Chants of "No More Arafat" resonated through the audience all day, and signs equating Arafat to Bin Ladin were shown throughout the rally.
There were no incidents of violence or civil disobedience at the rally, though there were several cases of heat related illness as the temperatures rose in to the eighties. The fire department came to the rally and opened two hydrants so that attendants could cool off.
A full transcript of the rally is available on-line at:
http://www.israelrally.org/trans.html
For more information about the rally, check out:
http://www.israelrally.org/ |
See also:
http://www.israelrally.org/
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50 UI Students join 100,000+ at Israel Solidarity Rally
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