Over 100,000 Rally in Washington to Support Israel

By Diana Jean Schemo
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/16/international/middleeast/16RALL.html
 
WASHINGTON, April 15 — Tens of thousands of people, 
an overwhelming majority of them Jewish Americans, gathered in 
front of the Capitol here today, urging the Bush administration 
to support Israel and refuse negotiations with the Palestinian 
leader, Yasir Arafat. Organizers said it was the largest pro-Israel 
rally here since the country came into existence in 1948. 

They came from Texas and Tennessee, California and New York, 
in buses, cars, trains and planes, saying they felt helpless 
and outraged at the suicide bombings in Israel, synagogue 
attacks in Europe and Argentina, and assaults on Jews in France. 

The urgency that brought the demonstrators flocking here to 
Washington for a rally pulled together in less than a week 
bridged social and religious differences that have long 
separated secular Jews and their Hasidic counterparts. As Fred 
Dobb, a Reconstructionist rabbi from Bethesda, Md., read 
Psalm 121 from the podium in English, Hirsh Chinn, a bearded 
Orthodox rabbi from Rockville, Md., standing in the crowd, 
pulled out his book and followed along in Hebrew.

The speakers included those long associated with support of 
Israel, from Israel's former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 
to New York's former mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Elie Wiesel 
and Natan Sharansky, and others less often associated with 
Jewish causes, like Representative Dick Armey of Texas, 
a House Republican leader. 

The rally offered a domestic counterweight to the international 
pressure the Bush administration has faced to hasten the Israeli 
withdrawal from Palestinian towns, and to end the isolation of 
Mr. Arafat. As the rally wound down, the administration announced 
that Secretary of State Colin L. Powell would meet for a second 
time with Mr. Arafat on Wednesday. 

Conservative Christian speakers warned President Bush against 
compromising Israel's security. 

"We will never give up the Golan," said Janet Parshall, a radio 
talk show host and head of the National Religious Broadcasters 
Association. "We will never divide Jerusalem. And we will call 
Yasir Arafat what Yasir Arafat is: a terrorist."

"Ephraim Hasenfeld, 43, an Orthodox Jew in a black hat who works 
in commercial real estate in the New York area, said, "She's good. 
She is good." 

Though the demonstrators' placards praised United States support 
for Israel, and the organizers lauded the Bush administration 
in particular, protesters said they were concerned by the 
administration's overtures to Mr. Arafat, and its pressure on 
Israel to end its military sweep. When Deputy Secretary of 
Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz, the Bush administration's emissary 
to the rally, spoke of Palestinian suffering and compromise, 
he was booed down repeatedly.

"Arafat has terrorized the population," said Leon Charny, 49, 
who emigrated here from the Soviet Union 22 years ago. He carried 
a placard showing photos of a Palestinian in green fatigues 
slashing the body of a suspected collaborator. It read: "Justice 
System in Arafatland."

Mr. Charny said he did not believe that the Palestinian leader 
could not control suicide bombings and other terrorist acts, 
and found support for his argument among the speakers.

"Americans know that Arafat is nothing more than Osama bin Laden 
with good P.R.," said Mr. Netanyahu, who is said to be preparing 
his own bid for re-election in Israel.

Deborah Wasserman, executive director of the Israel Policy Forum, 
a group that supports American mediation in the Mideast conflict, 
said she was disheartened by the jeering of Mr. Wolfowitz. 
"The U.S. is at the same time Israel's most important ally, and 
also the only credible mediator in the Arab-Israeli dispute," 
she said. "By playing both roles it's demonstrating its deep 
friendship with Israel, so it is incumbent upon American Jewish 
leaders to explain the importance of the U.S. role."
The demonstrators and speakers today drew strong parallels 
between the attacks of Sept. 11 and the suicide attacks in Israel.
"Chairman Arafat has not yet demonstrated a true commitment to 
peace, and the consequences have been devastating for Israelis 
and Palestinians alike," said Representative Richard A. Gephardt, 
Democrat of Missouri, the House minority leader. 
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of 
Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, said after the rally 
that he was not discouraged by the announcement that Secretary 
Powell would meet again with Mr. Arafat this week.
"It was not a demonstration against the administration, and 
never intended to be," Mr. Hoenlein said. "It was meant to be 
in favor of the war against terrorism, and in solidarity with 
the people of Israel."