Area throng joins D.C. rally for Israel
By Sara Isadora Mancuso
Inquirer Suburban Staff
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/3073202.htm

WASHINGTON - Part of the Cherry Hill contingent walked together 
up the 1700 block of East Capitol Street yesterday: an Israeli 
whose family was smuggled into the country after World War II; 
an activist/artist who creates Jewish marriage certificates; 
and a South Jersey resident who had served in Israel's army.
About 300 from Cherry Hill marched two miles under an unseasonably 
hot sun, from RFK Stadium to the west side of the Capitol, 
where they joined 2,800 others from the Philadelphia area and 
South Jersey, and tens of thousands more from across the 
country for a rally to support Israel in its battle to halt 
Palestinian terrorist attacks.

"We're out here for the Israelis," said Sivia Katz Braunstein 
of Cherry Hill, the artist whose husband served in the Israel 
Defense Forces. "When they turn on the news, they desperately 
need to see that we're out there and we love them."

Displaying Israeli flags on skirts, T-shirts, bandannas and 
banners, and breaking out in Hebrew songs and cheers, the marchers 
gathered at the Capitol for what was called the "National 
Solidarity Rally for Israel." They arrived on charter planes 
from New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Boston, and in 1,200 
busloads from more than 15 states and Canada to attend the 
rally pulled together by local and national Jewish organizations.

Sponsors said it was the largest pro-Israel rally ever staged in 
this country. They estimated the crowd at more than 100,000.

"In life you either run from danger or face it," said Charles 
Marks of Cherry Hill, whose parents sailed clandestinely from 
France to Israel aboard the Exodus after World War II.

"When my parents got off the boat, there was no Israel," Marks 
said. "But you go into danger to create something great."

Among the speakers at yesterday's rally were former Israeli 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, 
former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and House Majority 
Leader Dick Armey (R., Texas).

For rally participants from across the spectrum of Jewish 
religious practice - from Reform to Orthodox - the message 
seemed the same.

"The whole world should see that also in America, we care 
about Israel," said Rabbi Philip Oded, a teacher at the Torah 
Academy, an Orthodox day school in Ardmore.

"We're here to defend our brothers in Israel," added Micha Levy, 
15, a student at the school.

The early-morning buses - about 50 from Philadelphia and the 
Pennsylvania suburbs and seven from Cherry Hill - were a flurry 
of poster-writing, prayer and debate engaging a mix of rabbis, 
students, Israelis, Zionists, and synagogue members.

Two days after local organizers began taking reservations from 
people who wanted to attend the rally, the buses, chartered 
mostly by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, were 
full.

At 8 a.m. yesterday - close to departure time at the Katz Jewish 
Community Center in Cherry Hill - people were still piling in.

Lee Norsworthy of Cherry Hill gave up an orientation day at 
Barnard College to attend the rally with her family.

"A lot of times you get caught up and you don't have time to 
support Israel," said Norsworthy, 18, whose cousins live there. 
"I feel guilty that they're there and I'm not."

Attending the rally was not necessarily about politics.

"I'm not here to state that I agree or disagree with Israel," 
said Pearl Elias, 52, of Merion. "I'm here to state that I 
support the people of Israel and understand what they're going 
through."

Some local parents worried about their children attending the 
potentially volatile gathering in Washington. Pockets of 
counterdemonstrators held Palestinian flags about a quarter-mile 
from the rally.

"My mom was a little nervous to send me," said Raquel Schwartz, 
14, of Lower Merion, on Sunday, while preparing posters, but 
the parents of the Torah Academy student felt it was important 
for her to attend.

There was empathy for the Palestinians at yesterday's rally.

"It breaks our hearts that the Palestinians are in the straits 
they're in," said Barry Kirzner, 38, of Cherry Hill. "If they 
would only make peace, Jews would trip over themselves to help 
them."

Many urged finding a middle ground in the Middle East.

"I don't care what positions people have, everyone needs peace," 
said Jody Peskin, 21, of Villanova. "Compromise - it's the only 
way anything is going to happen."