“Israel is not merely a state,” he said. “When millions of Zionists mention Israel, they don’t mean the only freedom-loving democracy. Israel is this and more. Israel is the apple of God’s eye. Israel is the shining city on the hill. God says of Israel, ‘Israel is my firstborn son Judah.’ Jerusalem is the city of God. Jerusalem is the shoreline of eternity.”
The event also featured three families of hostages who addressed the crowds in withering, mournful words.
“Why?” asked Rachel Goldberg, the mother of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is a hostage, presumably in Gaza’s underground tunnels. “Why is the world accepting that 240 human beings from almost 30 countries have been stolen and buried alive? These children of God range in age from 9 months to 87 years. They are Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindu. Why are they being left underground in the dirt?”
Organizers took unusual security precautions for the event, surrounding the National Mall with tall fences and requiring attendees to enter at certain checkpoints through metal detectors.
Participants came from across the country by bus, train and plane.
Joshua Abrams of Rockville, Maryland, voiced ambivalence about the Israeli government and framed his views as “a little bit apolitical” when it comes to Israel. But he felt compelled to attend the march in part out of a desire to express solidarity with fellow Jews, citing concerns about antisemitic threats facing Jewish people worldwide.
“The thing that terrifies me the most is that Jews are a drop in the bucket in the sea of humanity,” he said. “Jews are a very small minority. … It’s really easy to snuff minorities out because there aren’t very many.”
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As for Israel’s ongoing ground assault into Gaza, Abrams said the entire situation left him somewhat dismayed.
“I’m in favor of peace, but at the same time, when there’s an existential threat that’s actually leading to the murder of innocents, what do you do?”
Brian Muni and his wife traveled from Nyack, New York, for the event, citing their daughter — who recently returned from Israel after living there for three years — as inspiration.
“We’re here just basically in solidarity for Judaism and Israel and humanity,” Muni said. He said the return of the hostages was “paramount.”
Wrapped in an Israeli flag, Shira Shvartsman, a Brooklyn, New York, native with Israeli citizenship, argued global criticism of Israel’s response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 is often rooted in forms of antisemitism.
