Thousands stage Washington rally in support of Israel
Tens of thousands of demonstrators, gathered in Washington to support Israel’s war on terrorism, shouted down a Bush administration official who suggested Palestinians have suffered too.
Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz represented President George Bush at the rally yesterday among a line of speakers who expressed US solidarity with Israel and condemned Palestinian suicide bombers as the greatest obstacle to Middle East peace.
Wolfowitz, the Pentagon’s second-ranked official, was forced to stop talking several times, shouted down by boos and chants of ‘‘No more Arafat,’’ when he noted that Israelis were not the only victims of violence.
‘‘Palestinians are suffering and dying as well,’’ Wolfowitz told a crowd that extended from Capitol Hill down the National Mall to the Reflecting Pool. ‘‘It is critical that we recognise and acknowledge that fact.’’
Wolfowitz was also interrupted by shouts of protest when he said that most Palestinians want peace, and ‘‘hard decisions must be made by both sides to achieve a lasting peace.’’
Debra Wasserman of the Israel Policy Forum, a group of Jewish leaders supportive of the administration’s efforts to mediate the Mideast conflict, said Wolfowitz eloquently articulated US-Israel friendship, and ‘‘he deserves gratitude and credit from American Jews, not criticism and jeers.’’
Demonstrators came by charter plane from New York, Miami and Los Angeles, and by overnight bus from as far away as Wisconsin for what organisers said was the largest pro-Israel rally ever held in the United States.
US Capitol Police reported no disturbances or arrests but said 138 people were treated for heat exhaustion as temperatures rose into the 80s F (upper 20s C).
Tom Schottenstein of Columbus, Ohio, said he left home at 11pm on Sunday with a group of 300.
‘‘We wanted to show our support’’ for Israel, he said. ‘‘It is very frustrating not to be able to do anything.’’
The speakers, appearing on the steps of the Capitol before a bank of US and Israeli flags, included New York Governor George Pataki, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and the parents of several terror victims.
Israel’s Housing Minister Natan Sharansky and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior addressed the rally. So did former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Americans have come to realise that ‘‘Yasser Arafat is nothing more than Osama bin Laden with good PR (public relations).’’
Janet Parshall, representing Christian broadcasters, also got a big cheer when she referred to the Palestinian leader as a terrorist and said to Israel: ‘‘We stand with you now and forever.’’
House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri said Israel had seen 450 of its citizens killed in violence in the past 18 months, equivalent to the United States losing more than 21,000 people.
‘‘Yet the Israeli people remain strong. And they remain determined to increase their security and pursue a lasting peace in the region.’’
The rally was sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations and the United Jewish Communities.
