Speaking remotely from Jerusalem, Israeli President Isaac Herzog thanked the protesters for gathering in support and marching for “good over evil, for human morality over bloodthirst, for light over darkness.”
“I vow to you,” Herzog said, “that we will heal, we will rise again and we will rebuild.”
The “March for Israel” rally, organized by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, took place amid a deepening war in Gaza and renewed fears of antisemitism in the United States. Harassment, vandalism and assaults against Jews soared by nearly 400 percent during the weeks after the Hamas attack, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, which catalogues antisemitic, white-supremacist and other hate-driven incidents.
Adam Halioua and Jack Benaim walked along the Mall on Tuesday morning with large Israeli flags wrapped around their shoulders. The childhood friends drove overnight from Toronto to join thousands of others.
Here, in the nation’s capital, they said they felt comfortable in a way they hadn’t back home. “I feel safe here,” said Benaim, 42, a software developer who is also an Israeli dual citizen. “We wanted to drape ourselves in that identity, especially at this time and in this place.” One of Benaim’s cousins died in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, who killed 1,200 people and abducted about 240 others. Benaim said he wanted to feel hopeful and proud standing among the crowd on Tuesday.
The friends, who are both Jewish, were among thousands of people who arrived hours before the 1 p.m. rally, many waving small Israeli flags, holding signs that declared their support for Jewish college students and wearing shirts that declared, “Bring them home,” referring to the hostages taken by Hamas.
Protesters from across the country joined the rally, with many traveling by bus or flying from as far away as California. Organizers anticipated that 100,000 people would attend the event, according to a permit issued by the National Park Service.
The demonstrators waved Israeli flags, wore Jewish fraternity shirts and stickers that read “Am Yisrael Chai” — “The people of Israel live” — and held signs of support from Philadelphia, Miami, Milwaukee, Chicago, Memphis, Cleveland, Boston and Canada. Despite the grim realities that brought rallygoers to Washington, people smiled and cheered while celebrating their Jewish identities, ties with Israel and shared demands to bring the hostages home.
Although people of all ages attended, many trended younger, with large groups of friends arriving with matching signs that read, “We stand with Israel.” Others brandished homemade signs declaring, “Make Gaza Flat Again.”
Tuesday’s rally in support of Israel was held 10 days after a large pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington that brought together thousands of people opposing Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and demanding a cease-fire.
Tuesday’s rally took place at an increasingly fraught time for American leaders as they balance support for Israel with increasing demands for a cease-fire or a halt to Israeli bombing of Gaza, where more than 11,000 people have been killed in airstrikes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Half of registered voters in the United States approve of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack, while 35 percent disapprove, according to Quinnipiac University polling released earlier this month. However, these views vary sharply by party, race and age, with the lowest approval seen among Democrats (33 percent), voters ages 18 to 34 (32 percent) and Black voters (29 percent).
At the same time, the polling shows, 51 percent of voters support the United States sending more military aid to Israel, and 71 percent of voters support providing humanitarian aid to help Palestinians in Gaza.
CNN commentator Van Jones was cheered at the rally when he expressed his support for Israel, but when he called for an end to the bombing of Gaza the crowd erupted in a chant of “No cease-fire.”
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) also addressed the demonstrators, standing alongside lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.
“We are here, united, Democrat and Republican, House and Senate, to say we stand with Israel,” said Schumer, who was joined by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). “The Jewish people will be resilient,” Schumer told the cheering crowd. “We are here today to show we will not hide in the face of adversity, in America and in Israel.”
Johnson told the crowd: “The calls for a cease-fire are outrageous. We stand with you on that.”
Rachel Barmatz, 37, of Baltimore, sat on the grass with her four children near the gates of a security entrance by Ninth Street, patiently awaiting wristbands for entry into the rally. Hundreds surrounded them in a line that snaked around the Mall. Security at the event was clearly visible but did not appear overwhelming.
Barmatz, who has immediate family in Israel, said she wanted to be at the rally in D.C. to show support for Israel, demand the release of the hostages and show gratitude to the U.S. government for its support.
“And to encourage them to continue doing so, for the foreseeable future,” Barmatz said of the government sending military aid.
Maggie Feldman-Piltch, 31, of D.C., held a white sign above her head with pink writing that read: “Zionists for Nuance and Peace.” As thousands of people streamed in past security, several stopped when they saw her to take photos or ask for clarity on her message.
“What does that even mean?” one woman asked.
“It means whatever you want it to mean. But it mostly means you can love Israel and not every choice Bibi makes, and that is perfectly okay,” she replied, referring to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his nickname.
While thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in Washington earlier this month demanding a cease-fire and pro-Israel advocates have pushed for unconditional U.S. support of Israel’s military operations, Feldman-Piltch, who is Jewish, finds herself in somewhat more of a gray area.
“There’s so much variety and diversity among what people feel and think the next steps should be,” she said. She came on Tuesday as part of a “peace bloc” and said she wanted to join the larger Jewish community at a time of grief, to support Israel’s right to exist and to recognize just how complicated everything is without feeling like she needs to know the solution.
“It’s an enormous crowd and I don’t always have to have the answer,” she said. “There is an answer. I don’t know what it is. But it isn’t mutually ensured destruction.”
Rachel Goldberg was one of the speakers at the event. Every day, she tears off a new piece of masking tape and writes down how many days it has been since her 23-year-old son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was abducted. Then, she places it on her chest.
On Tuesday, it read “39” as she spoke to the thousands of people on the National Mall.
“I feel like people are not realizing that time goes by,” Goldberg said in an interview ahead of the rally. “Wearing the number is also something that makes people uncomfortable. And I feel like that’s my job now, to make people feel uncomfortable that they’re not doing enough to get these innocent people out.”
Touro University, a private Jewish-sponsored university based in New York City, sent dozens of students on six buses to join the march, with President Alan Kadash joining them.
“It was important for us to be here at a time of rising antisemitism and the hostage situation” in Gaza, he said. “It was particularly poignant hearing from the parents and relatives of hostages,” he said, adding that he was appreciative of the support from U.S. government officials who attended.
There were only a few anti-Israel demonstrators visible at the rally. A small group of ultra-Orthodox Jews held banners that read “State of ‘Israel’ does not represent world Jewry” and other signs that called for dismantling the state of Israel. D.C. police used police tape to separate the anti-Israel demonstrators from the rallygoers, and more than a dozen officers stood in between the groups.
But confrontations were few, and feared showdowns between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian supporters never materialized.
For Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University in New York, attending the rally was an essential moment for him and for the school’s 2,500 undergraduate and high school students.
“There are times that history shows you an invitation to participate in its unfolding, and this is one of those times,” Berman said in an interview ahead of the rally. “We stand against hate, hate in our society and hate on college campuses. And we stand together for Israel.”
Olivia Diaz, Karina Elwood, Justin George and Valerie Strauss contributed to this report.
