PROTEST Rally For Israel on Mall Attracts National Attention By Amanda McGrath Hoya Staff Writer

Chuck Kennedy/The Hoya GU students were among spectators at a pro-Israel rally yesterday.

A rally in support of Israel drew vast crowds of supporters to the Washington Mall yesterday afternoon. Despite the oppressive heat, crowds that included several groups of Georgetown students gathered en masse carrying banners, singing, chanting and draping themselves in Israeli and American flags to listen to a group of pro-Israeli speakers that included a variety of U.S. politicians, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jewish author and Nobel laureate Elie Weisel, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Paul Kutner (SFS ’04), chairman of the Jewish Student Association, described the event as a peaceful show of unity by Israeli supporters. “There was a real sense of brotherhood among everyone,” Kutner said, describing how the crowd stretched throughout the Mall. The Washington Post reported more than 100,000 people were in attendance and organizers said more than 1,200 charter buses of participants arrived. Steve Glickman (COL ’02) estimated about 30 to 40 Georgetown students attended, though not as a single group.

“It was an awesome experience. It wasn’t a protest, but a peaceful rally,” Kutner said. Glickman also attended the demonstration. “It was powerful to see so many people in support of Israel,” he said. “It was a real show of solidarity.”

Stephanie Faith Green (SFS ’05) said she and several friends attended the event as a way to raise money for Magen David Adon, the Israeli version of the Red Cross. “We collected $1,800,” Green said. She said she also helped pass out peace pins, decorated in green and blue to represent both Palestinians and Israelis. “A lot of people thought this was a good idea,” Green said. “It was a show of hope for the iddle East.”

Kate McDonald (COL ’04), director of community relations for the Young Arab Leadership Alliance, said she and other YALA members did not attend the protests. “We listened to it on the radio, but I eventually had to turn it off, I was disgusted,” McDonald said. She said she was worried about the safety of any Palestinian groups that may have attended. “There’s no purpose, at something like this, a few of us really aren’t going to change anyone’s mind.”

Kutner said the rally was unique in the manner that it unified those that attended. “There were Jews from all walks of life, from different parts of the country,” he said, noting that the various sects of the Jewish faith that he said are usually at odds worked together on this particular day. “There were definitely other religious groups represented,” Kutner said. He said he was “touched” by Christian supporters he met at the event. “It gave us [Jews] a feeling we’re not alone in this,” Kutner said. “Today we were all Jews, we were all Israelis.”

Those who attended said the speakers had an energetic effect on the spectators.

Kutner said that for him, Netanyahu was the most influential of those that addressed the crowd. “It was really amazing – when he spoke, the words just flowed so easily. I was awestruck – it was just short of hearing God.”

Netanyahu compared Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He and other speakers condemned suicide bombing as a terrorist measure.

Giuliani, who will speak at the commencement ceremonies for the law school at the end of the year, drew comparisons between suicide bombers and the terrorism of Sept. 11. Many of the speakers condemned suicide bombing, which has become almost a daily occurrence in the Middle East, as terrorism.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, however, was booed by some of the crowd when he said many innocent Palestinians were victims of violence in the conflict as well. While some of the gathering crowd disagreed with Wolfowitz’s comments, others said it was important to recognize both sides of the story. “While I support Israel, we do have to recognize how much everyone is suffering in all this,” Glickman said.

McDonald said she feared the protests downtown would distort the issue. “There’s an outpouring of grief, an outpouring of support. All we’re asking is for Israel to extend the same common sense of humanity to Palestine, who is also suffering this death and this loss,” she said.

The demonstration comes in the face of heightened conflict in the Middle East, where volatile tensions have frequently resulted in violence throughout history. The complexities of the situation, cDonald said, make the topic especially sensitive at Georgetown and other college campuses.

“If there’s a basic lack of history on the area, without that context it’s hard to report what YALA and [Georgetown Israel Alliance] are saying and what they’re dealing with,” McDonald said.

Kutner said he hoped the rally would “help raise the level of understanding” about the conflict.