Thousands of demonstrators, both Jewish and non-Jewish, converged on Washington, D.C. yesterday afternoon to voice their support for Israel during the escalating crisis in the Middle East.
The rally's speakers included former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Approximately 25 University students attended the rally, according to Hillel Program Director Shelby Apple. Hillel provided transportation to and from the event.
"Hillel itself doesn't take a political stance," Apple said. "We support this rally because students at U.Va. want something they can do" to help.
Apple said the rally was not organized in support of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, but in support of the nation of Israel as a whole.
"It's not as much a political rally as a solidarity rally," she said. "You don't have to have a certain political feeling to go."
Second-year College student Elisa Marks said she decided to attend the rally after hearing three former Israeli soldiers speak at Hillel Sunday night.
"They felt isolated and alone here," Marks said. "This was something I could do to help."
Marks said she went to the rally for non-political reasons.
"Showing [the Israelis] that we support them was the point of the rally," she said.
In spite of the supposedly non-political nature of the rally, some Jewish activists chose not to attend for fear their presence would indicate support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Religious Studies Prof. Peter Ochs, who chose not to attend the demonstration, said Jews could generally be divided into four categories.
According to Ochs, about a quarter of the Jewish population has misgivings about the government but supports Israel and believes the nation's existence may be threatened. Another quarter does not mind supporting Sharon and Netanyahu.
The remaining half of the Jewish population, who would not attend a rally such as this, is comprised of those who do not care about Israel and those who are not against Israel but strongly oppose Sharon's policies.
The group that supports Sharon "believes that Arafat and the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] have totally rejected peace with Israel," Ochs said.
Similar protests have taken place on a much smaller scale at many universities around the country, including a heated demonstration at the University of California-Berkeley, in which 79 students were arrested after opposing sides of the demonstration began to verbally abuse one another.
"It's very unlikely that that kind of event would go on here," Ochs said.
He encouraged dialogue between different groups, as long as the individuals involved were educated on the matter and willing to listen to one another.
Ochs stressed that this sort of dialogue is similar to that which already takes place in the religious studies community between theologians of the three Abrahamic faiths.
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