April 15, 2002
At the National Rally for Israel in Washington, DC
By Charles Henderson
It was unusually hot for a mid-April day in Washington. I was headed for the west Capitol steps where the National Rally for Israel was scheduled. As I approached the area, walking east on the Capitol Mall I thought for a moment I was back on the Southwestern prairie of my childhood. The smell of horse manure was strong.
Then I saw the horse trailers, lots of them. Of course! The Park Police were out in force for crowd control. Good thing they were there, too, I thought, because I had left my pepper spray back in my hotel room. That and my large shoulder bag. Without that bag I was forced to stuff everything I needed with me into my pockets except my camera. My pants were bulging with several rolls of spare film, lens cover, compass (hey, you never know!), Chapstick, sunscreen and various other personal necessities. I had heard on TV that for security reasons no bags, backpacks, or large purses would be allowed into the rally.
Although I am a little out of practice I used to be pretty
good at estimating the number of people in a crowd. It looked to me like there
were at least 100,000 people crowded into the east end of the Mall. Many of
them were young and I saw a lot of signs that said this or that college
supports Israel. The ubiquitous middle-aged contingent was well represented too
but there were not many older people. Perhaps the rigors of rallying on a hot
day kept them away. Moving into that age category myself I know whereof I
speak.
The program was started by Mort Zuckerman, chairman of the
Conference of Presidents 
of Major American Jewish Organizations. His remarks
set the tone of the event that was to be repeated in various ways by most of
the speakers: Israel is not alone, the US stands by her as a partner in
Democracy. We have shared values and never again will we permit a Holocaust to
be visited upon Jews.
“We are here to express our sense of community with Israel, which feels alone and abandoned. Israel has joined the mountains of Afghanistan as the front line in the war against terrorism, and we are here, figuratively, to be with them in the foxhole that they are in,” he said.
The first speaker following the introductory remarks by Zuckerman was Rep. Dick Gephardt, the Missouri Democrat and Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. He emphatically supported the right of Israel to protect itself from terrorists just as the US has carried out actions against al Qaeda and the Talaban in Afghanistan.
Gephardt’s remarks were very similar in scope and tone to those made a day earlier by Al Gore and Senators John Kerry and Lieberman at the Florida Democratic Convention. It is clear that the Democratic Party, or at least some of it, has adopted a position strongly in support of Israel and in opposition to Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian terrorists. This position is in stark contrast to the muddled and contradictory stance of George W. Bush and his Republican administration, the disastrously failed past policies of the Clinton administration, and the somewhat tepid support of most Democrats in the recent past.
There was of course the usual gaggle of politicians present who wanted to be photographed.
Bush’s fuzzy position 
and his weak-kneed attempt to placate
Egypt and other oil producing (and Islamic) regimes was exemplified by Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz’s speech. Sent as Bush’s representative,
Wolfowitz was palpably unwelcome by many in the crowd. He was clearly aware of
this and was ill at ease. To add to the problem of a mildly hostile audience,
his speech was not particularly well written. His first sentence after being
introduced was, “thank you for that,” followed by, “senators, congressmen, all
of you who have joined us here today, President Bush asked me to come,
to extend greetings to each one of you, and to thank you for being here.”
[Italics added.]
Many must have felt, as I did, that it was inappropriate for Bush, through his spokesman, to welcome us, and it was an insult for anyone with Bush’s record of the last few weeks — indeed, the last 14 months — to thank us for coming. It is symptomatic of Bush’s near megalomaniacal arrogance that he would try to take ownership of this event. The fact is he had nothing to do with staging the event. One suspects he would have prevented it from being held if he could have got away with it, just as he and his keepers work hard to manage the news, silence critics of his administration by labeling them traitors, and conduct public business in private. Thus the “welcome” was pure hypocrisy of a magnitude hard to ignore even in Washington.
Wolfowitz further offended the crowd by characterizing the Middle East conflict as one between two disputants with equal claims to moral and just reasons. What the Bush administration refuses to acknowledge, probably because Bush’s real constituency is the petroleum industry, is that in contrast to the Islamic emirates and fiefdoms that surround them, Israel is a democracy with a legitimately elected government that follows the rule of law. What they are doing to protect themselves against terrorist actions is at least as justified and legal under international law as what the US has done to protect itself against terrorists.
Many undoubtedly felt that 
this demonstration of support for
Israel was not the place for Bush, through his surrogate, to preach
even-handedness. Wolfowitz’s remarks were frequently interrupted by heckling
and boos from the audience. Most of the people were respectful and applauded courteously
a few times, but the relatively mild remarks of a few had the effect of making
it difficult for Wolfowitz to finish. The crowd was not unruly; Wolfowitz was
merely soft. He was nervous and tentative. He would probably be a basket case
were he to confront a really hostile audience. His strongest applause was in
response to when he said, “in conclusion.” Considering the magnitude of this
affront by the Bush administration I thought the largely Jewish crowd was
restrained and coolly courteous.
Following Wolfowitz’s speech Zuckerman admonished the crowd to stay quiet, saying that everyone should be allowed to speak without interruption. “We have people you definitely want to hear from,” he said, “great leaders of Israel and America. So we ask you please cooperate. Hold your comments. We'll have time in a little while for all of you to be heard.” Of course, no such time ever occurred.
One woman at the rally seemed to speak for many when she told me that Zuckerman’s admonition and attempt at censorship were not appropriate. The purpose of the rally was to show support for Israel, not provide a platform for more of Bush’s lame policy pronouncements. And many of us had gone to a good deal of trouble and effort to be there. I had come from New York and there were people there from a lot farther away than that. We were not obligated to tolerate a lot of tired propagandistic blather from a Bush spokesman preaching even handedness for the likes of Hamas or the PLO.
The next day at his noon press conference, Ari Fleischer,
Bush’s press secretary, was asked about Wolfawitz and his presence at the
rally. “Did President Bush himself ask Wolfawitz to speak in his behalf, and
what did he think was meant by his being booed by the audience?” Fleischer was
asked. He did not answer the question. But he did volunteer that Wolfawitz was warmly
received by the crowd. Malarkey! At best the crowd was courteously very
cool to him and, by proxy, to Bush. [If you follow the link below to read the
transcript of the speeches, you will see numerous places in Wolfowitz’s speech
indicating applause and cheers. Don’t believe it. A few people in the crowd did
applaud from time to time, but read “jeers” for cheers.]
Zuckerman was right when he said there would be speakers the crowd would want to hear from. Most notably, judging from the applause and cheers, were Benjamin Netanyahu and Elie Weisel. Some of the other speakers were Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York; Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV); Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD); John Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO; Lloyd John Ogilvie, Chaplain of the Senate; Rev. Daniel Coughlin, Chaplain of the House; Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda MD; Rabbi Perry Rank, Vice President, Rabbinical Assembly; Rabbi Hershel Billet, President, Rabbinical Council of America; and Dudu Fisher, cantor and actor.
I thought Netanyahu gave the best speech with his patented take-no-prisoners rhetoric. I have heard him say it all before but he does it so well that whatever he says seems fresh and spontaneous. The other speakers ranged from boring to good as might be expected at any event with this many speakers.
There were so many speakers in fact that it was hard to keep
track of them. Most of them were mercifully brief in their comments. Everyone
was in feel-good mode about Israel but of course talk is cheap. Janet Parshall,
well-known Christian radio talk show host, said it is our “obligation to secure
continuance of the Jewish state.” I’m not sure how that parses out when it
comes to actually doing something genuinely supportive of Israel. She said a
lot of positive things but, having grown up with born-again Christians in the
Bible Belt, I am dubious about just how far out on a limb those good Christian
folk would venture on behalf of Jews.
Then the irony of the situation struck me. Jews in the US
have largely voted Democratic, yet support for Israel has been soft in the
Democratic Party. But the Christian right has been the most vocal and
consistent in their support of Israeli action against terrorism. Go figure!
The rally ended after several hours with a Hebrew song.
Well, maybe not a song in the usual sense. The leader was probably Cantor Dudu
Fisher (I did not hear him introduced so I don’t know that for sure) because he
would sing (“cant”?) a verse and the audience would answer with a verse. It was
all very haunting with its minor chords
and the obvious feeling with which it was sung.
Not Jewish myself, with only a cursory knowledge of Judaism,
I did not know the song and could not sing along. A man standing next to me
asked me if I knew what it was. I told him I did not and he said it was like a
prayer that would be sung at a Seder. If I understand that correctly, it was a
Passover tune.
Security during the rally was questionable. Although there were lots of cops in attendance they did not seem to be doing much except keeping people away from the speakers’ platform. They obviously were not turning people away who had backpacks or large bags. I saw lots of them present. I asked one guy with a backpack if anyone had inspected it or questioned him about it and he said no. I’m no security expert but that seems a bit sloppy. Luckily no suicide bombers decided to attend the rally with a pack full of C5.
The crowd at the rally seemed to be largely Jewish. As I wandered around, taking pictures, talking to people, listening to the speeches, I couldn’t help being moved by the event. Even with anti-Semitism on the rise and the growing isolation of Israel, these Jews were not running and hiding. Good for them! Flashbacks of scenes from the 1960s at the other end of the Mall, of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, would occasionally intrude themselves in my thoughts. And I kept thinking, if only there had been a rally like this in the 1930s . . .
And of course the other thought, the reason we were all there: Never again!
The rally was sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and its member organizations, The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and United Jewish Communities