The Saker Park rally
Photo: Haim Tzach
Rabbi calls for tolerance; girls hurl eggs
While rabbi calls on youth to 'connect to the Israeli people' during right-wing rally, rightist girls throw eggs at IDF Orchestra during military ceremony at Western Wall
Rightists protest: Right-wing female activists threw eggs at the IDF Orchestra, attacked police officers, shouted and misbehaved at the end of a ceremony for Education Corps officers that took place Wednesday at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Five of the young girls were detained and taken in for questioning.
Earlier, the female disengagement objectors raised signs reading "We shall not forget, we shall not forgive," shouted and whistled at the attendees.
Right-wing rally in Jerusalem (Photo: Haim Tzach)
At the same time, a right-wing rally in salute of "The youth that resisted the disengagement" was held in Jerusalem's Saker Park and attended by 13,000 rightist activists, mostly youths, including Gush Katif evacuees. The rally was held under the banner "An orange thank you – aching, respecting, praying and continuing in faith."
'Connect to the Israeli people'
Rabbi Haim Druckman, head of the Bnei Akiva Yeshivas Movement, said in the rally that "There is a need to connect to the Israeli people. We are not disengaging from the Israeli people, not from the State of Israel and not from the IDF. We are connecting to all of them because our mission is to elevate them."
Rabbi Druckman added: "You, the youth, who have felt such a deep pain for all that has happened to us, must be aware of the root of this rift in order to know what is required of you. The root is – distancing yourselves from the real root of the Israeli people, distancing yourself from faith and Torah."
"We bid a temporary farewell to Gush Katif and northern Samaria. We shall return there. It is our country. It is the country given to us by the God of Israel. We shall return everywhere. We pray for the well-being of the State of Israel and for the well-being of IDF soldiers," Druckman concluded.
A torch lighting ceremony also took place in the rally, with the torch arriving to Jerusalem from the Kissufim Crossing.
