Some 3,000 people gathered on Sunday in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington for a rally against rising anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world.
The event, called “No Fear: A Rally in Solidarity with the Jewish Community," was organized by the Alliance for Israel, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, with partners signing on from across the political and religious spectrum.
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A man holds an Israeli flag during a protest against anti-Semitism in Washington, July 11, 2021
(Photo: AFP)
Prominent speakers included Elisha Wiesel, son of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, who played a pivotal role in putting the event together.
“Looking out at all of you today it becomes clear that instead of dividing us, the enemies of the Jewish people, whether from the right or the left, at home or abroad, they have instead united us," Wiesel said.
“Here we stand, a coalition of Jews and our allies from all backgrounds, all political beliefs, and all religious affiliations, who have come together to stand up to anti-Semitism," she said.
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People attend during a protest against anti-Semitism in Washington, July 11, 2021
(Photo: AFP)
Other speakers included Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain; former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition; and Ron Klein, a former Democratic Congressman from South Florida who chairs the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
Other prominent attendees included Israeli-American actress and author Noa Tishby; Rabbi Shlomo Noginski, who was stabbed outside a Boston Jewish school earlier this month; and Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was the target of an October 2018 shooting attack in which 11 people were killed.
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A makeshift memorial to the dead stands outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh following the deadly 2018 attack at the place of worship
(Photo: AP)
The rally came amid a surge of anti-Semitic attacks around the world and in the U.S. in particular, exacerbated by the global COVID pandemic and accompanying claims by some extremist elements, who allege that the pathogen was designed by Jews, Zionists, or even Israel itself, in a bid for world domination.
Republished with permission from i24NEWS