WASHINGTON — Several thousand people joined in “Stand Together,” a Nov. 10 rally and concert to defend Israel’s right to exist, to demand Hamas release the hostages it has held for over a year and to fight against antisemitism. The event at the Nationals Park stadium here was sponsored by the Jewish Federations of North America, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and other national and local groups.
Many participants wore the sticker “401,” marking the number of days since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas death squads slaughtered 1,200 men, women and children, wounded thousands and kidnapped 250 hostages. It was the largest anti-Jewish pogrom since the Nazi Holocaust in World War II.
“I came to the rally to support my people, and Israel,” Cohava Golden, a participant from Boston, told this Militant worker-correspondent. “The mob brutality in Amsterdam was against people because they are Jewish, and, to make it worse, the coverage in some newspapers blames us for what happened.”
The rally took place two days after organized violent attacks were carried out against Jewish soccer fans in Amsterdam after a match in which an Israeli team played. Jewish men, women and children were hunted and attacked on the streets by pro-Hamas mobs.
Family members of some of the 101 hostages still held by Hamas or Islamic Jihad were featured speakers. One was Yarden Gonen, sister of Romy Gonen, who was kidnapped at the Nova music and dance festival, a special target of Hamas thugs. “This is a fight not just for Israel, but for every person who believes in peace and dignity,” she said. “If we as a society do not save my sister and all of the hostages, your loved ones could be next. We must unite so that Oct. 7 does not happen anywhere else.”
“In this war, we have no other choice but to win and we are winning — at great cost,” Michael Herzog, Israeli ambassador to the United States, told participants. “We are dismantling Iran’s ‘ring of fire’ that surrounds Israel. We are creating opportunities for a better Middle East.”
Other speakers included political figures like U.S. senators Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, who addressed the crowd by video. A performance by the Israeli Idan Raichel Project was a highlight of the event, along with other musical and cultural performances. A dance troupe performed a piece about Hamas’ attack on the Nova music festival.
Both Democratic and Republican elected officials spoke. “People often ask me, ‘Ritchie, you’re not Jewish, you’re Black, you’re a Latino. Why do you speak so forcefully against antisemitism?” Ritchie Torres, Democratic congressmen from New York, said. “I see my freedom as a Black Latino from the Bronx as inextricably bound to the freedom of the Jewish people. It is progressive to defend Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Socialist Workers Party candidates in the 2024 elections, James Harris for D.C. delegate to Congress and Ved Dookhun, the SWP candidate for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, along with other SWP campaigners, participated in the action.
“The SWP defends Israel as a refuge against Jew-hatred and pogroms, the only country that will fight against the slaughter of the Jews arms in hand,” said Harris. “The road forward is tied to building working-class parties of all religions and nationalities in every country, including in Israel and in the U.S., that can unite all those exploited and oppressed by capital and work toward taking political power.