Hundreds of people came together in Jerusalem on Jan. 5 to participate in a rally of solidarity with the “No Hate. No Fear” march in New York.
Taking place in the Jewish Agency’s courtyard, the event was in support of the U.S. march organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the Anti-Defamation League, the Board of Rabbis of New York, the American Jewish Committee and the UJA-Federation of New York, which comes in light of the recent wave of hate crimes against Jews in the New York area. The Jerusalem rally was organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel, the World Zionist Organization and the Anti-Defamation League.
The Israeli solidarity event was initiated to send a clear message of support to American Jews, particularly following the most recent attacks in Monsey, N.Y., and Jersey City, N.J.
Sunday’s march in New York City began in Lower Manhattan and followed with a march across the Brooklyn Bridge. Thousands of New Yorkers of all backgrounds attended, along with hundreds of Jewish Agency shlichim (“emissaries”) serving in U.S. communities, as well as a special ADL delegation.
Vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization Yaakov Hagoel said that “in times of crisis, we were used in the State of Israel to lovingly receive unrestricted support from Diaspora Jewry. Today, from the capital of the Jewish people, we stand here in solidarity with Diaspora Jewry as one people and say together: We are not afraid! We are here to inspire the world! We are here, at the same time as the rally that is taking place in the United States during these hours to say enough anti-Semitism, enough hate, enough fear. Our strength is in our unity; we stand together with Diaspora Jewry and with a clear and unified voice; we call for the end of anti-Semitism! Raise your head with Jewish pride! Hatred stops here!”
ADL Israel director Carole Nuriel said, “We wish to demonstrate our solidarity with the Jewish community in New York amid the wave of anti-Semitic hate crimes, which has recently intensified. We should be very clear: These crimes are against the Jewish community as a whole, and today, we say to our brothers and sisters, ‘We stand by you, proud and united, in our fight against hate and anti-Semitism.’ ”
Rebecca Caspi, Jewish Federations of North America’s Israel director general, said “anti-Semitic incidents are at all-time record highs, and there have been multiple assaults on Jewish communities in the last 24 months. We must do more to meet the Jewish community’s growing needs—and we will.”
And Uri Leventer-Roberts, UJA-Federation of New York’s executive director of its Israel office, noted that “New York Jews have marched in the past to demand the freedom of Soviet Jews who were behind the Iron Curtain. Every year, thousands of them march on Fifth Avenue to show their support for Israel. The wave of anti-Semitism has led them, for the first time, to march for themselves.”