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Tens of thousands expected at DC March for Israel today; organizers announce livestream
(JTA) — Tens of thousands of Jews and pro-Israel activists are arriving in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday for a mass pro-Israel rally that will feature senior Israeli and American officials and that aims to bolster support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, as well as the fight against antisemitism in the United States and beyond.
Tuesday’s rally aims to demonstrate broad support for Israel’s war effort and to call for the release of the hostages, in addition to condemning antisemitism. The rally’s organizers — the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations — applied for a permit for 60,000 people, though more may come. Buses and flights organized by Jewish schools, community centers, synagogues and other organizations are bringing groups to the rally from across the country.
The organizers have announced that the event will also be livestreamed.
The rally, beginning at 1 p.m. on Tuesday on the National Mall, will include speeches from Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican, as well as Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. Other members of Congress and the Senate are also scheduled to speak, as is Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s antisemitism envoy.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will also speak, as will Israeli Ambassador Mike Herzog, his brother. No members of Israel’s right-wing government, which has been deeply unpopular within Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, are scheduled to speak.
Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident and past chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel, will also speak. Sharansky is perhaps the only speaker on Tuesday’s lineup who also addressed the two previous mass Jewish rallies in Washinton, D.C. — in 1987 on behalf of Soviet Jewry, and in 2002 to support Israel during the Second Intifada.
No leaders of large Jewish organizations are scheduled to give major speeches. One segment will feature relatives of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including Rachel Goldberg, the American-Israeli mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Another will include college students discussing campus antisemitism.
Another portion includes non-Jewish speakers, including John Hagee, the conservative evangelical founder of Christians United for Israel; President Rochelle Ford of Dillard University, a historically Black university in New Orleans; and Anila Ali, a Pakistani-American activist and president of the American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council.
The lineup also includes Israeli pop singers Omer Adam and Ishay Ribo; the Maccabeats, an Orthodox men’s a cappella group; and Jewish actors Debra Messing and Tova Feldshuh. CNN commentator Van Jones will also speak.
The roster of speakers has drawn some criticism. Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of the liberal rabbinic human rights group T’ruah, expressed dismay that Hagee and Johnson will be speaking from the podium. And there have been complaints that the rally does not include more religious Jewish elements, though some haredi Orthodox leaders have encouraged their followers to attend. Some attendees held prayers services on Tuesday morning in Washington.
The rally was announced last week, roughly a month after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing and wounding thousands and taking more than 200 captive. Since then, Israel has fought a war in Gaza aiming to depose Hamas, an aim the Biden administration has vocally supported. The war has sparked mass pro-Palestinian protests around the world decrying the thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza and calling for a ceasefire. The fighting has also led to a spike in antisemitism in the United States, Europe and around the world.
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The post Tens of thousands expected at DC March for Israel today; organizers announce livestream appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
The post UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
The post Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
The post Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.