solidarity

One message from this week\’s rally at the Capitol was clear — solidarity with the State of Israel and its people. Much less clear was the message to the Bush administration. Signs, speakers and more than 100,000 demonstrators touted support for the U.S. war on terrorism. But few expressed support for Secretary of State Colin Powell\’s current mission in the Middle East, his meetings with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and the Bush administration\’s call for Israel to end its military incursions into the West Bank. A handful of U.S. senators and non-Jewish political leaders mentioned the Powell mission. American Jewish and Israeli leaders skirted it. But while the Jewish leadership tried to stick to positive tones, a State Department official said the lasting image of the rally will be the negative response to the Bush administration\’s sole representative, who spoke from the administration\’s playbook.