People participate in a Jewish solidarity march on January 5, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Jeenah Moon/Getty Images) “No Fear: A Rally in Solidarity With the Jewish People” will take place this Sunday, July 11, in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Meant to bring awareness to the rise in antisemitism across the country, the event hopes to unite Jews and allies from across the political spectrum. Speakers will include Elisha Wiesel (the son of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel), Noa Tishby, Meghan McCain, elected officials, faith leaders, grassroots activists and victims of recent antisemitic attacks.
The event’s organizers state that they “are coming together to stand in solidarity with the Jewish people” in order to “stand against antisemitism and for Jewish security, dignity and peace around the world.” 
“We know that we cannot truly defeat antisemitism if we allow other forms of hatred within our midst. This coalition has come together across ideological divides but our stance on hate is unified and absolute. This coalition will not tolerate expressions of racism, Islamophobia, misogyny, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia or any other hate,” the organizers insist. “Our tent is big, but those who espouse hate must stand outside it.”
The Jewish Journal spoke with Elisha Wiesel, the rally’s keynote speaker, about the impetus and purpose of the event. “With what is happening right now, from a rabbi in Boston being stabbed in the street to the aftermath of the recent conflict in Gaza, where you have everything from firecrackers being thrown at Jews, mobs ganging up on smaller numbers of Jews in restaurants, and cars going around with a mob of anti-Israel thugs harassing Jewish communities,” said Wiesel, “I mean, is this our country?”
“I think that we the Jewish people, we’ve become a little bit divided. We seem unsure of ourselves. I want to make sure that we’re still able to come together when things like this are happening. Before COVID, when there were all the antisemitic attacks happening almost daily, there was this amazing March in New York City across the Brooklyn Bridge that the major Jewish organizations put together. It felt like we needed to do something similar now. We just couldn’t wait another moment. It was time.
“I got so frustrated with what seemed like the hesitancy of our community to come together during the Gaza war and immediately after, as antisemitic attacks continued. I made a vow to myself that the next group that would raise their hands to do something, particularly in Washington, I would come in and get involved. I would help amplify the event. I would help fund the event. I would help support it and grow it.”
“We got national sponsors like the AJC and ADL and then we just did the hard work of calling and emailing and going around the Jewish community. I’ve never done anything like this before in the Jewish community. I’ve never done organizing in the Jewish community, so I got a real crash course about all the different nooks and crannies and pockets in it. We’re a very diverse ecosystem.
“But I thought we should do something different than just having heads of Jewish organizations speak. Maybe it’s time instead to hear from victims. Let’s also bring faith leaders together. We have very consciously chosen to define this event as a big tent, including Zionist organizations who believe that the Jewish people have a right to exist in peace and security, not just in the United states but also in Israel.
“We know that it’s gotten tough. Everybody’s hesitant on Israel. You see this particularly on the center and left, where there’s a conflation of disagreement with certain Israeli policies to people starting to write them off and saying that they don’t love Israel anymore. I think that’s wrong. I think we just have to create a framework where people can show that it is possible to still be Zionist and support a Jewish state even if you were turned off by Netanyahu or Trump.
“One of the key messages at this rally is that antisemitism is a very devious enemy because it creeps into culture in all sorts of ways. It’s a shapeshifter. What we have to do is rather than attacking our fellow Jew who disagrees with us politically or has a different way of observing Shabbat than we do or doesn’t attend the same kind of synagogue … Rather than attacking them, we have to say that each one of us has an opportunity based on where we are in the community to clean up a piece of hatred and replace it with something else. You can only clean up what’s on the political right if you’re in the political right. You can only clean up what’s on the left if you’re in the political left.
“One of the key messages at this rally is that antisemitism is a very devious enemy because it creeps into culture in all sorts of ways. It’s a shapeshifter.”
“We should be allies with each other. We should all be teaming up and figuring out a way to do the work where we have the ability to do it. And I say to non-Jews, come stand by us and show up for us the same way that so many Jews show up for so many social justice causes, whether it be LGBTQ+, women’s rights, black lives matter … Come stand with us and show us that you have our back.”
The rally is being sponsored by a diverse range of more than 100 advocacy groups, including The Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Alliance for Israel, B’nai B’rith International, The Jewish Federations of North America, Jewish National Fund USA, Combat Antisemitism Movement, Hadassah, The Israel Forever Foundation, StandWithUS, Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbinical Assembly, Republican Jewish Coalition, Orthodox Union, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Jewish Democratic Council of America, the World Jewish Congress – North America, Mercaz USA, UJA Federation New York, Birthright Israel Foundation, Masa Israel Journey, The Jewish Agency for Israel, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, JCC Association of North America, and Jewish Future Pledge.
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