‘Largest Turnout Ever’: 290,000+ Attend Massive Pro-Israel Rally In D.C., Including Israeli Hostages’ Families

"More than 300,000 people are estimated to have attended a pro-Israel rally in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, including 170 family members of Israelis who were kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists last month.

The day kicked off with Senate Republican Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) welcoming the hostages’ families to the bipartisan event, which included lawmakers from both the House and Senate.

“We are all standing here in unity with you,” he said. “For the family members, you have seen the face of terror, the horrors, the brutality. We are heartbroken by that. We stand with the people of Israel and that is very heartfelt. And we wanted to be here to see the faces, to hear the stories, to share the pain and make sure that the world never turns its back on the stories or the people, never turns its back on the people of Israel.”

“We want to work with you in every way that we can for the safe return to all of you of your family members who are currently being held hostage,” he added. “Thank you, welcome to Washington, we are all brothers and sisters here today.”

The rally — organized by the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations — was held on the National Mall and was attended by hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Christians and Jews, from across the U.S.

Christians United For Israel’s Pastor John Hagee said at the rally “if a line has to be drawn, then draw that line around both Christians and Jews. We are one!”

Dovid Efune, Publisher of The New York Sun, said organizers confirmed that 290,000 people passed through the metal detectors to attend the event. However, the real number was likely even higher as “it looked like tens of thousands more didn’t have the required wristbands to get past security,” he said.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said that this was “the largest Jewish gathering in history since Mount Sinai.”

Israel Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog called the rally “an unprecedented show of support for Israel, a clear call for the immediate release of the hostages and a powerful coming-together to combat antisemitism.”

“There are defining moments in history, and this was one of them,” he said. “As I said at this amazing gathering: ‘together through our shared voices, values and strength, we will defeat evil and we will prevail.'”

Others noted a stark contrast between how the people behaved at the event versus how people behave at pro-Palestinian events."