September 18, 2009

Washington DC –A diverse group of protestors gathered on Embassy Row at the approximate midway point between the White House and the Israeli embassy.  As the noon-sun reached its zenith, Muslims and non Muslims, mothers and young children, students and grandparents approached the Circle wearing their khefayahs, and holding their flags or hand-made signs. The event began with the group recitation of surah al-Fatihah, the most commonly recited prayer by Muslims, asking Allah to guide them to the path of those who please Allah, not those who incur His wrath and displeasure. The moderator then introduced the theme of Quds Day and its origins. Thirty years ago Imam Khomeini called for the establishment of Quds Day on last Friday of the month of Ramadhan.  The month of Ramadhan is a time of spiritual improvement for the individual as well as the community.  Echoing this month-long improvement, Quds Day is another step in improving our connections with rest of the world-wide community and our connection to the Creator’s command to stand with the oppressed against the oppressors.  The word “Quds” is Arabic for “the holy place” and is the Arabic name for Jerusalem and the surrounding lands.  Quds Day is an opportunity for participants to proclaim support for a Holy Land free from the oppression and injustice wrought by Zionism.   It’s a day to reinvigorate our support for our brothers and sisters who are struggling to live in dignity.

Diverse Speakers

With this short explanation of the origins and purpose of Quds Day the first speaker was introduced and his organization was invited to speak.  A group of orthodox rabbis representing Neturei Karta International had travelled from New York to join the rally.  Neturei Karta is an orthodox Jewish group founded in Jerusalem in response-to and rejection-of Zionism at the turn of the 19^th century.  Rabbi Yisoroel Dovid Weiss, standing in front of Palestinian flags and signs that read “Gaza=Auschwitz”, began by establishing that from a Jewish perspective rooted in the Torah, the entire existence of Israel is illegal, and that the Zionist ideology that led to its creation is also the “root cause of every drop of blood in Palestine.” Such startling words coming from a firmly Jewish presence based in New Jersey shatter the “anti-Semite” rhetoric that is the innate response of many uneducated and often bigoted Israel-supporters. Rabbi Weiss stated that Jews were commanded by their Lord to live in peace and harmony with their neighbors, and that contrary to the Zionist dogma, were forbidden by their Lord to come out of their status of being exiled from the Holy Land as a people.

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