Jerusalem
JerusalemIsrael news photo: Flash 90

At a time when tensions are high between hareidi-religious, religious-Zionist and secular Jews in Israel, a group of students proved on Thursday that it does not have to be this way.

On Thursday evening, after the Tenth of Tevet fast concluded, the students gathered at the Paris Square in Jerusalem where they called for unity among all of Israel’s citizens.

The event was published on Facebook and the event page read, “Enough baseless hatred! Secular, religious, and hareidim…what difference does it make? We are the people of Israel! At the end of the tenth of Tevet, which was determined as a fast day in memory of the national disaster of the siege of Jerusalem which was destroyed because of baseless hatred, we’ll go out to the streets and call out against those who agitate society: No more! The people want peace and love, not war! Peace begins from within ourselves.”

Batya Danziger, a student at Bar Ilan University who took part in the rally, told Arutz Sheva, “I came to Jerusalem today to show that not everyone is against everybody. We’re coming out to say that the media can’t tear us apart. It’s not fair to do so. We’re one big family in one country and we need to learn to listen to each other and to communicate.”

“We know we’re different,” she added. “We know that each person comes from a different culture and that’s fine. We’re like brothers. There are different brothers in each family, but we still need to stick together and not hate each other.”