Approximately 30,000 people showed up at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv Monday night for a rally in solidarity with the residents of Sderot and other Negev communities now under constant enemy rocket attack.
Carrying placards "Seven Years of Fear" and "Sderot is in My Heart," the crowd was smaller than originally anticipated, given the top names performing on stage and the publicity in Tel Aviv leading up to the event. "We were sure that 100,000 people would come here," said a senior Tel Aviv police official. Many of those in attendance were from the Sderot area and they arrived in 50 chartered buses.
The rally was organized by well-known Teapacks lead singer Kobi Oz, a Sderot native, under the title "Sderot is All of Us." The solidarity concert-event featured leading entertainers, including several others from the besieged city of Sderot itself. Among the top performers involved, all of whom performed free of charge, were Shlomo Artzi, Rami Kleinstein and Amir Benayoun. 
The rally was organized by well-known Tea Packs lead singer Kobi Oz, a Sderot native.
Among the speakers addressing the rally Monday night was Alon Shuster, Mayor of Sha'ar Hanegev, which is the regional council surrounding Sderot. He called the solidarity rally a painful reminder of the "dangerous deterioration of our trust in the government of Israel."
Shuster declared, "We demand of the government of Israel only what is possible, but not a drop less. You, citizens of all ages, can be our partners in the unending struggle for existence at a time of war, for stability at a time of systemic collapse."
Aside from the security aspect of the state's duties to residents of the south, Shuster called on the government to develop a long-range plan for the physical and economic development of the western Negev.