"There is the beginning of a groundswell among Jewry," said David Romanoff, chairman of the Alliance for Israel and organizer of the rallies. "The message was loud and clear. People around the world are beginning to wake up. Civil rights are being trampled. The words democracy and Israel cannot be mentioned in the same sentence.
"This is a defining moment in Jewish history. How we react to today will define the course of world Jewry in the future. People are beginning to seriously question the decisions that have been made by the leadership in Israel and…the survival of Israel is paramount in everyone's mind now."
More than 5,000 filled the entire Times Square area in Manhattan that the police allotted the organizers, Romanoff said. "We were expecting a couple of thousand. It is a big rally when 5,000 come in the middle of summer at noon on one of the hottest days of the year," he added.
Jon Kowal, coordinator of the southern Florida rally, reported that more than 600, twice the expected number, crowded the Torch of Friendship monument in Miami. The rally featured a live hook-up with Rachel Sapperstein of N'vei Dekalim, one of the Jewish communities in Gush Katif that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants to dismantle and hand over to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Among the speakers was Capt. Gary Kosak of the International Christian Zionists.
"The strong support showed by all participants yelling at the top of their lungs 'Let My People Stay' was to deliver a strong message to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and to President Bush," Kowal said. "The disengagement policy, [meaning] expulsion, deportation, and being uprooted from one's home and land is illegal and immoral, and this insane decree must be rescinded."
The rally in Melbourne drew more than 1,000 people, according to participant Moshe Elkman. Other anti-expulsion rrallies were held in about 20 other locations around the world.
Romanoff noted that there has been a "dearth of coverage in anti-disengagement stories" in the newspapers and that the New York dailies did not report on the city's rally despite its unusually large size.
"This is a defining moment in Jewish history. How we react to today will define the course of world Jewry in the future. People are beginning to seriously question the decisions that have been made by the leadership in Israel and…the survival of Israel is paramount in everyone's mind now."
More than 5,000 filled the entire Times Square area in Manhattan that the police allotted the organizers, Romanoff said. "We were expecting a couple of thousand. It is a big rally when 5,000 come in the middle of summer at noon on one of the hottest days of the year," he added.
Jon Kowal, coordinator of the southern Florida rally, reported that more than 600, twice the expected number, crowded the Torch of Friendship monument in Miami. The rally featured a live hook-up with Rachel Sapperstein of N'vei Dekalim, one of the Jewish communities in Gush Katif that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants to dismantle and hand over to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Among the speakers was Capt. Gary Kosak of the International Christian Zionists.
"The strong support showed by all participants yelling at the top of their lungs 'Let My People Stay' was to deliver a strong message to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and to President Bush," Kowal said. "The disengagement policy, [meaning] expulsion, deportation, and being uprooted from one's home and land is illegal and immoral, and this insane decree must be rescinded."
The rally in Melbourne drew more than 1,000 people, according to participant Moshe Elkman. Other anti-expulsion rrallies were held in about 20 other locations around the world.
Romanoff noted that there has been a "dearth of coverage in anti-disengagement stories" in the newspapers and that the New York dailies did not report on the city's rally despite its unusually large size.