More Than 1,000, Including South Florida Elected Officials, Participate In 'We Stand With Israel' Event
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - More than 1,000 people came together for a virtual event called "We Stand With Israel."
The group, which included several Florida lawmakers, voiced concerns about the recent increase of antisemitism.
"Antisemitism is an evil poison, an ancient poison," said Florida US Senator Marco Rubio.
One by one, state leaders voiced concerns about the increased attacks on the Jewish community.
"I'm also doing a bill that is going to make sure that no taxpayer dollars go to fund Hamas terrorism and I'm hopeful that all my colleagues will support that," said Florida US Senator Rick Scott.
The Florida lawmakers pledged their support of legislation that would strengthen the Jewish community and Israel's ability to defend itself.
"It really underscores the need for the United States to make a firm by a partisan commitment to both the state of Israel and both the Jewish people. For that reason, I introduced a resolution to condemn the terrorist attacks from Hamas and to reaffirm the US-Israel alliance," said South Florida Congressman Carlos Gimenez.
With the help of US funding, Israel's missile defense system was able to shoot the rockets down and according to the website, ifamericansknew.org there were less than five Israelis killed as the result of the fighting. In contrast, about 240 Palestinians were killed.
During the meeting, officials were clear that their goal was not to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but instead to stand against antisemitism.
"Fighting antisemitism and supporting Israel are two of the rare issues that unify the South Florida Jewish community."
According to ADL.org, there have been 124 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. between April 26 and May 23. Some of those happened here in South Florida.
"A Jewish family was visiting when a man drove by and hurled antisemitic slurs and actual garbage at them... This must stop," said US Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
