Bay Area residents head to Washington D.C. for Israel rally: ‘This is not a good situation’
TAMPA, Fla. - Nearly 200 Bay Area residents are expected to fly to Washington D.C. on Tuesday for a rally for Israel.
Members of the Jewish community in the Bay Area are already in the nation’s capital.
Joe Probasco, who’s on the Board of Trustees for the Jewish Federation of North America, says they’re marching for three main reasons.
READ: Project DYNAMO: Veterans rescue over 6,000 Americans, pets from global danger zones
"To show solidarity for the state of Israel," Probasco explained. "Two, to stop antisemitism and to march against antisemitism. And, also, critically, to march for the release of the hostages."
Israel rally
The march comes on the heels of a Tampa man’s trip to Israel.
Mark Wright prepared to fly home from Israel Monday night, but he says this trip was eerily different from his previous trip to his family’s home nation.
"When you talk about heart-wrenching, heart-breaking, it was beyond comparison," Wright said. "I could hardly breathe."
READ: Medics and patients, including babies, stranded as battles rage around Gaza hospitals
When Wright saw the upheaval across Israel firsthand, he says it was an extremely emotional experience.
"I got off the plane when I came here, I cried and I walked off, you know, coming back here," Wright said. "And you can see all the pictures of the 240 hostages lined up."
Poster shows man kidnapped in Israel.
Wright says the posters of the Israeli hostages who are still missing are lining the airport in Tel Aviv.
Wright stepped onto the soil of his homeland ready to help. He and his family in Israel helped deliver bread for the Jewish Sabbath to IDF troops at bases along the southern and northern borders.
READ: Florida lawmakers target Iran with sanctions in special session in support of Israel during war
"All of these kibbutzes, all of these cities, near Gaza, all of the residents have been moved to other places," Wright shared. "Hotels. We delivered soccer balls, popsicles. We delivered lots more food. We visited soldiers."
Wright says he also visited IDF soldiers who had been hurt and were at the hospital. He says speaking with them was inspirational.
Mark Wright in Israel.
He also bared witness to some of the scary realities of warfare.
"We were sitting for lunch and the alarm went off, and you have about 90 seconds in Tel Aviv to get to the shelter and everybody moves," Wright said. "They move, they don't run. They move at a steady pace. And it's scary. You know, you hear the rockets, then you hear the two Iron Dome booms."
READ: Tampa man working in Israel escapes as war breaks out: ‘It was just insane’
Wright also attended a rally and demonstration alongside some of the families of the hostages. Although he only knows a little bit of Hebrew, he says the emotions were universal.
Israel rally
"I could hear the voices of the mothers and the fathers and the pain and the sorrow and the sadness," Wright said.
From thousands of miles away, pushing for the release of Israeli hostages is one of the driving forces behind the march in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.
READ: Social media helping spread misinformation about Israel-Hamas war
Probasco says they’re also rallying for support of the Jewish community around the world.
"I think this is bringing back some of the darkest memories from all of our, the recesses of our memories, both generationally and I think for some people in our community that are of that age, I think certainly memories from their childhoods," Probasco said. "And I think for people of my age demographic, this was something that we never thought we would see again."
Probasco says some of the most common things he’s hearing from people in the Jewish community right now are about feeling alone and isolated.
He says their support stands for every innocent person caught in this war.
"We pray for the Palestinians as well," Probasco said. "This is not a good situation at all for all parties involved."