Bus Drivers, Loath To Transport Pro-Israel Marchers Into Washington, Strand Hundreds at Dulles Airport
Some 300 protesters stand arm-in-arm on tarmac, singing a song of solidarity with Israel.
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Approximately three hundred thousand Americans from across party lines marched on the National Mall today to rally for Israel and to demand that the world bring the 240 hostages back home in what was the largest rally of its kind ever in America. It was an incredible show of support and presence. People came from all across the country by plane, train, and automobiles.
Not everyone who came, however, made it to the March. Nearly a thousand people who flew in from Detroit, Boston, and Miami to come to the March were stuck at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., for hours allegedly because, organizers say, bus drivers staged a “walk-off.” Apparently some of the drivers didn’t want to drive the pro-Israel ralliers.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates Dulles Airport, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
While some of the people from Detroit planes finally made it to the march for the last thirty minutes, one plane did not. Three hundred individuals remained on the tarmac, stuck without transportation from the airplane, disappointed to have traveled the four hundred miles to the District of Columbia, only to sit on the runway.
A 19-year-old student at University of Michigan, Jonah Seinfeld-Chopp, had woken up at 5 a.m., eager to make it to the rally, not only to show his support for the hostages and for Israel, where he recently spent his gap year living, but also to see his friends from his gap year, who were traveling from all over the country to D.C. for the rally. Instead of the reunion he expected, he spent eight hours sitting in an airplane on the tarmac.
“We just feel so dismayed because we were so eager to march and speak up for Israel because it’s been so hard, and especially being on a college campus during this time,” he said.
Another individual stranded on the tarmac today, David Kurzman, from the Jewish Federation of Detroit, had “learned from the bus company that this was caused by a deliberate and malicious walk-off of drivers.”
“While we are deeply dismayed by this disgraceful action, our resolve to proudly stand in solidarity with the people of Israel, to condemn antisemitism and to demand the return of every hostage held by Hamas has never been greater.”
“It was not the day we planned but it was still a very successful day, nevertheless,” he said. “Three hundred people stood arm to arm on the tarmac waving flags.” He said that they sang the anthem of solidarity called “Am Yisrael Chai.”
The bus drivers at D.C. were not the only “no shows.” Nine buses organized by the Israeli American Council in Manhattan, two buses from Westport, Connecticut, and three buses from New Rochelle, New York, also never arrived this morning, leaving hundreds more unable to get to the rally or scrambling to find a way.