The rally was held at the Monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes in the Polish capital on Sunday, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Some 1,000 people gathered to show their solidarity with the state of Israel and its people targeted by the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, according to the organisers.
A table surrounded by empty chairs was placed near the Warsaw monument to symbolize the victims of the Hamas attacks on Israel and to express hope for the return of hostages, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Participants waved Israeli flags, as well as the flags of Poland, the European Union, Great Britain and Spain.
They also carried banners and placards with Polish and English slogans, including “Solidarity with Israel," "I Stand With Israel,” “Don’t Let Your Kids Be Next,” and “Expel Hamas Supporters from Poland,” according to media reports.
Polish historian and Auschwitz survivor Marian Turski said that Hamas sought to “wipe out Israel,” which would spark "an Islamist upheaval" in many countries in Asia and Africa.
He said that "the world shares our values” must stand with Israel in its war against Hamas, adding that “our future and the future of our children is at stake.”
The Israeli ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, described his country’s war with Hamas as a clash “between civilisation and barbarism,” adding that October 7 was “Israel’s worst day since the Holocaust.”
Livne said that Israel would seek to eliminate Hamas just as the international community had moved to eliminate Nazi Germany and the Islamic State, the PAP news agency reported.
The Israeli envoy also said that without Hamas “the world will be more secure.”
He added Israel was demanding the release of more than 200 hostages, including 33 children, and praying for their safe return.
'Thank you for your support': Israeli ambassador
Livne told the gathering in Warsaw: “Thank you for your support dear friends. Together we’ll win. Long live the state of Israel.”
'Poland stands with Israel': gov't official
Meanwhile, Polish Deputy Culture Minister Jarosław Sellin said Sunday’s rally was intended to “demonstrate that Warsaw stands with Israel and Poland stands with Israel.”
He added that such an attitude must be maintained “by the entire civilised world.”
Sellin reiterated the demand that Hamas release hostages, noting that they included Alex Dancyg, a Warsaw-born Israeli historian and advocate of Polish-Israeli cooperation, who also has Polish citizenship.
Other speakers at Sunday’s rally included the Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, Deputy Warsaw Mayor Tomasz Bratek and the head of the Polish-Israeli Parliamentary Group, Michał Szczerba, the PAP news agency reported.
The organisers read out the names of more than 200 Israelis kidnapped by Hamas, after which a group of rabbis said prayers for their release and there was a rendition of Israel’s national anthem, the PAP news agency reported.
Sunday’s rally was held by organisations including Chabad Lubavitch Poland, the Warsaw-based Shalom Foundation, and the Jewish religious community.
Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7 killed 1,400 people, with a further 230 kidnapped as hostages, British broadcaster BBC has reported.
Israel has since carried out retaliatory bombing of Gaza, killing more than 8,000 people, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, BBC