The atmosphere was jovial as the crowd gathered for the Israel Solidarity Gathering and Vigil…. The atmosphere was jovial as the crowd gathered for the Israel Solidarity Gathering and Vigil. Laughter and conversation were audible from across Market Square, where the event was held. But as the speakers took the stage and two rows of candles were lit before the podium, the mood became solemn and quiet.

On the night of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Pittsburgh, and in light of the protests against it, the people were gathered together in a vigil to express solidarity for Israel, for peace and against terrorism, said Mark Shabason.

Shabason, vice president of the Hillel Jewish University Center and Humagshimim Israel organizations, summed up the fundamental sentiments behind the event.

“Israel has the right to have safe and secure borders,” Shabason said. “All terrorism is unacceptable.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by a wide range of speakers, including Mayor Tom Murphy, Pitt students Moshe Kupfer and Mirriam Kott, Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey and a host of other community and religious officials, all of whom expressed the necessity of standing beside Israel.

“Israel has shown remarkable restraint in the face of unbridled terror,” said Murphy, who went on to wonder how the citizens of Pittsburgh would react in a similar position of ongoing terrorist attacks.

Roddey emphasized – as did many of the other speakers – that Israel was the only democracy in the Middle East.

“There is one democracy in the Middle East. [The United States] have only one friend in the Middle East, and that is Israel,” Roddey said.

Those statements were met with applause from the audience, but the crowd had a more sober response to the other recurring theme in the night’s speeches: memorializing the 624 dead and 4,425 wounded in the two years since the breakdown of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

While speakers detailed the stories of friends and loved ones killed by suicide bombers, the name of each person killed in the terrorist attacks was read aloud on either side of the stage.

As the vigil ended, Rabbi Dan Wasserman led the crowd in singing Am Yisrael Chai, or “The Nation of Israel Lives.” As the gathering dispersed, a group formed into a circle and danced to the song, while the remaining crowd formed around them to clap the rhythm and sing along.

Freshman Daniel Fuks, a participant in the vigil, said that he did not share others’ fear of terrorism.

“I am ready to go to Israel now. I will not be deterred by violence or by terrorism. Hopefully when Mashiach comes this week I will be dancing in the streets of Jerusalem with my fellow Jews,” he said.

Online exclusive: photo essay

Jake Gold was one of the hundreds of people who held both American and Israeli flags at the gathering and vigil in Market Square last night.

Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy spoke to attendees of the vigil, offering words of U.S.-Israel solidarity.