A photo of last week's rally in New York, which called for releasing an Israeli solider taken prisoner by the Palestinians.

WASHINGTON — A number of American Jewish and Christian-Zionist groups hold a rally Monday evening, July 17, in New York to show solidarity with Israel in its aggressions on Lebanon and mobilize public opinion against the Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah.

The New York-based Conference of Presidents, which comprises leaders of the Zionist organizations in the US, will lead the Monday march near the Syrian mission in New York, home to the largest Jewish community in the country.

Local Jewish agencies are also scrambling to raise money and offer support for Israel.

Last week, United Jewish Communities helped raise $1 million in just two hours to send to Israel.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, one of the largest American charities operating in Israel, is also preparing special programs for Israeli children to keep them out of danger.

An American Jewish Committee leadership delegation also starts Tuesday, July 18, a two-day visit to Israel to voice their solidarity with the Israelis.

"It is often the case that in times of heightened violence in Israel, people do not want to travel there," AJC Executive Director David A. Harris, who will be leading the delegation, said in a statement posted on the Committee's website.

Last week, hundreds of Americans took to the streets of New York City, waving signs demanding the administration to try its best to help release an Israeli soldier taken prisoner by Palestinian resistance factions.

In Texas, a group of pastors with Christian Zionist affiliations established the Christian Alliance to drum up public support for Israel in what they said current trial.

Israel is now launching two bloody offensives on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon after three of its soldiers have been taken prisoners.

The Gaza onslaught, which started on June 25, has killed so far up to 85 Palestinians, mostly children and women.

And the number of people killed in six days of Israeli strikes across Lebanon — which kicked off on July 12 — rose to at least 182 on Monday after a new wave of deadly air raids.

The onslaught has left Lebanon virtually cut off from the outside world and much of its infrastructure in tatters, with jets targeting roads, bridges and power stations.

Summit

The Judeo-Christian Alliance (JCA), which promotes the so-called Christian Zionism in the US, will organize a two-day conference starting Tuesday in Washington to rally public support for Israel in its current war with Hizbullah.

The Washington/Israel Summit is expected to bring together up to 35,000 pro-Israel people, mostly Jews and evangelicals, the alliance said in a statement obtained by IslamOnline.net.

JCA members are also planning meetings with Congressmen to push the Bush administration toward stronger support for Israel.

Chief among the attendees is Rev. John C. Hagee, who said that he would demand the Bush administration to honor its promises and abide by the Bible and moral values in defending Israel to the utmost.

"There's a new Hitler in the Middle East. The only way he will be stopped will be by a preemptive military strike in Iran," he said in recent statements, referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful lobby in Washington, expressed its thanks to Rev. Hagee for demonstrating "the depth and breadth of American support" for Israel.

The American Jewish Committee expressed its deep appreciation of the Bush Administration last week for wielding its veto power at a UN Security Council session on the situation in the Palestinian territories.

Ever since the flare up of Israeli strikes against Lebanon six days ago, President George W. Bush has repeatedly reaffirmed Israel's "every right to defend itself."