Dozens of pro-Israel activists hold rally at State House. Here's what they said.

PROVIDENCE — Dozens of pro-Israel activists gathered at the State House on Tuesday night to wave "free the innocent hostages" banners and put a name to the beliefs of the hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators who marched through the streets of Providence on Saturday: anti-Semitism.

"The true term is Jew phobia: an irrational hatred that has no basis but is very dangerous," said lawyer Russell Raskin, at the microphone at a pro-Israel rally hosted by the Rhode Island Coalition for Israel and a recently created Rhode Island chapter of the conservative and, at times, Trump-aligned advocacy group Turning Point USA.

"Hey, hey, ho, ho. Hamas has got to go," the group of about five dozen activists − encircled by metal barriers − chanted, under the watchful eyes of a large contingent of Rhode Island State Police there in case Rhode Island saw the kinds of clashes that have broken out in other cities over the Israel-Palestine conflict.

It didn't.

Only three state lawmakers were visible in the crowd, including Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, R-North Smithfield, who spoke; Sen. Robert Britto, D-East Providence; and Rep. Patricia Morgan, R-West Warwick.

Ahead of the rally, de la Cruz summed up her position: "You don't get to rape and shoot and stab, torture...mutilate, terrorize, burn to death, kidnap 1,400 innocent men, women and children, and even babies, and then get your cheerleaders and friends around the world to call for a ceasefire.

"The reason for Hamas' existence is to destroy Jews in Israel," she said. "Hamas needs to be annihilated. Full stop."

"One side seeks peace. The other side seeks extermination," said Connecticut College professor and writer Andrew Pessin in his turn at the microphone.

"No, nothing, no alleged grievances of any sort, could justify what happened on October 7," he said.

More: Providence City Council to hear dueling resolutions on Israeli-Palestinian violence

"And you know, there’s a word for violence targeting civilians for political aims: it’s terrorism," he said.

"Anyone...who is incapable of identifying and condemning the acts of October 7 as terror is pro-terror, pure and simple," Pessin said. "There isn’t a country in the world that wouldn’t respond massively to a barbaric ISIS-style terror attack on its civilians, and that wouldn’t be justified in doing whatever it takes to remove this genocidal threat to its citizens."

None of Rhode Island's Jewish legislators could be seen in the small crowd.

Leaders of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island were also absent from the rally, highlighting the divisions within Rhode Island's Jewish and political circles over the tensions in the Middle East.

When asked Tuesday afternoon, Adam Greenman, the president and CEO of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, said he would not be attending either, having only learned of the event a day earlier.

"Without knowing who the speakers were, without knowing much about the event itself, we made the decision that we're going to keep focusing on our efforts to draw attention to the hostages, to draw attention to the atrocities of Hamas rather than to be a part of a rally that we weren't really engaged in and we're only finding out about on short notice."

Only one of the Jewish legislators reached by The Journal in recent days explained why he or she did not choose to take part. Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, said he views the Alliance as "more representative of the Jewish community" − and the moderate middle − than the coalition.

Turning Point USA is relatively new to Rhode Island where it is headed by Anthony D'Ellena, who describes himself as a field organizer for the R.I. Republican Party. It was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Charles Kirk, then 18.

In time, "Kirk’s zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers...[and] despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, during the general election campaign," according to the Associated Press.

Most recently, it has drawn attention for its "Professor Watchlist" which it described this way on a recent post:

"Following the brutal surprise attacks by Hamas on Israel, a wave of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli sentiment has flooded college campuses across the nation. Universities have become hosts to rallies protesting Israel, with students under the false impression that Israel is an oppressor and that Palestinian terrorist groups are innocent.

"This rhetoric is not exclusive to students. Radical left-wing professors are attempting to indoctrinate students by spreading lies about the current Middle East conflict. But Turning Point USA’s Professor Watchlist is here to fix that."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: "One side seeks peace. The other side seeks extermination," said one speaker.