Metro Detroit Jewish group prevented from attending rally for Israel
(CBS DETROIT) - "We were excited," said Marla Schloss.
Schloss was part of a group of roughly 900 Jewish Metro Detroiters who traveled to Washington D.C. on Monday to attend the march in support of Israel.
"We had to arrive at Shaaray Zedek by 6:30 in the morning. We were on planned buses, that took us to the airport. It was a one-hour flight. It was extremely well organized," said Schloss.
However, not everyone in the group that made the trip was able to attend the rally of more than 300,000 Jews in support of Israel.
Schloss was part of a group of several hundred people who were stranded at Dulles airport for nearly nine hours.
"It was devastating to us that we were a community, of beautiful strong Jewish community, in support of Israel, and that we were sitting at the airport, on the tarmac and we couldn't do anything," Schloss said.
Schloss said the group was told there was a walkout of some sort by the bus drivers. She said she couldn't believe what was happening and couldn't help but wonder if the drivers were doing it on purpose.
Once she realized the group was going to miss the massive rally in support of Israel, she said they decided to make the best of their time while stranded at the airport.
"We took pictures, we sang, we tried to do what we could as a community in support of this program," Schloss said.
After feeling disappointed and arriving back in Detroit, Schloss said the Jewish Federation of Detroit and other Jewish leaders made sure they received a special welcome home by providing dinner and a prayer service in support of Israel.
"It took something that was really disappointing for us and what we hoped to do, and it made it feel like we're such a beautiful community," Schloss said.
The Jewish Federation of Detroit said it was working with the company to find out if there was any malicious intent behind the bus driver walking off the job.