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(JTA) — At the very least 300 folks have been arrested at a Jewish-led rally within the U.S. Capitol calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and condemning Israel for a “potential genocide” of the territory.
The rally was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, two Jewish teams which have centered their criticism on Israel and accused it of genocide and different human rights violations since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400, wounding hundreds and taking some 200 folks captive. Israel has since declared warfare on Hamas, killing 3,200 in airstrikes on Gaza and wounding hundreds.
The Washington rally, which organizers mentioned drew a complete of 10,000 folks inside and outdoors the Capitol, got here on the identical day that President Joe Biden visited Israel in a present of help and negotiated humanitarian help for Gaza civilians. Israel has known as up lots of of hundreds of army reservists and is anticipated to launch a floor invasion of the Gaza Strip shortly.
“We shut down congress to attract mass consideration to the U.S. complicity in Israel’s ongoing oppression of Palestinians,” JVP posted on X. “Simply as we demand an finish to genocide in Gaza, we should put the identical effort into dismantling the techniques of Zionism, apartheid, and colonialism that introduced us to this second.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who advocates for a boycott of Israel, spoke to the crowd outdoors the Capitol. Throughout her feedback, Tlaib, who’s Palestinian-American, cried when decrying that “folks assume it’s OK to bomb a hospital.” It was an obvious allusion to an explosion at a Gaza hospital that Biden mentioned he was satisfied was attributable to a Palestinian rocket misfire, backing up an Israeli evaluation.
Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri also spoke at the rally, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts posted on X supporting it. Each are progressive Democrats allied with Tlaib.
The rally follows a smaller one on Monday in Washington, sponsored by the identical teams, the place protesters have been additionally arrested for blocking the entrances to the White Home. The rallies come amid a string of pro-Israel rallies in cities throughout the nation which have collectively drawn tens of hundreds of supporters. Miriam Weisel, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Washington, said in a statement that “these far-left radical organizations don’t symbolize the overwhelming majority of the Jewish group.”
Protesters, sitting on the floor, crowded the Capitol Rotunda, chanting “ceasefire now” and “not in our title,” and singing a well-known Biblical verse that begins “Nation shall not elevate up sword in opposition to nation.” The protest was infused with Jewish ritual — an indicator of protests by IfNotNow, which was based in 2014 to oppose Israel’s conduct throughout that yr’s Gaza Conflict and which often companions with JVP, an anti-Zionist group.
Protesters wore prayer shawls and at the very least one introduced a shofar. One speaker, main a call-and-response with the gang, recited a standard Jewish message to mourners, inserting “Al-Quds,” the Arabic title for Jerusalem, earlier than the Hebrew title for town, Yerushalayim. IfNotNow protests have featured recitations of the Mourner’s Kaddish, mentioned on behalf of Israeli and Palestinian victims.
The arrests occurred as a result of protests usually are not allowed within the Capitol, in accordance with CBS,
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