Jewish groups rally at White House urging Biden to push for Gaza ceasefire
SMA NEWS – WASHINGTON
Leftwing US Jewish groups gathered outside the White House on Monday to urge the Biden administration to pressure Israel into declaring an immediate ceasefire, the Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Accusing Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of planning “genocide”, several hundred volunteers from campaign groups IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace chanted slogans, carried placards and sang ancient Jewish songs in protest of what they said was an immoral response to the deadly assault on 7 October by the Palestinian group Hamas that killed at least 1,400 Israelis, the British daily reported.
At least 30 people were arrested during the protest, according to reports from ABCNews. One organizer, identifying himself only as Yotam, told demonstrators shortly before they departed an initial rallying point at Farragut Square for the White House that 150 activists had volunteered to be arrested if security personnel ordered them to vacate the entrance points.
The demonstrators also trained their sights on Joe Biden, who they said was complicit in an Israeli retaliatory bombardment that had destroyed Gaza neighborhoods, cut off water and electricity, and left around 2,200 Palestinians dead, including 700 children.
The criticism of the US president came as he was considering an offer by the Israeli prime minister to visit Israel as it grieves in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks. Biden has offered unequivocal support for the country since it was attacked, but cautioned that a re-occupation of Gaza – from which Israel formally withdrew in 2005 – would be a mistake.
Monday’s demonstration came as Gaza faced an intensifying humanitarian crisis as more than half a million people fled their homes in the north of the tiny coastal enclave in advance of preparations for an apparent Israeli ground invasion with the stated goal of destroying Hamas.
Standing outside the White House gates, Eva Borgwardt, political director of IfNotNow, demanded an urgent meeting with Biden. “The stakes are life or death,” she said.
“We are here to tell President Biden, as the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the world he needs to do everything in his power to demand a ceasefire, to demand a de-escalation, to release the Israeli hostages and to address the underlying circumstances that have led us into this nightmare.”
Protest organizers said they were prepared to engage in civil disobedience to influence US policy, including blocking entrances to and from the White House.
Holding placards bearing slogans including “My grief is not your weapon” and “Stop genocide in Gaza”, they said their focus was in ending US support for Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and what they described as the Jewish state’s “system of apartheid”.
Several described Israeli rhetoric toward Palestinians in the wake of the Hamas attacks as explicitly genocidal.
Some attendees waved Palestinian flags, while others carried “Free Palestine” placards. Some of those present wore Jewish kippas, or skull caps.
