400 American Jews Mark Netanyahu’s Arrival with Congress Sit-In, Calling on Biden and Congress to Stop Arming the Israeli Military as it Wages Genocide in Gaza

Rabbis, Celebrities, Students, Israelis, descendants of Holocaust survivors, and hundreds of Jewish Voice for Peace members demand Biden listen to the will of the people

Washington, D.C. (July 23, 2024) — One day before Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress, and days before his meetings with President Biden and Vice President Harris, 400 American Jews, including over a dozen rabbis, were arrested in prayerful civil disobedience, demanding that the U.S. enact an immediate weapons embargo on the Israeli government. The sit-in at the Cannon House Office Building rotunda, held by Jewish Voice for Peace, comes nine months after JVP’s mass protest in the same location, demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. 

“For nine months, we’ve watched in horror as the Israeli government has carried out a genocide, armed and funded by the U.S. Congress and the Biden administration have the power to end this horror today. Instead, our president is preparing to meet with Netanyahu and Congressional leadership has honored him with an invitation to address Congress. Enough is enough. Biden and Congress must listen to the people: We need an arms embargo now to save lives,” said Stefanie Fox, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace.

“The most important commandment in all of Judaism is pikuach nefesh, the commandment to save a life. Our Jewish tradition compels us to raise our voices and call on our leaders to do all they can to save the lives of Palestinian in Gaza now,” said Rabbi Abby Stein, an Israeli American activist and member of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council. 

Over a dozen Rabbis, wearing hand-made prayer shawls emblazoned with “Never Again for Anyone,” led the sit-in through prayer and songs of peace and justice. The hundreds of protesters wore red shirts with the message “Jews Say Stop Arming Israel” and “Not in Our Name,” and displayed banners calling for an end to genocide. Members from IfNotNow, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Shoresh (anti-Zionist Israelis in the U.S.) participated in the peaceful protest. 

“The Israeli government is using U.S. funding and weapons to slaughter and starve Palestinians in Gaza. Americans — including Jewish Americans — are disgusted by our own government’s complicity in this genocide. The only way to reach a ceasefire and build a just future is for the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Israel now,” said Jane Hirchmann, a daughter of Holocaust survivors and member of Jewish Voice for Peace.  

Despite President Biden’s calls for a ceasefire, he’s continued funding and arming the Israeli military. The United States government gives $3.8 billion to the Israeli military each year. In April, Congress voted to send more than $14 billion to the Israeli military. Since October, Biden has made more than 100 additional weapons transfers to Israel.  

“As a student, I spent the last several months calling on my university to divest from the Israeli military. Now that the semester is over, I’ve come to Washington D.C. to call on my government to stop arming Israel, which has murdered over 14,000 children,” said Cameron Jones, a Junior at Columbia University and member of Jewish Voice for Peace.  

For nine months, people of conscience all over the United States have called for an end to genocide. Polling shows that 52% of Americans agree that the U.S. should halt weapons shipments to the Israeli military. 

The protest was the latest in a wave of historic protests led by Jewish Voice for Peace that halted Congress, shut down Grand Central Terminal during rush hour traffic, took over the Statue of Liberty, shut down the Manhattan Bridge, disrupted the President’s Hanukkah Party at the White House, took over the AIPAC headquarters, and derailed the President’s fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall.

“It is utterly shameful that U.S. lawmakers would invite war criminal Netanyahu to address Congress. We are hundreds of American Jews calling on our elected leaders to stop funding and fueling this genocide,” said Sonya Meyerson-Knox, Communications Director, Jewish Voice for Peace. 

JVP staff and protest participants are available for interviews.

Image credit: Gerard Dalbon 

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Jewish Voice for Peace is the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world. We’re organizing a grassroots, multiracial, cross-class, intergenerational movement of U.S. Jews into solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle, guided by a vision of justice, equality, and dignity for all people.