Not in my name. It is a phrase that has become common in almost all armed conflicts in the world. This Wednesday they chanted it in the United States, in one of its centers of power, the Washington Capitol, assaulted by half a thousand Jewish-American activists.
Protesters occupied the US Congress building to demand lawmakers and the government press for a ceasefire in Gaza, which has been bombed by Israel since the Hamas attack on October 7.
Wearing black T-shirts with the words “Jews say ceasefire now” and “Not in our name,” the activists sat clapping and singing in the rotunda of the Cannon Building, one of the congressional buildings with large banners proclaiming “Stop the Fire.” fire” and “Let’s let Gaza live.”
The reaction of the Capitol Police was known on social networks when they published on X the arrest of several people. «Protests are not allowed inside Congress buildings. “We warned the protesters that they should stop demonstrating and when they did not comply, we began arresting them.”
The mobilization was called by the Jewish Voice for Peace movement. Before the protest, hundreds of people gathered on the National Mall, near the Capitol, and then went to the Cannon Building and urged Joe Biden’s administration to advocate for a ceasefire.
“Biden is really the only one who has the power to put pressure on Israel right now, and he must use that power to save innocent lives,” Hannah Lawrence, 32, from the state of Vermont, told AFP. “If she could send a message to the president, she would tell him: ‘Open your eyes, look at what is happening in Gaza.’ If he wants to be able to look in the mirror, he must stand up and put an end to the genocide,’” said Rabbi Linda Holtzman, 71, from Philadelphia.
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