Jewish-American Anti-Genocide Protesters Arrested in Washington D.C; President Netanyahu Addresses Congress

President Netanyahu and JD Vance call for the US to attack Iran

Truthout: “Not in Our Name”: 400 Jewish Activists Arrested Protesting Netanyahu Address

Hundreds of Jewish activists were arrested in the U.S. Capitol complex on Tuesday after staging a sit-in to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S. and address to Congress this week, carrying signs and wearing shirts with slogans like “Not in Our Name” as they demanded an end to Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide of Palestinians 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,” said Jewish Voice for Peace executive director Stefanie Fox in a statement. “Instead, our president is preparing to meet with Netanyahu and Congressional leadership has honored him with an invitation to address Congress. Enough is enough.”

“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,” said Jewish Voice for Peace member Jane Hirschmann, a daughter of Holocaust survivors. “The only way to reach a ceasefire and build a just future is for the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Israel now.”

Since Jewish Voice for Peace’s October protest, Israel has slaughtered nearly 40,000 more Palestinians in Gaza, including tens of thousands of children, according to official counts. The true death toll is likely far higher when accounting for the thousands of people who died under the rubble, the missing and presumed dead, and deaths due to factors like Israel’s famine campaign.

Benjamin Netayahu responded to the American Jewish protesters in Washington DC, claiming that they were funded by Iran.

Netanyahu: “For all we know Iran is funding the anti-israel protests that are going on right now outside this building, not that many, but they're there and throughout the city. Well I have a message for these protesters. When the tyrants of Tehran who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair are praising promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran's useful idiots.”

Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming gays for Gaza. They might as well hold up signs saying chickens for KFC!

Sam Thorpe, a Jewish American protestor, described his reasons for protesting.

More than a thousand people of really all faiths really came out. But I did talk to one gentleman. He said his grandparents survived the Holocaust, helped build Israel, but now he says he felt the need to come out because he does not believe (in) what the people his own religion are doing to the Palestinians.

Thorpe: “I see my job as carrying on their legacy. As Jews who fundamentally see their role as standing up for stateless and oppressed people all throughout the world. And I see no better way to do that than fighting for peace in a ceas fire in Gaza today.”

Earlier in May, following protests against Israel in Washinton DC, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance took introduced Legislation to empower the Federal government to punish anti-Genocide protesters at universities. Vance said that students hated their country because they protested Israel’s Genocide, and that were setting up “encampments.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator JD Vance (R-OH) has introduced the Encampments or Endowments Act to prohibit colleges and universities from receiving federal financial assistance if they fail to remove disruptive encampments from their campuses. 

“We cannot allow people who hate our country to turn campuses into garbage dumps,” said Senator Vance. “My legislation will force colleges to follow the law, protect their students, and shut these encampments down. If they refuse, they’ll pay a hefty price. It’s time to end this national embarrassment.”

Following a nearly-successful assassination attempt against Trump, Vance was named Trump’s choice for Vice President. On the same day a Florida judge dismissed charges against Trump for mishandling classified documents.

One can only wonder if Vance would serve Trump or Netanyahu.

J.D. Vance echoes Netanyahu’s hopes that the United States can be maninupulated into using the military against Iran.

“If you’re going to punch the Iranians, you punch them hard,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention began on Monday.

Times of Israel quoted Netanyahu saying Iran was behind all the Genocide of Israel, and that Iran was waging War against the Unites States:

“Iran is virtually behind all the terrorism, all the turmoil, all the chaos, all the killing,” Netanyahu said. America, “the guardian of Western civilization,” stands in the way of Iran’s maniacal plans to impose radical Islam on the world. Israel “is merely a tool” for Iran, added Netanyahu, quoting a Hezbollah official. “The main war, the real war, is with America.”

History should teach Presidents to be careful about their choices for Vice Presidents, such as JFK’s forced choice of LBJ, and Reagan’s of Bush.

If I was Kamala Harris, I would not select a pro-Israel, pro-Genocide, pro-War candidate as my VP choice.

Charles Wright