Passover protest leads to hundreds of arrests.
Anti-war Jewish demonstrators call for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
Hundreds of Jewish anti-war demonstrators were arrested during a Passover seder doubling as a protest in New York as they shut down a major thoroughfare to pray for a ceasefire in Gaza and urge the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, to end U.S. military aid to Israel.
The arrests, totaling around 300, occurred on Tuesday night at Grand Army Plaza, on the doorstep of Schumer’s Brooklyn residence, where thousands of predominantly Jewish New Yorkers gathered for the seder, a ritual marking the second night of the holiday celebrated as a festival of freedom by Jews worldwide.
‘Stop Arming Israel’s Military’
Participants, including Jews, were handcuffed and removed from the scene for demanding an end to Israel’s attacks on Palestine.
The seder took place just before the U.S. Senate resoundingly passed a military package that includes $26 billion for Israel.
The protesters called on Schumer – who is among a minority of Democrats to criticize the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu recently – to stop arming Israel’s military, which relies heavily on U.S. weapons, jet fuel, and other military equipment.
‘Let Gaza Live’
“This is the Passover that we take our exodus from Zionism. Not in our name. Let Gaza live,” said Morgan Bassichis, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace, addressing the crowd.
The mass arrests came after the seder rituals. Speakers included journalist and author Naomi Klein, Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour and several Jewish students suspended from Columbia University and Barnard College over the protests that have rocked U.S. campuses in recent days.
“We pray for everyone besieged, for everyone facing starvation and mass bombardment,” Rabbi Miriam Grossman, from Brooklyn, led a prayer before the first cup of ritual wine.
“This Passover is not like other Passovers,” said Rabbi.
“So many are not with their families but this movement is our family,” she said about political disagreements that have divided Jewish families since the start of the war.Source: Newsroom