Demonstrators Block Presidential Motorcade in NYC to Demand Ceasefire in Gaza

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Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation

More than 500 Jewish protesters and their allies gathered in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on Wednesday to demonstrate against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire.

The protest took place while President Joe Biden was attending a fundraiser at the Met, his first visit to New York City since October 7. Demonstrators called on the president to pressure Israel to agree to a ceasefire, and demanded that he stop providing funds to aid in Israel’s relentless military and starvation campaign against Palestinians in Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed nearly 28,000 Palestinians — including at least 12,150 children — since October 7, injuring another 67,317. Thousands more are believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Outside of the Met, protesters chanted “Ceasefire Now” and held banners encouraging Biden to demand an end to the genocide. They also unfurled a 50-foot long banner that read “Let Gaza Live,” which could be seen from the windows of the room where the fundraiser took place.

Demonstrators blocked the presidential motorcade during the protest, resulting in around 100 arrests by New York City police.

Several participants in the demonstration condemned Biden’s role in the genocide.

“As Jewish New Yorkers we want to make crystal clear that President Biden is not welcome in our city while he continues to fund and arm the Israeli government’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” read a statement from Jay Saper of Jewish Voice for Peace that was shared with Truthout.

Demonstrators also rejected the Biden administration’s attempts to justify the U.S.’s participation in the genocide.

“Biden says that he is funding and arming Israel for Jewish safety. We’re here to call his bluff,” said Eve Feldberg of Jewish Voice for Peace. “The President is advancing the US’s own military interests. And the price has been the lives of almost 30,000 Palestinians.”

Biden is refusing to respond to “the majority of his base that is calling for a ceasefire,” added demonstrator Maya Edery, and is instead “meeting with corporate donors behind closed doors” in New York.

Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, Students for Justice in Palestine, Within Our Lifetime, and countless other organizations have taken to the streets in dozens of cities across the U.S. since October 7, demanding that Israel stop the genocide.

Organizers engaged in disruptive protests in eight major American cities in mid-December, for example, blocking vehicles on bridges in Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Chicago.

In November, over 1,000 Jewish Voice for Peace protesters held a demonstration at the Israeli consulate offices in Chicago, which are located in the same building as the Ogilvie Transportation Center, a train station that was also temporarily shut down by protesters.

And in October, just days after Israel began its bloody siege of Gaza, Jews, Palestinians and allies held a massive rally at the U.S. Capitol building — part of a broader protest action that aimed to have “ten thousand American Jews…lead a week of massive protests” against the genocide.