For the second time within a week, protesters were detained on Capitol Hill while calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
On Wednesday, dozens of Jewish protesters were arrested outside the offices of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
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Protesters were chanting “Let Gaza live” as Capitol officers escorted groups of people away from the Democratic lawmakers' offices.
According to IfNotNow, an American Jewish group opposing Israel's presence in the West Bank, 49 protesters were arrested outside the Democratic members' offices.
Hundreds of American Jews & allies are rallying at the Capitol today to call for an immediate #CeasefireNOW.
— IfNotNow???? (@IfNotNowOrg) October 25, 2023
49 of us were just arrested at the offices of @SenSchumer, @SenSanders, @RepJeffries, and @WhipKClark.
We're begging our leaders in Congress to end this bloodshed.
“We mourn the dead. And we fight for the living,” the group wrote on X. “Every bomb dropped on Gaza threatens two million Palestinian civilians, and two hundred Israeli hostages, with death. More bloodshed is clearly not the answer. Will Schumer, Sanders, Jeffries & Clark have the courage to say so?”
BREAKING: We were just arrested at the office of Dem Leader @hakeemjeffries.
— IfNotNow???? (@IfNotNowOrg) October 25, 2023
You hear us chanting "let Gaza live," because right now that is not the policy of our country.
American policy is to let the people of Gaza be starved, bombed, and driven from their homes. No more. pic.twitter.com/9xWkwTPU13
More than 300 Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow protesters were arrested last week while holding a similar rally, assembling inside the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called the pro-Palestinian protest at the U.S. Capitol last week "an insurrection" and aims to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for her participation.
Activists, staffers, and former aides are pressuring lawmakers to call for an immediate ceasefire, with nearly 300 alumni from Sanders's presidential campaign sending a letter on Tuesday to the progressive lawmaker, asking him to introduce a Senate-side ceasefire resolution. Tlaib introduced a congressional resolution in the House earlier this month.
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Rallies over the Israel-Hamas war have occurred across the country after Hamas terrorists launched attacks against Israel on Oct. 7.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claims 6,500 Palestinians have been killed in the war as of Wednesday, while the Israeli government says attacks have killed at least 1,400 in Israel.