Not Welcome: Jewish & Palestinian Activists Protest Netanyahu’s Address to Congress, 400 Arrested

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. This is “War, Peace and the Presidency.” I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

In Washington, D.C., thousands of protesters are planning to march on Capitol Hill today, busing in from around the country, to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress. There were a number of protests on Tuesday. On Capitol Hill, 400 Jewish activists, including over a dozen rabbis, were arrested during a sit-in inside the Capitol to protest Netanyahu’s visit and to demand an immediate U.S. weapons embargo on Israel. The protest was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace.

PROTESTERS: Let Gaza live! Let Gaza live! Let Gaza live!

TAL FRIENDEN: I’m a Jewish American. My grandparents survived the Holocaust. And growing up, I was always told that we should never let anything like the Holocaust happen again. That’s why I’m here today protesting the genocide of the Palestinian people and calling on our government to enact an arms embargo on Israel and send no more weapons to the Israeli military.

TALIA ERAESTER: We’re here to say that we don’t want our tax dollars funding genocide. We are willing to put our bodies on the line to say that our Jewish values and our values as people mean that we cannot be funding this.

AMY GOODMAN: Voices from the Jewish Voice for Peace sit-in inside the Capitol Tuesday. Palestinians in Gaza have also criticized U.S. lawmakers for inviting Netanyahu to address Congress. Kazem Abu Taha is a displaced Palestinian from Rafah.

KAZEM ABU TAHA: [translated] Netanyahu is embraced by the Americans. He is being provided with meals, food and drinks. He is being hosted in Congress while we are being killed and slaughtered. …. We are being slaughtered by American planes, American ships, American tanks and American troops. Everything that we are killed with is American. Biden blesses any operation and any killing and any massacre. The U.S. blesses it, Congress blesses it, Biden blesses it, and the White House blesses it. So the United States is not a partner. It is the reason for the war.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined right now by three guests taking part in this week’s protests. Noa Grayevsky is an Israeli-born member of Jewish Voice for Peace. Linda Sarsour is a Palestinian American Muslim organizer attending today’s mass protest. And Beth Miller is the political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action.

Beth, let’s begin with you. Describe what you did yesterday and what your demands are. Now dozens of congressmembers and senators, not to mention Kamala Harris herself, who is the person who would be presiding over this joint session of Congress, but because Netanyahu is addressing, will not be there.

BETH MILLER: Yes. Thank you so much for having me on, Amy.

Yesterday, Jewish Voice for Peace organized a sit-in at the Capitol to make it very clear that we, as American Jews, think it is absolutely shameful that congressional leadership has invited a war criminal, who is currently leading a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, to address a joint session of Congress. It is an affront to the ideals of human rights and of freedom and of democracy.

And in this moment, in this week, we felt it was absolutely critical Jewish Voice for Peace organize this protest to make clear that we, as Jewish Americans, are speaking out and saying that this cannot happen in our name, and, more specifically, to make clear that we need to keep the focus on what our government is doing. We are not simply watching something terrible unfold in Gaza. The Biden administration and Congress have sent weapons and billions of dollars in military funding to the Israeli government, that is using those weapons and using that funding to carry out a slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, almost 40,000 people killed, including 15,000 children, starvation. We’re on the brink of famine in Gaza.

And so, the message of this protest was to say we are calling for an arms embargo now. We, our government, the United States government, has to end its complicity in this genocide. And if we want to reach a desperately needed ceasefire, that means we need to pressure the Israeli government, pressure the Netanyahu regime, and say, “Enough. We are not sending any more weapons. We’re enacting an arms embargo now.” And that was the clear message of this protest.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Beth Miller, in previous years there’s been basically complete unanimity in Congress in support of Israeli actions. How do you assess what is happening this time, especially in terms of members of Congress either staying away or voicing their displeasure and their opposition to Netanyahu’s speech?

BETH MILLER: Yes. For so many years, there has been wall-to-wall, bipartisan, unquestioning complicity in Israel’s atrocities and human rights abuses against Palestinians. And right now I think what we’re seeing is that more and more Democrats in Congress are starting to catch up to where the Democratic voting base is. Most Democrats do not want to see our tax dollars funding human rights abuses, apartheid, and now genocide in Gaza. And so, you see — what we’re seeing now is more and more Democrats who are seeing that, actually, Americans and the Democratic voting base is done with this. We are fed up, and we are taking action, and we are demanding an end to this complicity. And for that reason, we’re seeing more and more Democrats start to take a stand.

And so, right now, today, that means people who are going to be boycotting or protesting that speech. And we applaud all of the members of Congress who are protesting and boycotting this speech. That is absolutely what needs to happen. And there are other things, as well, members of Congress who, for example, chose to vote no on the additional military supplemental bill that passed in April, members of Congress who are speaking out and calling for a ceasefire and calling for an end to this, the complicity of our government.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I’d like to bring in Linda Sarsour, as well. Linda, could you talk about your reaction especially to the decision of Vice President Kamala Harris to be absent in Congress from this speech by Netanyahu?

LINDA SARSOUR: Thank you, Juan.

I want to send a message to our movements. We have created the political circumstances to make standing behind Benjamin Netanyahu, a war criminal, untenable. Kamala Harris and her team knew, from the months of mass mobilizations, mass organizing and the immense support for ceasefire and for the Palestinian people coming out of the Democratic base, that there was no way that she could be in the same room with Netanyahu and engage in any ovations or any applause. So, that is a reason from our movements. We are the ones that created the space for Kamala Harris to decline to preside over the speech.

AMY GOODMAN: And talk about the organizing, Linda, that is going on today, as we hear about busloads of people coming in from around the country; yesterday, 400 Jewish activists, including a dozen rabbis, arrested in the Cannon Rotunda; today, thousands.

LINDA SARSOUR: This is the result of our young people, young people across this country, who have been leading mass mobilizations in every corner in every city, including here in Washington, D.C. This protest is not just about Benjamin Netanyahu specifically. And the demand is to the United States government: Arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. He is a war criminal, and the International Criminal Court is seeking to issue an arrest warrant. And there is leadership across the world that has said, “If Benjamin Netanyahu who sets foot in our country, we will arrest him.” Both Democrats and Republicans literally have invited and rolled out a blood-soaked red carpet for a war criminal. And we are here to send a message to the rest of the world that while our leadership cowers to a war criminal, we say Benjamin Netanyahu is unwelcomed here in the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to bring Noa Grayevsky into this conversation, Israeli-born member of Jewish Voice for Peace. She was there yesterday in the Cannon Rotunda as hundreds of people got arrested on the eve of Netanyahu’s address. Can you talk about also the hostage family protest outside? They, too, were calling for Netanyahu and for the U.S. to immediately sign off on this ceasefire deal and to bring the hostages home. You yourself know one of the hostages in Gaza right now.

NOA GRAYEVSKY: I do. Thank you so much for having me, Amy.

So, my cousin’s very close friend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was 23 years old when he was taken hostage from a dance and music festival on October 7th. We don’t know if he is currently alive.

And while I can’t speak for the immediate families of the hostages, what I can say is that it is clear that while this genocidal war campaign is waged against Gazans and against Palestinians and has killed over 39,100 people, probably many more, our hostages are being held in Gaza, as well, and their lives are in danger, both in terms of how they’re being treated as hostages and because they are in a war zone where there are an extraordinary number of bombs dropping and an incredible amount of violence.

We don’t know if our family’s friend Hersh is alive. We pray that he is. But ending this genocidal war campaign, while it will most, of course, positively affect Gazans, Palestinians in the West Bank, as well, Palestinians in the Palestinian diaspora, will also protect Israelis, both Israeli hostages and Israeli citizens.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Noa, could you talk to us about your own family’s history? You’re a Palestinian Jew, multiple generations in Palestine?

NOA GRAYEVSKY: Yes, of course. Thank you. So, the phrase “Palestinian Jew” is not one that is widely known and used, to my knowledge, but it is used to describe the small percentage, probably around 1 to 2%, of Jewish people and Jewish community that lived in the region of Palestine long before the state of Israel was established. My family has been in the region of Palestine for hundreds of years before the state of Israel was established, for most of those generations in the city of Jerusalem. My Jewish family members spoke Arabic, lived in integrated communities with Palestinians who are both Muslims and Christians.

And so, something that I think about often is how in 1948, during the establishment of the state of Israel, many people that my grandmother, great-grandfather, great-grandmother were friends with, were colleagues with, worked with, people who worked for them, you know, were displaced from their homes, their neighbors, their dear friends. In fact, my grandmother has told me that my great-grandfather worked tirelessly to try to bring people who were close to their family who were Palestinian Christians and Muslims back, back into Jerusalem, after 1948, unsuccessfully.

And so, when I see ceaseless bombs dropping, famine escalating, viruses spreading among refugees in Gaza and violence against refugees in the West Bank, I feel personally both responsible and implicated, because the same Palestinian Arab Muslim and Christian families and their descendants who protected my Jewish family for generations, and who were good neighbors to my Jewish family for generations, I imagine are those who are being slaughtered. And while they were my grandmother’s and great-grandfather’s and great-grandmother’s friends and neighbors, and while they were at times protected by their friends and neighbors and allowed to gain economic security and a fair and equal standing within society, I feel that it is my responsibility as the descendant of my lineage to make sure to be vocal and take risks to protect their safety.

AMY GOODMAN: Democratic Congressmember Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, said in a statement, quote, “Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress. He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court. Make no mistake: this event is a celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. It is a sad day for our democracy when my colleagues will smile for a photo op with a man who is actively committing genocide,” Congressmember Rashida Tlaib said. Linda Sarsour, we’re going to end with you. While Kamala Harris is not there today, not presiding over this joint session of Congress, and many dozens of congressmembers and senators are boycotting, she will meet with him tomorrow, as will President Biden. Your final thoughts? What do you want her to say?

LINDA SARSOUR: I just want to make sure that we put this on the record that Joe Biden is also a war criminal. So I was not even surprised to see that there was an invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress.

And yes, Kamala Harris will be meeting privately with Benjamin Netanyahu, and we want her to say the things that need to be said. Kamala understands what is needed. And if she wants to become the next president of the United States of America, she has to demonstrate to our base, to Arab and Muslim and Palestinian American voters, to pro-ceasefire voters across the country, that she is going to disassociate from the policies of Joe Biden.

She has to demand a permanent ceasefire, no temporary ceases, no — we want a permanent ceasefire. We also want the release of hostages, including Palestinian hostages. That is a very important demand that Kamala Harris needs to present to Benjamin Netanyahu. And she also needs to support an increased aid to the Palestinian people. There is famine. There is disease that is outbreaked all across the Gaza Strip. So we need to make sure that all routes are open. And Kamala has to reaffirm her commitment to the self-determination of the Palestinian people. We will not take anything less.

And we will continue to push her on an arms embargo. We have had support from members of Congress in ways we’ve never seen before. We need to stop all military aid to Israel, and we know that we have the support of the American people in this. The people in this country are suffering economically. Instead of sending billions of our taxpayer dollars to bomb and kill Palestinian men, women and children, let’s keep that money at home and help alleviate the suffering of the American people.

So, we’re watching Kamala Harris. We want to see what she’s going to do. We want to see if she’s different than Joe Biden, because I will tell you this much: The Democratic Party knew that it was untenable to keep Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, that they were going to lose key states like Michigan and Wisconsin and Georgia and Arizona and Pennsylvania because our communities were not going to vote for a war criminal. And so, our movements right now are wait and see with Kamala Harris over the next few weeks to see how she is going to be different than Joe Biden on Gaza. The killing continues. Over 90 people in Khan Younis just in the last 24 hours were slaughtered. And we want this to end now.

AMY GOODMAN: Linda Sarsour, Palestinian American organizer; Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action; and Noa Grayevsky, Israeli-born member of JVP, we thank you all for being with us.

Next up, we speak with attorney Ben Crump about a police killing of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman shot dead by police in her own home in her face when she called 911 for help. Stay with us.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: “Cheikhna Demba” by Toumani Diabeté and Ballaké Sissoko. Mali’s “King of Kora,” Diabaté, died last week at the age of 58.