Hundreds of pro-Palestine Jewish activists have taken to Wall Street in New York to protest against US support for what they call Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza. Scores of demonstrators have been arrested, police say.
A group of protesters wearing red shirts and holding banners reading “Jews say stop arming Israel” and “Gaza bombed, Wall Street Booms” gathered outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Other slogans included “Fund FEMA not genocide,” in reference to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has been grappling with the aftermath of two recent hurricanes that struck the southeastern US.
The demonstration, organized by Jewish Voices for Peace, drew an estimated 500 people. The New York Police Department said it took 206 people into custody after protesters breached a security fence. Clips from social media show activists conducting a sit-down protest, with officers dragging some of them away, and with no signs of clashes or active resistance.
Writing on X, the group said: “The US is not arming Israel to protect Jews. The US is arming Israel for its own profit and control of the region… [President Joe] Biden wants us to believe that his $18 billion slush fund this year for the Israeli government is for ‘Jewish safety.’ As Jews, we reject this myth with every fiber of our beings. We refuse to let our traditions, histories, and identities be used to massacre Palestinians.”
The protest came after the US announced on Sunday the new deployment of missile defense assets to Israel, as well as troops. The Pentagon said the reinforcements are meant to protect the Jewish state in the aftermath of “Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel.”
Since the start of the Hamas-Israel war last October, pro-Palestinian protests – which have often turned violent – have swept the US, with demonstrators denouncing what they say are indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Gaza. Israel launched a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave in response to Hamas’ surprise attack in October last year. In recent weeks, tensions also escalated between Israel and Hezbollah, after West Jerusalem assassinated numerous top officials of the organization and started a ground operation in Lebanon.