As Israel intensified a war that’s already killed more than 7,300 Palestinians and displaced a majority of Gaza’s residents, hundreds of Jewish American protesters and allies were arrested after taking over New York’s Grand Central Station Friday evening for a sit-in demanding an immediate ceasefire.
Chanting slogans including “no more weapons, no more war, ceasefire’s what we’re fighting for” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” human rights defenders took over the station’s Grand Concourse, while others hung banners reading “Never Again for Anyone” and “Palestinians Should Be Free” from the stairway to the East Balcony.
“While Shabbat is typically a day of rest, we cannot afford to rest while genocide is unfolding in our names,” said Rabbi May Ye. “The lives of Palestinians and Israelis are intertwined, and safety can only come from justice, equality, and freedom for all.”
Happening now: Hundreds of arrests at New York City’s Grand Central Station as Jewish demonstrators and allies call for a ceasefire in Gazapic.twitter.com/Srke1aT0kZ
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) October 28, 2023
The demonstration was led by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), with the participation of IfNotNow and other groups, as well as unaffiliated Jews and allies.
“We refuse to allow our own pain and trauma to be used to justify attacks against another people,” said Jay Saper of JVP. “We are here to say: Not in our name.”
JVP said New York state Sens. Jabari Brisport (D-25), Robert Jackson (D-35), and Julia Salazar (D-18); State Assembly Members Zohran Mamdani (D-36) and Emily Gallagher (D-50); and New York City Council Members Tiffany Cabán (D-22), Alexa Avilés (D-38), Sandy Nurse (D-37), and Chi Ossé (D-36) took part in the protest.
Artist Indya Moore, a signatory to the Artists4CeaseFire letter, said “I am here in solidarity with my Jewish siblings in support of Palestinians, and stand in witness with my ancestors, the Taino, African, and Spanish, colonized and colonizer – in memory of what happened to them, to raise our collective voice of dissent and demonstrate en masse that it is morally irrefutable that we need a ceasefire now and a call to end the genocide of Palestinians.”
⚠️ HAPPENING NOW AT NYC'S GRAND CENTRAL STATION: THOUSANDS OF JEWS AND ALLIES HOLD AN EMERGENCY SIT-IN, DEMANDING A CEASEFIRE IN GAZA. WE'RE TAKING OVER THE GRAND CONCOURSE. WE'RE REFUSING TO ALLOW A GENOCIDE BE CARRIED OUT IN OUR NAMES. CEASEFIRE NOW! NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE! ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/gyD3bqp4mJ
— Jewish Voice for Peace (@jvplive) October 27, 2023
“As the Israeli government starves and bombs and invades the people of Gaza in the dark, the actions we take these next days and weeks will define our lifetimes,” IfNotNow wrote on social media. The Jewish-led group added that “7,000 Palestinians are already dead and over a million more have been displaced” while “Israeli leaders continue to openly use genocidal rhetoric.”
“We desperately need a ceasefire now,” the group asserted.
Jews calling for #ceasefirenow have taken over NYC’s grand central station in the name of Palestinians of Gaza we say not in our name. pic.twitter.com/PsU4f10QLV
— Rafael Shimunov (@rafaelshimunov) October 27, 2023
The protest was the latest in a wave of Jewish-led peace demonstrations across the U.S. since Israel launched its retaliatory war following Hamas-led attacks on Israel that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and people from around the world, with around 200 others kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
On October 18, hundreds of Jewish-led protesters were arrested at the U.S. Capitol while demanding members of Congress push Israel for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Although 18 House Democrats – all of them people of color – support a resolution led by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) calling on the Biden administration to push for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire, President Joe Biden has thrown his full support behind Israel, declaring Wednesday that its government “has to do everything in its power” to defend its citizens.
Biden has also requested $14 billion in additional U.S. military aid to Israel, which already receives nearly $4 billion from Washington annually.
Meanwhile, only 10 House members – eight of them progressive Democrats – voted Thursday against a bipartisan resolution that expresses unconditional support for the Israeli government as it perpetrates what Amnesty International said are likely war crimes and hundreds of international legal experts warned could amount to genocide.
American Jews and allies led by @jvplive have SHUT DOWN Grand Central Station to let our political leaders that we refuse to allow business as usual while the Israeli military bombards Gaza.
CEASEFIRE NOW.
Join us on the right side of history: https://t.co/xTCIj93Ei5 pic.twitter.com/XGBRcIv3lg
— IfNotNow🔥 (@IfNotNowOrg) October 27, 2023
The Indypendent reported Friday that Metropolitan Transit Authority police were not allowing people to enter the station’s Metro North entrance, even if they had tickets.
“No worries,” said one sympathetic commuter, “I’ll take the train up to Harlem.”
Brett Wilkins is is staff writer for Common Dreams. Based in San Francisco, his work covers issues of social justice, human rights and war and peace. This originally appeared at CommonDreams and is reprinted with the author’s permission.
Right on for peace, people, truth and social justice!!!
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” New Testament, Old Testament, No Testament, they will be blessed, and are blessed.
MTG says Members of the Squad, JVP and other critics of Israel’s policy towards Arabs are Anti-Semitic. She doesn’t say what she means. She said Jews were responsible for space lasers. Arabs as well as Jews are Semites. MTG is an Anti-Semite since she hates both Arabs and Jews but hates Arabs more.
She is praying to God to let Armageddon happen soon.
Religious fanatics in both Houses. And do-or-die ideologues at the top. What could go wrong ?
This was a good demonstration by good people.
Biden has the power to stop the genocide.
We have the responsibility to make him use it.