More than 40 people protesting the war and worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza were arrested outside the Trump International hotel in New York City on Monday evening.
The protest, organized by IfNotNow, a Jewish-American anti-occupation group, had begun earlier in the evening at Columbus Circle. Hundreds gathered under the banner “Trump: Jews Say No More” to demand an end to the war in Gaza and that the Trump administration pressure Israel to allow greater humanitarian aid to enter into territory, as health officials there continue to report deaths from starvation and malnutrition.
“Let’s not mince words, the Israeli government’s blockade of Gaza is a policy of ethnic cleansing by way of forced mass starvation,” said Morriah Kaplan, IfNotNow’s interim executive director, during her speech to the crowd. “It is an unbearable, unspeakable, unfathomable affront to our shared humanity and those who are carrying it out and are deploying our Jewish symbols, language and traditions to defend and justify it, which is why I’m heartened to see such a range of Jews and Jewish organizations coming together today to say with one voice that we oppose these atrocities, not in spite of our Judaism, but for many of us, because of it.”