American Jews Block Street To Protest Israel Embassy Move — And Gaza Bloodshed
Image by Getty Images
Dozens of chanting, singing Jewish demonstrators blocked a major Washington thoroughfare on Monday to denounce President Trump’s moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and Israel’s killing of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border.
Chanting “Stop the violence,” about 100 protesters from the IfNotNow movement blocked Pennsylvania Avenue, which links the White House and the white-domed Capitol, for about two hours in front of the Trump International Hotel.
“The shelter of peace must extend to Palestinians as well,” Sarah Brammer-Shlay, a 26-year-old rabbinical student from Philadelphia and a protest organizer, told the demonstrators.
Protesters, many wearing skullcaps and black T-shirts stating that “the Jewish future demands Palestinian freedom,” sang “We will build this world with love.” They also carried mock building parts and directional signs for an “Embassy of Freedom” to replace what they called the “Embassy of Occupation” in Jerusalem.
Speakers repeatedly updated the crowd on the death toll from the Gaza border, where at least several dozen people among the thousands protesting the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem were killed by Israeli troops.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
