Gaza cease-fire demonstrators stage rush-hour protest in US capital

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Protesters gathered outside Union Station in Washington, DC during Thursday rush hour to demand a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags chanted against President Joe Biden while unfurling banners saying “Free Palestine,” "We See Your Silence Ceasefire Now!" "End All US Aid to Israel!" "No to Occupation & Apartheid!" "End the Siege of Gaza Now,” and "Judaism Demands Freedom for Gaza and All Palestine."

One of the protesters at the transport hub, Sean Blackmon, told Anadolu that every year, billions of US taxpayers’ dollars go to fund Israel's "facilitated genocide" of Palestinians.

"This protest is one among many. It is part of a movement that is designed to continue to put pressure on the US to end support for Israeli apartheid," he added.

Protester Shireen Awad, 24, told Anadolu that they demand an immediate cease-fire.

"Enough is enough. Over 26,900 Palestinian have been murdered. We demand an end to this," Awad said, adding they will continue to protest until a cease-fire is reached.

Separately, US Capitol police arrested several protestors as they obstructed five major intersections in DC during the morning rush hour.

- 'Jewish religion misused to justify all these crimes'

A Jewish protestor, Rabbi Dovid Feldman, told Anadolu that he is very "disturbed" by the "genocide" which has been going on for almost 120 days.

"As human beings, we are supposed to stand up and to condemn all (bad things) taking place," Feldman said, adding that tens of thousands of people are being "mass murdered."

"This is something that we cannot allow to continue. As Jewish people, we are embarrassed when all of this is being done supposedly in our name and in our religion.

"The Jewish religion is misused to justify all these crimes, but, we say: No!" he said, stressing that masses of Jewish people worldwide condemn what is taking place in Palestine and Gaza.

"This has to stop. Obviously, we need permanent a cease-fire in Gaza, but a permanent cease-fire is not enough. We have to lift the blockade on Gaza, we have to end the entire occupation of Palestine," he said.

Underlining that the state of Israel does not represent all Jews, Feldman said: "The Jewish people should not be misused to justify all these crimes."

These demonstrations are "very important," he said, adding: "We have to bring to the attention of the messes to realize that what is happening is wrong."

"One day, hopefully, the general public will change their minds and they will wake up to realize that this is not human, this is not Jewish, this is not just. All of this is criminal. All of this has to stop," he said.

Israel has mounted a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, killing over 27,000 Palestinians and injuring more than 66,000, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.