Thousands take to the streets of the US capital to protest Israeli premier’s address to Congress

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Thousands of people took to the streets of Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the US Congress.

Security was tightened ahead of Netanyahu’s fourth address to American lawmakers and much of the Capitol area was closed to the public.

But nothing prevented people from protesting Netanyahu’s policies in the Gaza Strip and demanding a cease-fire in the besieged enclave.

Waving Palestinian flags, protestors chanted “Free Palestine” and “Cease-fire now.” They also held signs saying “Arrest Netanyahu,” “Stand with Palestine! End the Occupation Now!” and “Genocide is Our Red Line.”

One of the protestors, McKenzie Manns, told Anadolu that it's "wild" that Netanyahu is visiting the Congress, saying "he's committing a genocide right now."

"I think it is even more insane that our Congress welcomed him and allowed him to set foot in this country, and that's why we're here, because you can't murder an entire people and then come and present speeches as if you're a good child," Manns added.

She said America should not talk to a "war criminal,” adding "America finally stands for equity and inclusion, and it's time that we say, like, if you kill people, we're not going to talk to you."

Jane Hirschmann, a spokesperson for Jewish Voice for Peace, told Anadolu that on Tuesday, protestors took over the Cannon Rotunda inside the Capitol building to send a message to President Joe Biden that "he must not arm Israel."

"He can't call for a cease-fire and then send over 500-pound bombs. Just recently, and he sent over $14 billion (to Israel)...We, the United States, are (providing the) funding," she added.

Stressing that she is a daughter of Holocaust survivors, Hirschmann said: "I know what it means. I know when I see a holocaust and a genocide, Never again. Never again for everyone...Every life is sacred, and that includes the Palestinians, and that's why we're here today."

Scott McCullion said he has been protesting against Israel and Netanyahu for more than 15 years.

"I think he ought to be arrested," he said, adding America is "complicit in genocide."

- 'We should stop this occupation in its entirety'

A Jewish protestor, Rabbi Dovid Feldman, told Anadolu he is visiting Washington along with a convention of religious Rabbi scholars and students from New York and New Jersey.

"We are disturbed when we are seeing this war criminal standing, supposedly representing all Jews, and claiming that he supposedly represents the Jewish religion," Feldman said.

He stressed that Judaism and Zionism are not the same.

"He (Netanyahu) comes with claims that Jews are in danger from their supposed enemy, the Palestinian people, as if the Palestinians just want to kill all Jews and drive them into the sea," Feldman said, adding it is "false propaganda aimed at brainwashing politicians to blindly support the movement he represents."

Feldman said he wants people to understand that Palestine is not the enemy.

"We lived in peace with Palestine before the 1920s, before the invention of Zionism. The problem here is the occupation of Palestine. The difference of religions is not the cause to the problems.

"This occupation is, unfortunately destroying the people of Palestine and endangering the Jewish people. If we truly are concerned for a better future, we should stop this occupation in its entirety," he said.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive against Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

More than 39,100 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.