Tlaib, Bush Raise 'Stop Sending Bombs' Signs as Biden Pledges More Aid for Gaza

Progressive Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush raised signs calling on President Joe Biden to "stop sending bombs" to the Israeli military as he pledged during his State of the Union address Thursday night to provide more humanitarian aid to Gazans and decried the war's grisly death toll.

"This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas," Biden said. "Thousands and thousands of innocents, women and children. Girls and boys also orphaned. Nearly two million more Palestinians under bombardment or displacement."

As expected, Biden announced that the U.S. military will construct a temporary port on Gaza's coast to facilitate the delivery of food, water, medicine, and other humanitarian assistance as Israel obstructs aid shipments on the ground, fueling the spread of malnutrition and disease. Critics blasted the plan as a PR stunt that wouldn't do nearly enough to relieve one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in modern history.

"A U.S. port delivering meager amounts of humanitarian aid and empty rhetoric mean nothing when they are delivered alongside U.S. bombs," said Jewish Voice for Peace Action late Thursday.

The president also called for a six-week cease-fire—far from the "lasting cease-fire" that Tlaib and Bush demanded during Biden's speech.

"The only cease-fire that is morally acceptable is a lasting cease-fire," Bush wrote on social media. "It is inhumane to pause the violence for six weeks and then continue sending bombs right after."

While decrying the immense suffering in Gaza as "heartbreaking," Biden did not acknowledge the critical role that U.S. weapons have played in Israel's monthslong assault. Since the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, the Biden administration has quietly approved more than 100 separate arms sales to the Israeli government, which has used American weaponry to massacre civilians.

Ahead of Biden's speech, hundreds of activists demanding an arms embargo on Israel blocked the route of the president's motorcade as he traveled to the U.S. Capitol.

"The president claims he's trying to stop the violence while providing the money, weapons, and diplomatic cover that enables it to continue, against the will of the American people," Brittany DeBarros, member of About Face: Veterans Against the War, said Thursday. "We demand justice for the Palestinian people, and for our neglected communities who are left to suffer while our taxes are sent to destroy others."