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dream defenders
40 Faith Leaders Lead Gaza Pray-In at House Minority Leader Jeffries' DC Office
"You cannot continue with business as usual while Israel commits genocide in Gaza with full U.S. backing. Cease-fire is the only moral choice, and the world is watching your next move."
Oct 24, 2023
As the death toll from Israel's relentless and indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza approached 5,800 Palestinians—including over 2,300 children—a group of around 40 faith leaders calling for an immediate cease-fire led a Tuesday afternoon pray-in at the Washington, D.C. office of U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith leaders and activists occupied the New York Democrat's office in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, where demonstrators opened their action with prayers for the thousands of Palestinians who have been killed since October 7.
Participants "highlighted the devastating impact of each bomb that has been dropped and each life cut short through a reading of nearly 200 names of those killed by American-made weapons, including entire families across generations," the organizers of the pray-in said.
"The actions send a clear message to the Democratic Party: You cannot continue with business as usual while Israel commits genocide in Gaza with full U.S. backing," the coalition added. "Cease-fire is the only moral choice, and the world is watching your next move."
The activists raised mirrors with the phrase "The whole world is watching" painted on the back in a symbolic move to compel members of Congress "to take a long, hard look at themselves and reckon with their complicity in Israeli war crimes."
Prayer leaders included Rev. André Greene of Varick Memorial AME Zion; Rabbi Alissa Wise; Imam Suhaib Webb; Rev. Dayna Edwards of Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation; Minister Jessica Anderson, a Howard University divinity student; and Rev. William T. Young of Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ.
Groups leading the event included the Adalah Justice Project; U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights; Jewish Voice for Peace; Dream Defenders; Rising Majority; and the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice.
"Today we stood at the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to ask for a cease-fire from the Israeli government because of the innocent deaths. We ask that he act swiftly in this moment of history," said Greene. "Peace must prevail! This is the moral thing to do!"
Wise said that "I am part of a growing, vocal segment of the American Jewish community that is pleading with our elected officials to not allow our grief to be used as justification for more deaths in Gaza."
"It is impossible to overstate the urgent need for Congress and the Biden administration to push for a cease-fire," the rabbi added. "Congressman Jeffries, as House minority leader, should play a key role in making that happen. Our prayers today were for peace, for a cease-fire, for justice before another life, another entire world, is lost."
Webb asserted that Democrats' failure to support a cease-fire "undermines their dedication to racial, economic, and environmental justice."
Like President Joe Biden, Jeffries has repeatedly declared his staunch support for Israel, despite a warning from hundreds of international legal scholars that Israeli forces may be committing genocide in Gaza.
According to a survey published last week by Data for Progress, 80% of Democratic and 68% of all U.S. voters believe the United States should support a cease-fire in Gaza.
However, as of Tuesday afternoon, only 17 other congressional Democrats had backed a resolution introduced last week by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) calling on the Biden administration to push for a cease-fire.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is asking Congress to approve $14 billion in new U.S. military aid for Israel—which already receives nearly $4 billion from American taxpayers annually, with almost no conditions attached.
"Every Democrat in Congress who is allowing Israel to carry out mass atrocities in Gaza should know that the world is watching," Adalah Justice Project executive director Sandra Tamari said.
"The only moral choice is cease-fire," Tamari added. "We will continue disrupting business as usual until Hakeem Jeffries and the Democratic Party stop this genocide."
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Khanna Pressured to Join Progressive House Dems in Backing Gaza Cease-Fire
"Every member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who refuses to call for a ceasefire to save lives should expect more disruptions," said one activist.
Oct 24, 2023
As the death toll from Israeli bombing in Gaza mounts and the threat of a broader regional war intensifies, Rep. Ro Khanna of California and other lawmakers are facing sustained pressure to join the small but growing group of House Democrats calling for a cease-fire in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Late last week, a Palestinian-led, multifaith, multiracial coalition of activists occupied Khanna's Capitol Hill office for four hours urging him to support the cease-fire resolution introduced by Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and other House Democrats. Thus far, at least 18 Democratic lawmakers have backed the resolution.
The organizers of the protest—which included the Adalah Justice Project, Jewish Voice for Peace, Dream Defenders, and Dissenters—said in a statement Monday that they arrived in Washington, D.C. last week for a scheduled meeting with Khanna aimed at convincing him to sign onto the cease-fire resolution.
"These good-faith efforts were unsuccessful," the organizers said. "Despite activists' demands that the Congressman meet the urgent need with immediate action before hundreds more Palestinians are killed, Rep. Khanna abruptly ended the meeting, sneaking out of the office during the sit-in through a secondary exit to meet his family—a privilege denied to more than one million Palestinians in Gaza who have been displaced from their neighborhoods and homes and denied access to food and water as Israel relentlessly bombs the strip."
The sit-in came days after Khanna's political director resigned over the California Democrat's refusal to support a cease-fire in Gaza, where Israel's military has killed more than 5,000 people in just over two weeks of bombing.
Khanna wrote on social media late Monday that the Biden administration, which has thus far opposed calls for a cease-fire, "must demand that humanitarian aid be allowed in for civilians in Gaza" in compliance with international law.
But advocates argue that calls for Israel to respect international law and permit the free flow of humanitarian aid mean little in the face of the country's relentless bombing campaign, which has wiped out large swaths of the Gaza Strip and decimated the enclave's civilian infrastructure—damaging and destroying schools, hospitals, residential buildings, and more.
Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adalah Justice Project, said in a statement Monday that "organizers will keep disrupting and occupying offices" to put pressure on lawmakers to support a cease-fire as the Biden administration asks Congress to approve an additional $14 billion in military aid for Israel.
"Every member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who refuses to call for a cease-fire to save lives should expect more disruptions," said Tamari.
"You can't be a champion of forgotten communities if you cheerlead this war and the consequent destruction of Palestinian communities at home and abroad."
Last week, more than 400 congressional staffers anonymously signed an open letter urging their bosses to support a cease-fire to halt the carnage in Gaza—a step that would have the support of two-thirds of U.S. voters, according to recent polling.
Individual lawmakers are also facing calls from their former campaign staffers to back a cease-fire, which analysts say is needed to both protect Gazans and prevent the conflict from spilling over into a catastrophic regional conflict.
More than 260 staffers from Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) 2020 presidential campaign have signed an open letter urging the senator to "demand an immediate ceasefire in Palestine and the return of Israeli hostages."
Additionally, as The Interceptreported last week, 16 former staffers from Sen. John Fetterman's (D-Pa.) campaign implored the senator to drop his vocal opposition to a cease-fire, writing in an open letter than his stance "has felt like a gutting betrayal."
"On the trail, your overarching promise was to 'Forgotten Communities'—people and places that get overlooked, written off, and left behind," the former staffers wrote. "You can't be a champion of forgotten communities if you cheerlead this war and the consequent destruction of Palestinian communities at home and abroad."
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Activists Arrested for Occupying Florida Gov. DeSantis' Office While Staff Literally Eat Cake
One group said the Republican governor's staff "is giving real Marie Antoinette vibes."
May 03, 2023
More than a dozen activists were arrested late Wednesday after occupying part of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' office to protest his "fascist agenda," especially his support for a new anti-immigrant bill.
Protest organizers said 14 people were placed under arrest Wednesday evening. Earlier in the day, dozens of members of the Florida-based and youth-led Dream Defenders and allied groups including Florida Rising and Showing Up for Racial Justice had entered the lobby of DeSantis' office in Tallahassee, where around a dozen people sat and locked hands in front of the reception desk.
\u201cActivists protesting Gov. Ron DeSantis and his policies, who were holding a sit-in at his office, are being arrested.\u201d— Douglas Soule (@Douglas Soule) 1683157317
The activists—who said they would not leave until they met with the governor and presumptive 2024 GOP presidential contender—were protesting a wide range of DeSantis' policies and actions, including his support for S.B. 1718, a bill passed by both houses of Florida's Legislature that would ban cities and counties from funding organizations that issue identification documents to people who enter the U.S. illegally.
The bill also bans businesses from accepting identification—including out-of-state driver's licenses—from such immigrants, and forces hospitals to record patients' immigration status upon admission.
\u201cFrom his Don't Say Gay bill to his 6-week abortion ban and now to his newest anti-immigrant bill, Ron DeSantis has made his fascist agenda crystal clear.\n\nWe won't stand for it and neither will the millions of young voters who're ready to punch back.\u201d— Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05) 1683140591
Video posted on social media by Dream Defenders shows at least one of DeSantis' staffers eating chocolate cake in front of the demonstrators.
One protester is heard saying in the video that "they sittin' here eatin' cake while the people of Florida are in crisis."
Florida Planned Parenthood Action tweeted that "as always, the cruelty is the point with this administration."
\u201c@GovRonDeSantis\u2019s staff is giving Marie Antoinette vibes..\u201d— Women's Voices SW Florida (@Women's Voices SW Florida) 1683140993
Florida Rising senior political adviser Dwight Bullard—a former Democratic state lawmaker—said in a statement that "Gov. DeSantis and Republican lawmakers have chosen to attack many of Florida's most vulnerable and historically marginalized communities with policies that attack who they are, who they love, and how and what they learn."
Showing Up for Racial Justice associate director Julia Daniel said that DeSantis "stokes division to try and make white people afraid, and I'm here to say that we will not be divided or tricked because we know that we are stronger when we stand together."
Common Dreams reported last month that advocacy organizations issued a travel advisory for Florida, with one of the groups, Equality Florida, citing DeSantis' "passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ+ community, restrict access to reproductive healthcare, repeal gun safety laws and allow untrained, unpermitted carry, and foment racial prejudice" in warning that the Sunshine State "may not be a safe place to visit or take up residence."
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