Hundreds of Jewish anti-war demonstrators were arrested during a Passover Seder in New York as they closed a major thoroughfare, prayed for a ceasefire and urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to end U.S. military aid to Israel.
About 300 people were arrested Tuesday night at Grand Army Plaza, on the doorstep of Schumer’s Brooklyn home where thousands of mostly Jewish New Yorkers gathered for the Passover Seder. A ritual celebrated on the second night of the festival.
The seder was held just before the U.S. Senate passed a military plan that included $26 billion for Israel.
Protesters called on Schumer – one of the few Democrats to criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently – to stop arming the Israeli military, which relies heavily on U.S. weapons, jet fuel and other military equipment.
“As American Jews, we will not be taken advantage of, we will not be complicit, and we will not remain silent. Judaism is a beautiful, thousands-year-old tradition, and Israel is a 76-year-old colonial apartheid nation,” Jewish Voice for Peace organizer Morgan Bassichis told the crowd.
“This is our Passover away from Zionism. Not in our name. Let Gaza live.
The mass arrests followed the Seder ceremony. Speakers included journalist and author Naomi Klein, Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour, as well as students from Columbia University and Palestine who have been involved in the protests that have swept U.S. campuses in recent days. Several Jewish students suspended from classes at Nader College.
Rabbi Miriam Grossman of Brooklyn led the prayer before the first cup of ceremonial wine. “We pray for everyone under siege, for everyone facing hunger and massive bombings.”
“This Passover is different from other Passovers,” Klein said. “A lot of people are not with their families, but this movement is our families,” she added, referring to the political divisions that have divided Jewish families since the war began.
Klein said this after eating the bitter herb, which represents the bitterness of slavery, at the Passover Seder. “Our Judaism cannot be contained by a nation-state, because our Judaism is inherently internationalist. Our Judaism cannot be protected by the rampaging armies of that nation-state, because all the army does is sow sorrow and reap hatred, including Hatred of us Jews.
Jewish communities often use Passover to protest global injustice. Organizers said Tuesday’s protest was inspired by a 1969 Freedom Seder organized by Arthur Waskow on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. The original “Liberty Seder” attempted to connect the story of the Jewish exodus to the American struggle for civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War.
A 31-year-old Jewish female protester, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said: “Passover is about liberation. In our family, Palestinians have always been part of our celebrations and mourning. Now, the call for liberation More than ever…For Americans, the billions of tax dollars in the Israeli military bill are outrageous and horrific.
Since October 7, Jewish groups have staged a series of high-profile anti-war actions in the United States, shutting down venues from the Capitol to the Statue of Liberty. On Monday, the first night of Passover, Jewish activists held another seder at a protest camp in Colombia.
The Israeli offensive has killed at least 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including 13,000 children. On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack that killed approximately 1,200 people in southern Israel. Tuesday marks 200 days since the war began.
