They marched on the White House to make their demands clear: a Biden-brokered ceasefire — now; the release of hostages held by Hamas militants; more forceful American condemnation of Israel’s bombing of Gaza; and, eventually, major changes to the current Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians.
The protestors, gathered Monday afternoon by progressive Jewish American activist organizations, represented various segments of the US political left: Palestinian and Israeli Americans, Jewish and Muslim people, longtime activists, and newer allies sympathetic to a more nuanced position of peace and reform for Israel and Palestine.
But they also represent a more mainstream progressive vision of Palestinian liberation and anti-Zionism than the one elevated in the days after the Hamas attack last week. Early news coverage, social media algorithms, and politicians and commentators from both major parties zeroed in on protests celebrating Hamas, social media posts by far-left groups, and open letters and rallies organized on college campuses as the true face of the American left. But many of these activists and organizers have spent the last week rebutting that image, refocusing the political and media narrative about the consequences of the Israel-Hamas war and American complicity, and building up support for American diplomacy from the grassroots and in Washington.
This wasn’t the first major demonstration in the capital — a weekend protest organized by the pro-Palestinian advocacy group American Muslims for Palestine also drew thousands — but these anti-war protestors marched to the White House as their calls picked up institutional recognition and support in the halls of Congress. On Monday, 13 progressive members of Congress — not just the Squad — signed on to a resolution calling on the Biden administration to broker an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine and urge de-escalation in order to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
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