The largest ever Jewish protest in solidarity with Palestinians.

The Israeli military has killed more Palestinian children in the past two weeks than in all previous military offensives in Gaza in the last 17 years combined. Yesterday, President Biden flew to Israel, not to help end the atrocious violence, but to pledge billions of dollars more of U.S. taxpayer dollars to Israel’s war on Palestinians in Gaza.

As Biden headed to Israel, we converged in historic numbers in D.C. with unprecedented heart, power, and ferocity, to say: Ceasefire now. Not in our names, not with our money.

This was the largest Jewish protest in solidarity with Palestinians ever.

A staggering 5,000 people from around the country descended on the National Mall in a “Jews against Genocide” rally — with only a couple days notice, in the middle of a Wednesday workday. We were proud to be joined by Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush, as well as author and activist Naomi Klein and actor Mo Amer, as well as our friends at IfNotNow, who had led us in an impressive shut-down of all 13 entrances of the White House on Monday.

Then two dozen rabbis led almost 500 Jews in a sit-in in the rotunda of a key Capitol building. As rabbis blew shofars and shared testimonials from Palestinians in Gaza, the thousands outside the building chanted “Ceasefire now!” and “Let Gaza live!” We shut down the street outside the offices of members of congress for three hours, elected officials and staffers watching from their windows as capitol police arrested the hundreds inside the building.

Dave Zirin, who joined us in the demonstration, wrote in the Nation: “Together, it created a cacophony of righteous trouble in the best tradition of our people. It recalled our ancestors who stood with the oppressed, who helped build the labor movement, and who devoted their lives to anti-racist struggle. For decades, that history often seemed distant. On Wednesday, it felt reborn.”

The crisis in Gaza only grows more extreme by the day. To shift the tides will require nothing short of a mass movement that refuses to rest — and refuses to let our government rest — until we end Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians. Grounded in that gravity, the thousands who poured out yesterday saw what’s possible when we take strategic, collective action. We are more committed than ever to escalating together from here.

Our organizing is having an impact.

The massive rally and civil disobedience yesterday, and the other actions we’ve been taking punctured the war drums of the mainstream media, garnering wall-to-wall coverage, including in the New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC, MSNBC, Fox News, al-Jazeera, and dozens of other outlets around the U.S., across the Arab world, and around the globe.

Since yesterday, three members of congress have joined the Ceasefire Now resolution led by Representatives Bush and Tlaib. In France, where pro-Palestine demonstrations have been banned, a presidential candidate tweeted out a photo of our protest with the hashtag “ceasefire.” And we’re generally seeing the war momentum break in key places with internal resignations over leadership refusing to support a ceasefire, from congressional offices to the State Department.

More and more people are waking up. This week, the director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs publicly resigned, saying the Biden administration’s “blind support for one side” was leading to policy decisions that were “shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse.”

Tell Biden: Ceasefire NOW.

Yesterday, thousands of us marched on Capitol Hill to demand that Biden immediately facilitate a ceasefire in Gaza.

We also placed a full-page ad in the New York Times — bringing our message to 740,000 print subscribers. This petition already has over 40,000 signatures. Add your name now to our demand for a ceasefire.

Tell Congress: Ceasefire NOW.

Over 3,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed. But most members of Congress won’t even so much as acknowledge that Palestinians are being killed, or trapped under siege.

Any day now, elected officials will begin voting on hawkish resolutions and military funding packages that will fuel violence and mass atrocities by the Israeli government.

Call Congress right now. Demand a ceasefire. Demand no votes on these hawkish resolutions and sending more weapons to the Israeli military. Call and then call again.

Power Hours: Collective action every day.

In this dire moment, we’re channeling our grief and rage into action to stop the march to war and call for a ceasefire. Join us daily for JVP’s Power Half-Hours for Gaza at 3pm ET/12pm PT as we gather in solidarity and take collective action.

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