Pro-Palestinian protest on National Mall continues calls for cease-fire

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered Friday on the National Mall to unilaterally call for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas. 

The peaceful protest was organized by a variety of advocacy and civil rights groups and featured a plethora of speakers, including rabbis, community leaders and lawmakers, who addressed the crowd, which echoed chants such as “cease-fire now” and “we will win peace.” A prayer also took place before two congresswomen spoke. Protestors waved Palestinian flags, and held up signs that read “stop the Gaze genocide” and “we can’t bomb our way to peace.”

Several protestors voiced continued criticisms of President Biden’s handling of the conflict and ripped his rare primetime Oval Office address on Thursday. 

“It is abysmal, and it’s a literal repeat of his 1984 speech of him having to create an Israel in order to justify our investment in Israel,” protestor Zeid Adiyeh said. “It has nothing to do with religion. It has nothing to do with actual policies. He is literally a joke of a politician.” 

Former Virginia State Delegate Ibraheem S. Samirah characterized Biden’s speech as a use of “extreme right-wing” talking points. 

“President Biden is parroting their talking points, not recognizing the majority of Americans want a cease-fire, the majority of Democrats want to not send any more aid to Israel, majority of independents do not want to send any more aid to Israel,” Samirah said. “And he’s gonna cost us our democracy in 2024.” 

Progressive Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only current Palestinian-American member of Congress, and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) addressed the crowd of protestors. Both lawmakers have been calling on Biden to work toward an immediate cease-fire. 

“Not all of America is with the Oval Office right now or what Congress is doing,” Tlaib said. “The majority of them want a cease-fire. So wake up, wake up members of Congress, wake up Mr. President, wake up. It is time now for a cease-fire.” 

“We’re out here showing that we are consistent in our love for all of humanity, all meaning all of humanity,” Bush said. “So we are calling for an end to the violence. We’re calling out here for cease-fire.”

Before the protestors started marching towards the White House, they were given flowers.

The permitted protest followed the one on Wednesday where over 300 demonstrators were arrested after flooding the Cannon House Office Building. 

During the speech on Thursday, Biden argued that U.S. support for Israel and Ukraine in their respective wars is essential to American national security. 

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to annihilate a neighboring democracy,” Biden said during his address.

Biden gave a warning for Hamas to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilian Palestinians because it was not allowed in over the last 10 days during which food and water ran out. 

“If Hamas does not divert or steal these shipments, we’re going to provide an opening for sustained delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance for the Palestinians,” Biden said.

The White House asked Congress on Friday for a roughly $100 billion emergency funding request that includes funds for border security, Ukraine, Israel and allies in the Indo-Pacific. The administration is seeking $14 billion to boost Israel’s defense and $9.15 billion in humanitarian aid to address Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and other needs.

The White House may have a tough time getting it through Congress, in part because there has been opposition to additional Ukraine funding by the House GOP, and also because the lower chamber is currently speakerless after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) lost the secret ballot on Friday. The election process that kicked off when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted more than two weeks ago has now restarted.