Dec. 13:
Hours before a Hannukah event at the White House in the US, a group of 18 Jewish elders chained themselves to the gates of the White House on Monday, calling for the Biden administration to stop funding Israel’s genocide and in support of a permanent ceasefire.
These women, in their sixties, seventies and even eighties, travelled to Washington DC for the protest, and said they wanted to show the world that the ceasefire movement, which has largely been covered in the media as youth-driven, also includes seniors.
Carrying a banner with the words “Stop the Genocide, Ceasefire Now!”, these members of Jewish Elders for Palestinian Freedom also attempted to read out the names of the 17,000 Palestinians whom the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed since October, beginning with 93-year-old Mahdiya Abdullah Abdul Wahab Halawa, who was a survivor of the 1948 Nakba.
Organized in association with The Jewish Voice for Peace, the 18 members were arrested and charged with federal trespassing crimes.
Speaking to Truthout magazine, 65-year-old Sarah Schulman said, “The U.S. is arming and funding this massacre of Palestinians – not for Jewish safety, but for its own interests,” while others also reiterated that the starvation methods used by Israel were part of its slaughter, adding that it was imperative to act. Esther Farmer, a spokesperson for the group also told Anadolu: “We’re here today because as Jewish elders, we know what genocide looks like, and we know what it feels like. It’s in our memories. It’s in our bodies.”