“Not in Our Name”: Jewish Activists Take Over Capitol to Demand Ceasefire in Gaza

Hundreds of Jewish activists protested inside the Capitol on Wednesday, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. And just as quickly, Capitol Police began arresting them.

The Jewish-led protest involved thousands more protesting outside the Capitol, as well as about two dozen rabbis leading a prayer inside the halls of Congress. Organizers of the event estimated that 500 protesters were arrested, including the rabbis.

Activists inside the Capitol rotunda brought signs emblazoned with such slogans as “Jews say ceasefire now” and “Mourn the dead, and fight like hell for the living.” Those gathered frequently broke out into chants, proclaiming, “Not in our name.”

Capitol Police arrested the protesters, citing rules forbidding demonstrations inside congressional buildings.

Wednesday’s protest action, which kicked off at noon local time, was organized by a coalition of groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.

“Our movement will stop the genocide,” read one post from IfNotNow on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Our movement will end apartheid. Our movement will win freedom, equality, and safety for all.”

Outside the Capitol, several Jewish leaders, as well as Representatives Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib, gave speeches demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Representative Ayanna Pressley also later expressed solidarity with the protesters. All three progressives are part of a small coalition of House Democrats who have introduced a congressional resolution demanding “an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Israel and occupied Palestine.”

Dozens of Jewish activists were also arrested during a protest outside the White House on Monday. IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, which organized that protest as well, demanded that President Joe Biden force a ceasefire.

The latest round of violence in this conflict began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel earlier this month, killing hundreds of Israelis and taking dozens hostage. Israel has responded with a bombing campaign, as well by limiting the occupied Gaza Strip’s water, food, and electricity. The U.N. estimates that more than 3,000 Palestinians and 1,300 Israelis have died thus far.

This article has been updated.

Donald Trump might be the star of a new TV special soon: his upcoming D.C. trial.

NBCUniversal News Group filed a 43-page motion on Wednesday hoping to televise USA v Trump, the first criminal trial of a U.S. president.

“The American public has an extraordinary interest in seeing and hearing this trial of former President Trump,” the corporation’s legal team, fronted by Theodore Boutrous Jr., wrote in its application. “If ever a trial were to be televised, this one should be, for the benefit of American democracy.”

Trump faces four felony counts in D.C. for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results: two charges related to the disruption of Congress’s certification of the electoral vote on January 6, 2021; another for attempting to thwart the tallying of votes; and a fourth for conspiracy to deprive U.S. citizens of their right to vote.

In a request filed to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, NBC asked to broadcast the trial with audio and video, either with a slight delay by press pool or live using the court’s own equipment.

The effort faces an uphill battle—electronic media coverage of criminal cases has been prohibited in federal courts for the better part of the last century. So far, video access hasn’t been allowed during any of Trump’s pretrial hearings in the case, though an overflow courtroom with a video feed has been set up for reporters.

“No compelling or substantial government interest supports restricting public access to a minuscule number of reporters and a handful of members of the public who can physically access the courtroom in Washington, D.C. to see and hear what happens,” the NBCU legal team wrote.

NBCU’s latest filing isn’t the only attempt to bring cameras into the courtroom, however. Earlier this month, a media coalition including C-SPAN, CBS News, ABC News, and CNN filed a joint application to televise the proceedings. That bid included a request to the Judicial Conference, which drafts the rules and regulations binding federal courts.

Judge Chutkan has scheduled March 4, 2024, as the start date for Trump’s trial—right before Super Tuesday.

Fifteen days without a speaker of the House, and it appears that the Republican Party, and the nation, are back to square one.

Representative Jim Jordan lost the floor vote for the seat a second time on Wednesday, and by an even bigger margin than in the first round of voting, marking what many believe to be an end to the ultraconservative’s bid for the House’s most prominent position.

The Ohio Republican secured only 199 votes on Wednesday, two fewer than he got a day earlier. Twenty-two of his own colleagues voted against him.

It’s not a surprise that Jordan is bleeding votes. Republican opposition to the Freedom Caucus founder was tight ahead of the vote, with one House GOP member predicting potentially 25 votes against Jordan if voting went to a third ballot.

“The opposition is organized. We’re in tight comms, unified, and growing,” the unnamed member said, reported CNN’s Manu Raju.

Even one of Jordan’s own allies asked for “prayers” for the speaker nominee on Wednesday morning, predicting more losses for Jordan, reported Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman.

Jordan’s rise-and-fall candidacy highlighted a growing rift in the Republican Party, split between a handful of far-right members of the House and a silent majority of moderates.

The GOP began weighing new options even before the second ballot for Jordan’s speakership began. Extending Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry’s term is chief among them, though Jordan has spoken out against it, reported Fox News’s Chad Pergram. The move would extend McHenry’s temporary position to November 17 and increase his power ahead of the impending government shutdown next month.

“We’ve been at this for two weeks. The American people deserve to have their government functioning,” Jordan said to a huddle of reporters ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

There was one word sorely missing from President Biden’s big speech in Israel on Wednesday: “cease-fire.”

Biden visited Israel on Wednesday to express solidarity with the country and meet with leaders there. In a lackluster speech from Tel Aviv, he cautioned against Israeli aggression and condemned Hamas, but carefully avoided calling for a de-escalation in the conflict.

“Hamas committed atrocities that recall the worst ravages of ISIS, unleashing pure, unadulterated evil upon the world. There’s no rationalizing it, no excusing it. Period,” Biden said.

He made the distinction that the “vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas. Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people,” he said.

However, he only issued a soft warning to Israel: “While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it.”

“After 9/11 we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes,” he said.

Biden did not call for a ceasefire or de-escalation, and promised to support Israel. “I know the choices are never clear or easy,” he said.

“What sets us apart from the terrorists is we believe in the fundamental dignity of every life,” Biden said, but he made no mention of the egregious statements made by many Israeli officials suggesting they believe just the opposite, and no condemnation of Israel’s indiscriminate massacre of Palestinians.

Israel’s immense military response in Gaza has left over 3,000 Palestinians dead and over 12,000 thousand injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel continues to block Gaza from receiving any food, water, electricity, or humanitarian aid. On Tuesday, a bombing at a hospital in Gaza wounded and injured hundreds of people, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Palestinian officials have blamed an Israeli airstrike, but Israeli officials claim that a misfired Hamas rocket was to blame, a point which Biden echoed in his speech.

Instead of calling for a ceasefire, Biden made it clear that his priorities lie with the Israelis.

“For me, as the American president, there is no higher priority than the release and safe return of all these hostages,” he said.

Biden said that the violence “cuts deeper” in Israel, because of the “scars left by millennia of antisemitism.” He pointed out that the day of Hamas’s incursion was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

“The world watched then. It knew. And the world did nothing. We will not stand by and do nothing again,” he said referring to mass genocide. This sentiment sits in stark contrast to statements like those of Holocaust scholar Raz Segal, who has called Israel’s military response in Gaza a “textbook case of genocide.”

Biden’s silence fits with a HuffPost report last week that found that U.S. diplomats have been warned not to use the words “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed,” and “restoring calm.”

Biden’s speech also comes shortly after the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that condemned Hamas’s attack, condemned all violence against civilians, and called for a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza. The U.S. was the only country in the UNSC to veto this resolution.

Republican fears around Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent party pivot appear to be coming true.

In a potential three-way 2024 presidential election, RFK Jr.’s influence over independents would give President Joe Biden a seven percentage point advantage over Donald Trump, according to a new national poll by NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Marist.

The junior Kennedy, who began his presidential campaign on the Democratic ticket, drew the ire of Republicans last week when he switched to being an independent in his long-shot White House bid.

That decision is apparently leaching support among independents, and some Republicans, away from Trump.

The 1,218-person survey shows that between Biden and Trump alone, the campaign for the White House would be a tight race, with Biden securing 49 percent of the vote against Trump’s 46 percent.

However, when RFK Jr. is thrown in the mix, support for Trump drops to 37 percent and Biden’s number dips to 44 percent, with RFK Jr. nabbing 16 percent of the vote—a graver loss for Trump than previously predicted.

With Kennedy running as an independent, Democratic support behind Biden dips by five percentage points, while Republican support behind Trump plummets by 10 points, according to the poll’s findings.

The 69-year-old’s outsider campaign has curried favor with some members of the far right for disavowing aspects of U.S. history while touting vaccine conspiracy theories. But RFK Jr.’s numbers in the recent poll also speak to a growing demographic in American politics: independents tired of hyperpartisan politics who are looking for another option.

“Although it’s always tricky to assess the impact of a third-party candidate, right now Kennedy alters the equation in Biden’s favor,” said Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “What this does speak to, however, is that about one in six voters are looking for another option, especially independents.”