WASHINGTON—Ultra-rightist Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is getting today the type of “warm” welcome he’s not used to when he addresses the U.S. Congress.
Thousands of unionists, progressives—including progressive Jews and progressive Israelis who’ve flown to D.C.—supporters of Palestinian rights, peace groups, democracy activists and more, are ringing the U.S. Capitol. Many demand his arrest as a war criminal responsible for the Israeli military’s ongoing slaughter in Gaza.
All demand a cease-fire and peace talks with the Palestinians. Many advocate Netanyahu’s ouster and trial on corruption charges. As a sign set inside one D.C. synagogue puts it: “Israel out of Gaza. Bibi out of office.”
Prominent lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vt.—the only senator to ever live in Israel, long before Netanyahu’s reign—will boycott Netanyahu’s speech. They oppose not just his war on Gaza, but the Democratic Biden administration’s continuing military aid to the Jewish state.
U.S.-made bombs are being dropped on Gaza. U.S.-made assault weapons are used on Palestinians there and by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. And U.S. policy, backed by both major parties, supports the onslaught.
Sanders has twice unsuccessfully invoked U.S. law to try to cut off the military money. That will be another demand of the marchers.
UAW chartered buses from Detroit
Members of the Auto Workers chartered buses from Detroit, headed for D.C. Union President Shawn Fain made headlines earlier this year when he denounced the war on Gaza and demanded a cease fire, and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. UAW is a key part of the National Labor Network for Ceasefire. The network is also marshalling members for the anti-Netanyahu demonstration.
“The UAW has a long tradition of calling for peace and justice for working class people across the globe, and we live that tradition today. In that spirit, we call for an immediate end to the U.S. government’s funding and support of this brutal assault on Gaza,” Fain says.
“Since December, the UAW has been calling for a ceasefire and for an end to the war on Gaza,” the union tweeted in mobilizing members. “This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to come to Congress to ask our government to keep supporting this war.
“We reject this insult to all those calling for peace and justice. The UAW, along with the National Labor Network for Ceasefire, is joining the mass mobilization in Washington, D.C., to oppose Netanyahu’s visit, and to call for an end to all U.S. military aid to this war.”
“As a union that stands for equality, social justice, human and labor rights, we unite with unions and people of goodwill around the world in calls for a ceasefire, for justice and peace,” says Postal Workers President Mark Dimondstein. “The cries of humanity call for nothing less.” His union, the first big union to demand a ceasefire, is also part of the network.
“Wanted war criminal Netanyahu” will “request more U.S. aid for his ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” the National Labor Network for Ceasefire said in mobilizing people. “Providing this platform to Netanyahu, a war criminal carrying out a genocide as we speak, is a profound insult to the over hundred thousand Palestinians who have been killed or injured just in the past nine months.”
It’s also “a profound insult to the U.S. population, a majority of whom reject the ongoing U.S. collaboration with Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been united in their support for Israel but there is no reason why a war criminal, guilty of crimes against humanity, should be allowed to address Congress.
“We will call for his arrest in accordance with the International Criminal Court and for the end of U.S. aid and weapons to Israel. We will surround the Capitol to show Netanyahu is not welcome in the U.S. In its proudest moments, the labor movement has stood firmly on the side of the oppressed, and therefore on the side of justice. We raise our voices” in that tradition.
Other unions backing the ceasefire, and part of the coalition, include the National Nurses United, the Painters, the United Electrical Workers and the Association of Flight Attendants/CWA.
“The support for a ceasefire is overwhelming. We can’t stand by in the face of this suffering. We cannot bomb our way to peace. We express our solidarity with all workers and our common desire for peace in Palestine and Israel,” adds United Electrical Workers President Carl Rosen.
Netanyahu will use Congress “to bolster his political standing in Israel, wedge his political rivals here, and spin himself as a champion of peace and democracy–even as many Israelis, who’ve flown to D.C. on their own dime, protest him outside,” predicts Jeremy Ben-Ami, director of the Jewish pro-democracy, pro-peace group J Street.
“We’re making sure everyone understands the motivations of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Republican allies.”
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