Dozens of pro-Palestine protesters arrested outside of Biden interview
About 50 pro-Palestine protesters were arrested at NBC headquarters in New York City on Monday protesting President Biden’s appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” according to protest group Jewish Voice for Peace.
The group said hundreds of its members took over the lobby of 30 Rockefeller Center, where the show is filmed. Photos show protesters donned in black shirts reading “cease fire now” alongside signs calling for a cease fire. One sign reads, “Jews to Biden: Stop Arming Genocide.”
“President Biden’s deadly foreign policy has expedited weapons sales to Israel, ignored the World Court’s determination that Israel is committing genocide, suspended funding to UNRWA, and vetoed three UN ceasefire resolutions,” the group wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“The President needs to start answering to the American people – not the far-Right Israeli government indiscriminately bombing the people of Gaza, destroying 70% of infrastructure, including hospitals, universities and the electricity and water grids,” the group continued.
Pressure has mounted on President Biden to back a full cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, which he has so far refused. Biden has instead pursued short-term pauses in the conflict. He said Monday that he hopes the two sides will be able to agree to a six-week pause by this week.
Progressives have driven much of Biden’s opposition among Democrats regarding the conflict, with a coalition of pro-Palestine voters expected to carry out a protest campaign during the Michigan primaries on Tuesday.
Moderate Democrats have also raised questions about the amount of military support for Israel amidst its ground invasion of Gaza.
Over 30,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with nearly all the region’s 2.3 million population displaced and needing food, according to the United Nations.
The Biden administration has pressured Israel to step back its military operations, to little effect. President Biden has especially opposed an expected ground invasion of Rafah, one of the last remaining settlements in southern Gaza and host to an estimated 1.4 million people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that an invasion of Rafah “has to be done.”