{"id":1887,"date":"2023-11-05T11:09:52","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T11:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/?p=1887"},"modified":"2023-11-05T11:09:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-05T11:09:52","slug":"biden-you-cant-hide-tens-of-thousands-march-in-us-for-gaza-ceasefire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/1887.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Biden, you can\u2019t hide\u2019: Tens of thousands march in US for Gaza ceasefire"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Ali Harb \/ Al Jazeera<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Washington, DC \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Tens of thousands of people have gathered in the United States capital to demand a ceasefire in Gaza as Washington continues to resist calls for an end to the war despite the\u00a0mounting death toll<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The demonstrators in Washington, DC on Saturday directed their anger towards US President Joe Biden, accusing him of enabling genocide against Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiden, Biden, you can\u2019t hide; we charge you with genocide,\u201d the protesters chanted.<\/p>\n

United Nations experts have\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0of a growing risk of genocide in Gaza amid Israel\u2019s relentless bombardment of the enclave, which was launched in response to Hamas\u2019s October 7 attacks on southern Israeli communities.<\/p>\n

The UN\u2019s Genocide Convention defines genocide as \u201cacts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group\u201d, including killings and measures to prevent births.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration has urged Israel to \u201cminimise\u201d\u00a0civilian casualties<\/a>, but also insisted that it is not drawing any \u201cred lines<\/a>\u201d for how the US ally conducts its military operations.<\/p>\n

\"Masked
Thousands of protesters have rallied in support of Palestinians in Washington, DC [Ali Harb\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Biden has also requested\u00a0more than $14bn<\/a>\u00a0in aid for Israel from Congress to help fund the current war in Gaza, which has killed at least 9,488 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-governed enclave.<\/p>\n

Many protesters at Saturday\u2019s rally called for an end to US assistance to Israel. The demonstration stretched several blocks from Freedom Plaza, near the White House, eastward towards the US Capitol.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera spoke to many of the protesters. Here\u2019s what they had to say:<\/p>\n

Nidaa, demonstrator from Gaza<\/h3>\n

Nidaa, who chose to be identified by her first name only, said her family in Gaza is experiencing constant bombardment with no safe place in the entire territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop the war. Stop\u00a0the bombing<\/a>. Stop this genocide in Gaza \u2013 that\u2019s the number one message we are sending today, and I hope our government will listen to us. I hope our people in Gaza, in Palestine in general, know that we are here. Hopefully, they will hear our voices to at least to cheer them up a little bit \u2013 that they are not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Protester
Pro-Palestinian protesters have called for an end to US aid to Israel [Ali Harb\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Huda Alkuraey, Yemeni-American advocate<\/h3>\n

Alkuraey, who travelled to Washington, DC from South Florida to join the protest, voiced anger at the US and international reaction to the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalestinians haven\u2019t had freedom for over 70 years. And it\u2019s time that we make our voice heard, and we start telling the world that this is not right.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Horowitz, Jewish-American activist<\/h3>\n

Horowitz stressed the need for a ceasefire, calling the carnage in Gaza an \u201cabomination\u201d. He also slammed the Biden administration\u2019s call for\u00a0humanitarian pauses<\/a>\u00a0as insufficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be calling for a ceasefire, and instead they\u2019re talking about a \u2018pause\u2019, which isn\u2019t really a stoppage of anything. They\u2019re going to let the supply trucks through, and then they\u2019re going to continue to fight. It\u2019s a euphemism and the public doesn\u2019t understand that. It really is not a ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Protester
Pro-Palestinian activists have warned that the population of Gaza is at risk of genocide [Ali Harb\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ayan Yusuf, Somali-American protester<\/h3>\n

Yusuf came to Washington, DC from Boston to attend the rally. She said the Biden administration is not seeing Palestinians\u2019 humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to speak for the innocent people. We are here to let the world know that what Israel and the United States are doing is not self-defence; it\u2019s a genocide. And we\u2019re not supporting that regardless of religion, regardless of our ways, regardless of agenda. We are all human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Eisha Raja, Pakistani-American activist<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Raja dismissed a newly announced\u00a0push<\/a>\u00a0by the Biden administration to battle Islamophobia in the US as a \u201cdespicable\u201d effort to distract from Washington\u2019s policies in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to 100 percent\u00a0support a ceasefire<\/a>. We need this to end. We don\u2019t want to send any of our tax dollars to Israel anymore. We don\u2019t want to be supporting genocide \u2013 blood on our hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Protester
Some pro-Palestinian voters in the US say they will no longer vote for US President Joe Biden due to his support for Israel [Ali Harb\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maria Habib, Lebanese-American demonstrator<\/h3>\n

Habib, who was dressed in a traditional Palestinian dress known as thobe, said she is having a difficult time coping with the war and the graphic images of the atrocities in Gaza. She added that she will not vote for Biden and other Democratic candidates next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have no more votes \u2013 from me or my family or anybody. It\u2019s done. I did vote for them in the past because basically, we don\u2019t have a better choice. Now, it\u2019s not even a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Protesters
Pro-Palestinian protesters say the Biden administration is not recognising Palestinians\u2019 humanity [Ali Harb\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Siham Alfred, Nakba survivor<\/h3>\n

Siham Alfred, who was forced out of her home as a child during the establishment of Israel in 1948, expressed fear over the potential of displacement of Palestinians out of Gaza, denouncing Biden and other Western leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cShame, they are racist. They do not believe that Palestinians are equal to Israelis. I will never\u00a0vote for Biden<\/a>. He\u2019s a coward and a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By Ali Harb \/ Al Jazeera Washington, DC \u2013\u00a0Tens of thousands of people have gathered in the United States capital to demand a ceasefire in Gaza as Washington continues to resist calls for an end to the war despite the\u00a0mounting death toll. The demonstrators in Washington, DC on Saturday directed their anger towards US President<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1890,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887\/revisions\/1890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raqeeb.ps\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}