NY Officials Arrested at Protest of Senate Democrats Who Voted Against Israel Weapons Ban
Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via AP Images
New York State Assembly Member Claire Valdez and City Councilor Tiffany Cabán were arrested Friday at a ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’ protest inside the offices of Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
Valdez and Cabán were part of a large group of protesters occupying the lobby of the building, armed with signs reading “Let Aid in Now,” “Never Again is Now,” and “Jews to Schumer: Stop Starving Gaza.”
NYPD went on to clear out the lobby, making dozens of arrests. Those arrested, including Valdez and Cabán, were escorted away by police with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, chanting, “Let Gaza live. Stop starving Gaza.”
The protest comes after both Schumer and Gillibrand voted to reject two resolutions Wednesday from Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), which would have prohibited both the sale of $675 million in weapons (S.J.Res.34) and the sale of fully automatic assault rifles to Israel (S.J.Res.41).
The U.N. currently estimates that one in three Gazans is now going for days at a time without food, adding that hospitals have treated “more than 20,000 children for acute malnutrition since April.”
Notably, Schumer and Gillibrand were not the only Democrats to reject the resolutions, with nineteen Democrats joining Republicans to vote against S.J.Res.34 and seventeen Democrats voting against S.J.Res.41.
Valdez has previously called for Gillibrand to resign over comments she made about Zohran Mamdani.
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