Jewish New Yorkers Target Schumer Over Israel Aid

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About 100 pro-Palestinian Jewish protesters were arrested Tuesday night after blocking traffic near the Brooklyn home of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

At the time, Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., was in Washington, D.C., preparing for the final vote on a foreign aid package that included $26 billion to Israel.

The foreign aid package passed the U.S. Congress late Tuesday.

The demonstrators, in Grand Army Plaza to call for an end to U.S. military support of Israel, were about a block away from Schumer’s home on the second night of Passover, The New York Times reported.

The protesters gathered around a circular banner representing a Seder plate, which included the words “Jews say stop arming Israel,” the Times said.

“This will not be a Seder as usual. These are not usual times,” Morgan Bassichis, a member of the progressive group Jewish Voice for Peace, said to attendees.

Authorities arrested the protesters without incident and led them onto city buses that were used to transport them to booking, the New York Post reported.

“Thousands of US Jews with (Jewish Voice for Peace), (IfNotNow), and (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice) are holding an emergency Passover seder, shutting down the streets of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s home to demand he stop sending weapons to the Israeli government as it carries out a genocide,” Jewish Voice for Peace NYC posted on X.

Stefanie Fox, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, said the protest was held during Passover in order to send a message to Schumer, The Times reported.

“Everything in our tradition compels us to bring everything we have to stopping these historic atrocities being done in our names and with our tax dollars,” Fox told The Times on Monday.

The Post reported that protesters also projected pro-Palestinian messages on the Brooklyn Public Library, including “Stop Funding Genocide” and “No One Is Free Until Everyone Is Free.”

Ant-Israel protests have erupted around the country since Israel retaliated for Hamas’ attack, massacre, and hostage-taking on Oct. 7.

Protests have forced Columbia University to announce that all classes will go hybrid until the end of the semester.

The New York Police Department announced that 133 people were taken into custody on Monday after protests at New York University.