WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- A group of protesters repeatedly interrupted a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday where Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin were speaking about a $106 billion budget request, of which $14bn would go to the occupying regime of Israel amid its bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza.
Numerous protesters repeatedly yelled “Ceasefire now!” with their hands covered with red paint - a reference that the Biden administration had “blood on its hands” - over Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians.
One at a time the activists waited for Blinken to begin his testimony before shouting over him.
“Not one senator is calling for a ceasefire, shame on you all!” one protester yelled.
After several individual disruptions, the large group stood up and shouted: “Blinken you are funding genocide!” and “Blinken you have blood on your hands!”
“From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go! Defund genocide! Let Gaza live,” the group chanted, referencing the budget requesting allocating funds to the U.S. southern border.
Gabriela Viera, a senior advocacy manager at Detention Watch Network, told Middle East Eye that “militarizing our borders and incarcerating migrants has never made our communities safer, and neither has propagating this agenda abroad”.
Seven activists were arrested for their participation in the protest. A separate disruption was also organized by the anti-war group CodePink.
During each moment of disruption, Blinken stopped his speech to wait for the activists to be removed before continuing.
The protest, organized by Muslims for Just Futures, Detention Watch Network, and several other progressive groups, is one of many disruptions organized by pro-Palestine activists across the country.
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, around 200 protesters demonstrated outside of the Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems. Nine people were arrested, according to local news reports.
The Biden administration has refused to call for a ceasefire to the conflict so far and has instead offered support to the Zionist regime’s aerial bombardment of Gaza and a ground incursion of the Strip.
Last week, the Biden administration put forward the emergency budget request, which would include money for Ukraine’s fight against Russia, funds for the U.S. southern border, as well as money for Israel.
While the bulk of the funding is for Ukraine, it still includes a hefty $14.3 billion for the occupying regime of Israel.
The budget request includes funds for the “potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries”.
In a October 20 letter, the Office of Budget and Management said the current crisis “could well result in displacement across border and higher regional humanitarian needs and funding may be used to meet evolving programming requirements outside of Gaza”.
The letter, coupled with a push for Egypt to open a humanitarian corridor and the reluctance of U.S. officials to call for Israeli restraint, has raised fears that the White House is endorsing the mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.