Early in the morning, the demonstration was brought directly outside of Secretary of State Antony Blinken\u2019s home in McLean, Virginia. Demonstrators chanted, \u201cBlinken Blinken rise and shine, you\u2019re committing genocide!\u201d Last week, Blinken met with Israel\u2019s war cabinet in occupied Jerusalem, after which he urged Israel to limit civilian casualties. Many suspect that he gave the greenlight for Israel to end its temporary pause in aggression and resume full-scale attacks. The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza has crossed 17,700.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In New York City, a thousand demonstrators gathered in Foley Square in downtown Manhattan, outside of several major courthouses such as the New York State Supreme Court and the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse. Protesters then marched to New York City Hall, the New York Stock Exchange, and then to Washington Square Park, where the marchers merged with a vigil taking place in honor of slain Palestinian scholar\u00a0Refaat Alareer.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe stand here in the political center of New York City,\u201d said Claudia De La Cruz at Foley Square. De La Cruz is a Bronx-born pastor and educator who is running for President of the United States against incumbent Joe Biden. She pointed to the facade of the New York State Supreme Courthouse, which reads, \u201cThe true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey don\u2019t know justice,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know solidarity. They don\u2019t know peace. Because war is profitable. And they are completely disconnected from the majority of people in this country who say, we want a ceasefire now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Los Angeles, protesters held a rally in Holmby Park, outside of a private fundraiser held and attended by Joe Biden. Dubbed \u201cGenocide Joe\u201d by the Palestine solidarity movement, Biden has come under fire for furthering the United States\u2019 unequivocal support of Israeli war crimes. Biden himself has always upheld Israel as an imperial project of the US, stating in 1986 that \u201cwere there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Amidst Israel\u2019s war on Gaza in 2023, Biden has called into question the official Palestinian death toll, stating that he has \u201cno confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.\u201d Biden\u2019s Democratic Party has made numerous efforts in the US Congress to pass\u00a0massive Israel military aid packages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outside of Biden\u2019s fundraiser in Los Angeles, protesters surrounded the cars of attendees of the event. \u201cWhen [Palestinians] put an end to the Israeli occupation, we must here look upon ourselves, and take it upon our responsibility to put an end to\u2026 the world\u2019s worst purveyor of violence, the US empire,\u201d said Desmond Fonseca, of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/peoplesdispatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/IMG_9115-1024x683.jpg\")