Activists arrested while protesting US military support for Israel. [Photo by Kristine Jones, courtesy of Adalah Justice Project]

Washington, November 21 (RHC)-- On Capitol Hill, more than four dozen peace activists were arrested Tuesday as they held a protest inside the Hart Senate Office Building demanding an end to U.S. arms transfers to Israel.  

Protesters led by Jewish Voice for Peace wore red T-shirts demanding education, housing, healthcare and jobs, “not genocide.”

Separately, in Chicago, more than a dozen Jewish peace activists were arrested as they nonviolently blocked escalators and elevators to shut down business operations at Caterpillar’s Business and Analytics Hub.  Caterpillar supplies Israel’s military with armored bulldozers used to demolish homes and businesses in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

The protests came on Wednesday, ahead of a vote in the Senate on resolutions authored by Vermont independent Bernie Sanders that would block the sale of U.S. tank rounds, bomb kits and other lethal weapons to Israel.

Sen. Bernie Sanders said: “The truth of the matter is that from a legal perspective, these resolutions are not complicated. They’re cut and dry.  The United States government is currently in violation of the law, and every member of the U.S. Senate who believes in the rule of law should vote for these resolutions.”

On Monday, one of the largest U.S. labor unions, the 2 million-strong Service Employees International Union, called on senators to approve Bernie Sanders’s resolution.   Union President April Verrett said: ”SEIU members have made clear that they want an end to taxpayer dollars being used to fund military aid that enables attacks against innocent civilians in Gaza.”

[ SOURCE:  DEMOCRACY NOW ]