April 17, 2024 (EIRNS)—Two U.S. Jewish organizations, Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, deployed several hundred people to protest the testimony of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the defense budget, with hundreds more outside the Congressional hearing building. Capitol Police arrested more than 300 for illegally demonstrating and 3 people were charged with assaulting police officers after the protesters descended on Capitol Hill to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The hearing was broadcast live on C-SPAN, where Defense Secretary Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown promoted war-waging and war preparation, naming Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as areas of actual or potential conflict, which they argued required passage of the supplemental budget proposals or America would lose all credibility. Both the Republican and Democratic leaders of the subcommittee gave full backing for the war policies and called for full Congressional support.
