Protesters Block Midtown Manhattan Street, Demand Arms Ban for Israel

Jewish Voice for Peace brought its latest push over Israel arms sales to the Manhattan offices of Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, choosing the city’s most visible Democratic power brokers to pressure the Senate on a weapons vote tied to more than $600 million in bombs.

After security blocked an attempted sit-in inside the building, demonstrators moved into the street and sat in the middle of Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, stopping traffic for about an hour. Police detained about 90 people, with reports describing nearly 100 arrests. Among those taken into custody were whistleblower Chelsea Manning, actress Hari Nef and New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés.

The action centered on resolutions introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders that could block the sale of more than $600 million in bombs to Israel. Similar Sanders-led efforts have failed before, but a version brought during the summer drew support from more than half of Senate Democrats as images of hunger and suffering in Gaza intensified pressure on lawmakers. Schumer and Gillibrand were not among the Democrats who backed that effort.

Protesters said the timing reflected more than the Gaza war alone. They tied the demonstration to Israel’s air and ground offensive in southern Lebanon and to the broader U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, arguing that the military campaign and the arms pipeline were now intertwined. As the crowd chanted “fund people, not bombs,” the protest turned one of Manhattan’s busiest corridors into a stage for a broader tactic: moving Gaza-war activism from campus protest into the political and financial centers that shape U.S. policy.

Jewish Voice for Peace said the Senate leaders needed to listen to their constituents, and communications director Sonya Meyerson-Knox said the majority of Americans and New Yorkers want a resolution to what the Israeli government is doing. Inquiries to the offices of Schumer and Gillibrand were not immediately returned.

The arrests underscored how confrontational direct action has become in the fight over U.S. military support for Israel. By targeting Schumer and Gillibrand outside their own offices, protesters aimed to turn constituent pressure into a public disruption that lawmakers could not ignore, even as the policy fight over arms sales remained locked in the U.S. Senate.