‘Not in our name’: Hundreds rally at Space Needle to demand Gaza ceasefire

SEATTLE — Hundreds rallied near the Space Needle, calling for an immediate cease-fire in the war in Gaza.

Hours earlier, a suspicious package was left outside another Jewish institution.

This is the fifth time a package containing a white powder has been left at a Jewish institution in Seattle since the conflict began six weeks ago.

And again, Seattle fire determined the powder was “harmless.”

Now Jewish Voice for Peace is calling for a cease fire for the sake of besieged Palestinians.

And they deliberately chose the Space Needle as their backdrop.

They say they wanted to rally there to send their message of peace from the iconic structure to the rest of the world.

“We are blocking the main entrance to the iconic Space Needle in Seattle to say, ‘that’s right,’” said Wendy Somerson, co-founder, Jewish Voice for Peace, to cheers, “no more business as usual.”

There were speeches and chants.

“Not in our name!” the crowd chanted. “Not in our name. Not in our name.”

And music, too.

All of it in the shadow of the Space Needle, they say, to send a message they have been trying to get out for six long weeks: That these Jewish Americans are using their voices to call for an end to the destructive war in Israel, now.

“We’re here because the devastation is increasing,” said Michael Grant, Jewish Voice for Peace Seattle. “The urgency is increasing. The humanitarian crisis is severe, according to the UN. Starvation is at risk. Lack of clean drinking water. Not to mention millions of displaced and thousands killed in Gaza, including almost 5,000 children.”

It is that perspective they say their elected representatives in the other Washington need to heed, too.

The organizers wouldn’t tell us until the last minute where this rally would be held, for safety’s sake.

But those there say the anti-Semitic acts won’t end until the war ends.

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