Demonstrators rally again outside U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s office in Philly, amid increasing protests over Gaza

Protesters resurfaced calls for U.S. Sen. John Fetterman to back a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war on Thursday, shutting down the street in front of the freshman senator’s Philadelphia office for about three hours amid a week of increasing local demonstrations in support of the besieged Gaza Strip.

About 200 demonstrators from progressive Jewish groups IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as the advocate network Philly Palestine Coalition, rallied on the 200 block of Chestnut Street in front of Fetterman’s office at the U.S. Custom House building. It was the second-straight week that protesters targeted the Old City office — this time blocking off car traffic and deploying an oversize caricature of Fetterman wearing a shirt that accused him of being “silent on genocide.”

Law enforcement officers rerouted traffic around the demonstration. Organizers said no arrests were made, and the crowd dispersed shortly after 4 p.m.

Anissa Weinraub, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace who sat in the middle the street, said pressure at Fetterman’s office could persist on a weekly basis.

“A cease-fire is the lowest bar at this point … Palestinian human lives are precious, and we need to stop this, so we’re going to have to put our bodies and our voices on the line,” said Weinraub, who was arrested at a rally on Capitol Hill calling for a cease-fire last week.

Fetterman has stood behind Israel in the wake of the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas attack and defended its military retaliation in the Gaza Strip, where more than two million people have lived under blockade since 2007.

Fetterman on social media Wednesday appeared to rebuke criticism that he was taking sides. ”Two things can be true at the same time: I unequivocally stand with Israel and demand the immediate release of all hostages,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I grieve for all innocent Palestinian lives lost. We must minimize suffering in Gaza and our humanitarian aid efforts must match the need.”

A cease-fire, Fetterman said last week, would be up for consideration “after Hamas is neutralized.”

Those views were echoed across partisan lines in Washington as the Senate voted overwhelmingly to back Israel’s war on Hamas. Last week, Fetterman also supported establishing a humanitarian aid corridor to the resource-starved Gaza Strip, where the United Nations reported over 1.4 million people have been displaced due to ongoing air strikes and an imminent ground invasion.

Former U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey was accustomed to protests nearly every week at his Philadelphia office over issues ranging from health care to immigration. But it’s a new phenomenon for Fetterman, who has been targeted more than other congressional leaders, including fellow Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who share his stances on the war.

Organizers expressed some sense of betrayal by the former Braddock mayor, who was elected last year on a broad wave of moderate and progressive Democratic support.

“[Fetterman’s] statements dehumanize Palestinians and do not stand up for the progressive values that Senator Fetterman espouses, and for which he was elected to this office,” Hilah Kohen, another Jewish Voice for Peace organizer, said Thursday.

The rally adds to an already busy week in the streets of Philadelphia, as reverberations from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to intensify throughout the region as the death toll in Gaza rises. Israel said more than 1,400 civilians and soldiers were killed on Oct. 7, and over 200 hostages are still missing. The Palestinian Health Ministry on Thursday said more than 6,850 people have been killed in Gaza since the war broke out, with over 100 others killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

A pro-Palestine rally on Saturday drew massive crowds to Center City. Student protests swept campuses on Wednesday at the city’s three largest universities, where demonstrators decried public statements issued by school leaders.

Hours before the Fetterman protest on Thursday, dozens associated with the Philly Palestine Coalition gathered outside City Hall in objection to a symbolic resolution City Council passed last week in support of Israel.

The resolution, which was passed unanimously, sought to condemn the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and call for “a peaceful resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.” Activists accused Council of not adequately recognizing the history of the Palestinian territories and Israel’s complicated history.

The resolution drew what Council President Darrell L. Clarke called an “unprecedented” crowd to City Hall last week to speak against the resolution. Several people were ejected from Council’s chambers before Clarke cut the public commentary period short — a first in his 12 years behind the gavel, he said.

Such heated showdowns almost never occur in response to legislation that concerns international conflicts that fall nearly 6,000 miles outside the local body’s jurisdiction.

More demonstrations are scheduled throughout the week.