WASHINGTON (RNS) — Just two days after hundreds of members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front descended on Washington, D.C., on the Fourth of July, a diverse group of about 200 protesters sporting keffiyehs and kippahs, pushing strollers and walkers, crossed those same streets with a very different message.
Marchers from a variety of religious backgrounds walked across Capitol Hill on Monday (July 6) as part of a demonstration organized by Interfaith Action for Palestine in protest of the Christians United for Israel national summit taking place at the same time. CUFI describes itself as “the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States” and boasts a membership of 10 million people, according to its website. Interfaith Action for Palestine is a coalition of 11 Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist organizations opposed to CUFI.
Denouncing what they called American support for “genocide in Gaza,” the marchers sought to offer an alternative vision of freedom and interfaith collaboration while demanding an end to U.S. support for the Israeli military. Protesters carried painted banners with slogans like “Fund Care Not Warfare,” “Send Bread Not Bombs” and “No God Bombs Children.”
“It’s largely about helping the public to awaken to what our role is,” said Steven Sellers Lapham of Gaithersburg, Maryland, and a board member of Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East. At 70, he marched for hours to demand an end to U.S. “diplomatic cover and funds” for Israel, which he said are used to “slaughter (Palestinian) children.”
The coalition’s three-day gathering also included an interfaith worship service an …