Anti-war activists disrupted Secretary of State Antony Blinken's testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday on President Joe Biden's request to Congress for $14 billion in military aid to Israel — and another $60 billion for Ukraine.
The protesters held up their hands, painted red to symbolise the blood of Palestinian civilians killed by weeks of Israeli bombing.
Code Pink campaign founder Medea Benjamin, who was forcibly removed from the meeting after standing up to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, told Sputnik that she was arrested and charged with "incommoding" the hearing — but was released a couple of hours later.
"Incommoding a genocide is what I call it." Benjamin said. "We got up one by one and then a whole group of people got up, and most of us had red paint on our hands to show the blood on their hands. And we said stop giving our money to Israel."
The veteran campaigner pointed out that not one of the 100 US senators has yet called for a ceasefire.
"I find that atrocious given what the UN is calling for, given the vote in the UN that was so overwhelmingly in favor of a ceasefire, given the fact that the majority of Americans in the latest poll want a ceasefire," Benjamin said. "And of course, given that all of the civilians that are being killed every single day."
At the hearing, Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and senators framed the question of arming Israel against the besieged Gaza Strip and Ukraine for the West's proxy conflict with Russia in terms of "national security", claiming both Russia and Hamas were threats to the US — while also cynically claiming it would create jobs at home.
"People have to understand that this is a directly the opposite of national security, that not only will Israelis be hated around the world — and I would hate to travel with an Israeli passport these days — but Americans will as well, because we are seen globally as the enablers of Israel," Benjamin stressed.
"People recognize that the blood is indeed on our hands as well. Anybody who tries to pretend it's in our security interest to be supporting genocide or a proxy war with Russia needs to have their head examined."
For more insightful analysis of major world events, tune in to our Sputnik Radio show The Critical Hour.