Protestors with the advocacy group Brooklyn For Peace gathered on Monday, Nov. 9 in front of the district office of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8), calling for the soon-to-be Speaker of the House to put an end to the war in Iran and stop the flow of weapons to Israel.
The protest comes off the heels of a sweep of wins for Democrats across the country in last week’s midterm elections. The party is set to retake a majority in the house, making Rep. Jeffries, who was re-elected last week to represent Eastern Brooklyn for an eighth term, the incoming majority speaker.
In that role, Rep. Jeffries will wield significant influence over the legislative priorities of the next Congress.
For Etan Mabourakh, executive director of Brooklyn for Peace, it's an opportunity for Rep. Jeffries to meet the moment with “action and not statements.”
On Monday, Mabourakh and his fellow organizers arrived at the Downtown Brooklyn office with nearly one hundred signed postcards and a formal letter demanding that Rep. Jeffries “oppose all further funding for the wars in Iran." The letter also urged the speaker to oppose the transfer of weapons to Israel, cut the defense budget, and abolish ICE.
“Brooklyn knows what it wants," Mabourakh said. "We want to stop forever wars. We want to protect our immigrant neighbors. We want to stop being complicit in our tax dollars being used for war crimes abroad. Jeffries hasn’t come out strong on any of those things, and we will continue to advocate and educate until he does.”
Since his re-election last week, Rep. Jeffries has called the engagements in Iran a “reckless war of choice” and has expressed that ending U.S. involvement in the war would be a priority in the first weeks of the new Congress. Most Americans support an end to the war.
With majorities in both chambers, Democrats will be able to pass legislation next year that would mandate military withdrawal from Iran. Trump could veto that legislation—and as of now, Democrats do not have the supermajority required to override a veto. Still, a path out of the war seems more plausible than ever.
Outside Rep. Jeffries’ office on Monday, protesters voiced skepticism about the representative’s commitment to ending the conflict. Bruce Altschuler, vice chair of Brooklyn for Peace and a retired political science professor, noted that ”[Rep. Jeffries] has come late to opposing the Iran war.”
When the U.S. first struck Iran in February, Rep. Jeffries criticized President Trump for failing to seek congressional approval for the move, but did not denounce the war outright.
“So far he's done largely talk,” Altschuler added. “What we need is somebody to cut off funds entirely. He needs to forcefully state that position.”
Organizers with Brooklyn For Peace had been hoping to enter the office building and hand-deliver the letter and postcards directly to Rep. Jeffries’s office. Instead, a staffer came outside, accepted the materials, and thanked the protesters “for their advocacy.”
The action on Monday followed a previous rally against the war in front of the office building on Oct. 20, which drew in over 100 attendees.
Brooklyn For Peace has been advocating against American militarism since its inception in 1984, shortly after the U.S. invaded Granada. Chairperson Charlotte Phillips, who originally founded the nonprofit as a network of concerned Brooklyn parents, was at the protest on Monday with a sign calling for no more weapons sent to Israel.
"As long as Jeffries fails to rise to the occasion and put into action what the vast majority of Americans want, we will press them on these issues, and we will educate the community," Mabourakh said.
