'Off To Jail': Gaza Aid Whistleblower Arrested For Interrupting Senate Hearing

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Two United States military veterans, including a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) whistleblower, were arrested for interrupting a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. They said “the U.S. government is complicit” in the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza and were quickly removed by U.S. Capitol police. 

GHF whistleblower Anthony Aguilar stood up. “You have an obligation to the Constitution of the United States.” Former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Josephine Guilbeau also spoke up. “Israel is ethnically cleansing Gaza. They’re building a concentration camp!” 

Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman James Risch declared, “Off to jail,” and when he hear Guilbeau, “Someone else is anxious to go to jail.” He even asked an officer if there was a person filming Aguilar and Guilbeau. Though it does not appear that the person recording Aguilar and Guilbeau was arrested, that certainly was the implication behind Risch’s question.

The hearing was convened to present ambassador nominations. “We don’t usually have this happen here, but it happens,” Risch remarked. (In fact, with CODEPINK and other groups active on Capitol Hill, police are rather used to this type of dissent against war and human rights atrocities.)

While police handcuffed and escorted the military veterans, Aguilar said the “U.S. Congress is paying for the death of children.” 

“When the United States Congress comes after veterans, they will come after you. Every American sitting at home right now needs to realize that you are paying for genocide,” Aguilar added.

Guilbeau also continued to protest. “They are complicit in the slaughter of babies,” she said as an officer put her in handcuffs.