Phoenix, Arizona - Student activists disrupted former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's speaking event at Arizona State University (ASU) on Monday to demand an end to US support for Israel's brutal war on Gaza.

"Nancy Pelosi, you are complicit in genocide. The blood of over 15,000 Palestinian babies is on your hands," a protester said as he interrupted Pelosi's conversation with CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod.

The event was part of the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' Democracy at Work series.

"How can you be a Democrat and say you hold Democratic values while over 100,000 innocent Palestinian civilians have been massacred with bombs that you paid for? We will not be shamed into voting for you or Genocide Joe and your massacrous policies," the student continued, referencing Pelosi's and President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaigns.

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The Biden administration has sent over 100 arms shipments to Israel since the current assault on Gaza began in October. This is on top of the billions of dollars in military aid the US provides Israel each year.

Federal law bars military assistance to overseas forces that violate human rights with impunity. Nevertheless, US weapons transfers have continued despite mounting evidence that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

Ahead of Monday's appearance, ASU students and community allies pressed Pelosi to prioritize Palestinian lives. Their demands of her include:

• urging an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza;
  
• calling for a free Palestine, an integrated state founded on equal rights for all;
  
• demanding all defense contractors boycott and end arms transfers to Israel; and
  
• returning $60,000 in campaign contributions she received from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The California Democrat recently joined a joint letter calling for an end to weapons transfers to Israel – only after Israel killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, most of them internationals, nearly six months into the siege.

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Pelosi has long-standing ties to AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group that has vowed to spend $100,000 million this election cycle to oust members of Congress they view as insufficiently supportive of the Israeli state.

In fact, Pelosi – one of the wealthiest members of Congress – has directly benefitted from pro-Israel groups to the tune of over $600,000 throughout her career.

The congresswoman also has a track record of maligning and threatening pro-Palestine protesters in the US, suggesting they have ties to China and Russia and that the FBI should investigate them.

"My family back home in Palestine is being killed. Their blood is on your hands," an ASU student told Pelosi on Monday.