Protesters against war in Gaza arrested at defense contractor's Philly headquarters

Jadon George, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jul 2, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — Activists from Jewish Voice for Peace descended on the Spring Garden Street headquarters of defense contractor Day & Zimmerman on Wednesday in a bid to renew scrutiny of the weapons manufacturer's involvement in the war in Gaza.

Philadelphia police officers detained dozens of protesters who had camped out in the building's lobby. A police spokesperson did not have the number of arrests by Wednesday evening.

JVP communications director Sonya Meyerson-Knox said 100 demonstrators filed onto the sidewalks and dividers around Day & Zimmerman, with more than 50 protesters entering the lobby.

Day & Zimmerman has been a frequent target of activism since the war between Israel and Hamas began in 2023.

The company did not respond to requests for comment.

Israeli negotiators agreed to terms on a United States-brokered ceasefire Monday. But demonstrators cast doubt on whether the agreement would bring a lasting solution to decades of conflict in the region.

Day & Zimmerman's offices sit in a building that takes up nearly all of the 1500 block of Spring Garden Street. An urgent-care center just beyond the hullabaloo handled walk-ins, checkups, and quick medical care. Late risers wrapped up prelunch workouts at the Retro Fitness around the corner. And a steady stream of customers filed in and out of the first-floor Dunkin' Donuts, enough that a series of stanchions separated them from the scene unfolding just a few feet away.

"You can have a set police force," said Nafis Muhammad, who encountered the protest while visiting the urgent-care center for a driver's permit physical. But Muhammad said he found the show of force from local law enforcement excessive.

Officers eventually moved in to make arrests: Protesters, they said, blocked access to lobby elevators, preventing commuters from returning to their offices and desks.

"Protest is a right," an officer at the edge of the demonstration told one person attempting to walk through. "But when you refuse to follow the orders, when you take over the streets," he continued, law enforcement action could be justified.

But Rabbi Linda Holtzman, a renowned progressive voice in the Jewish faith who routinely protests with JVP, said any inconvenience facing office workers was small compared with what she described as the scale of suffering in Gaza.

"If you're not in people's faces," she said, "how do you call attention to what's happening?"

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