A group of protesters approached the White House with an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many gallons of red paint on Thursday.
The protest coincides with Netanyahu’s visit to the White House to meet with President Biden. Police closed the park just outside the White House’s north lawn, relegating the protesters to a side street.
The protesters are carrying many of the same signs seen at Wednesday’s anti-Israel protest at Union Station. That protest saw pro-Hamas slogans and the burning of American flags.
State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said Thursday that “something is seriously wrong” with the way anti-Israel protests are unfolding in the nation’s capital.
“Something is seriously wrong when you see people marching through the streets of Washington carrying Hamas banners, literal, literal Hamas banners, carrying the Hamas flag down the streets of Washington, D.C. When you see people spray painting on fountains in Washington that Hamas is coming, when you see them displaying signs calling for the death of Jews, when you see them burning American flags, it’s despicable,” Miller said.
“It’s hateful. It runs contrary to the values of this country, I think especially when you consider what that flag that we saw being burned yesterday stands for,” he continued. “And one of the things that stands for is the right to protest, the right to make your views known, make them known peacefully.”
“I would say to anyone that is burning an American flag while spray painting pro-Hamas graffiti in Washington to stop and think for a moment about what would happen if they were protesting Hamas’s rule in Gaza,” Miller added.
“And it’s not a question that you have to look very hard for an answer, because we know, because we’ve seen in the past when people have protested Hamas’ rule in Gaza, we’ve seen how Hamas has responded. They responded with brutal crackdowns, with arrests, with violent repression. Fortunately, that is not who we are in this country,” he concluded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Wednesday address to Congress was delivered as a backdrop of chaos and anger rang out from pro-Hamas demonstrators across Washington, D.C.
Though agitators burned flags and shouted “Allahu Akbar,” the night ended with an “important moment” – the hoisting of an American flag that had earlier been torn down.
“Rep. Brandon Williams of New York had the idea to go out there and put the American flag back in its rightful place,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., explained on “America’s Newsroom,” Thursday.
“They’re trying to intimidate Jewish people and all those who support Israel, and we will not stand for it,” Johnson continued. “So it was a proud moment for us.”
At least one demonstrator was spotted by Fox News carrying what appeared to be a Hamas flag. Others vandalized a statue of Christopher Columbus with the words, “Hamas is coming.”
Co-host Dana Perino asked Johnson whether that threat should be taken seriously.
“We should not stand for this at all,” Johnson responded. “Look, we respect free speech, of course, but they are desecrating monuments, destroying public property, and they need to be arrested and sent to jail if they’re going to act like that and support a bloodthirsty terrorist regime.”
Vice President Harris has released a statement condemning violent anti-Israel rioting that disrupted Washington D.C.’s busiest station.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee released the statement Thursday, hours after the violent protests against visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Yesterday, at Union Station in Washington, D.C. we saw despicable acts by unpatriotic protesters and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric,” Harris said. “I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews.
The protesters spray-painted monuments and pulled down American flags flying outside Union Station, eventually lighting them on fire amid cheers and chants against Israel.
Harris explicitly condemned multiple protest signs seen at the riot that celebrated terrorist organization Hamas.
“Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation,” Harris wrote.
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