Anti-Israel agitators spark new unrest as Netanyahu visits Biden, Harris

Iran has funded some of the anti-Israel protests happening in the United States, John Kirby, the coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said Thursday.

Kirby was asked if the Biden administration found remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his joint address to Congress to be false. Netanyahu has repeatedly accused Iran of being behind much of the terrorism and attacks on Israel. 

“We do know that Iran has been funding and encouraging some of the protest activity here in the United States,” he replied. “Some of it. We do not believe that all the protest activity out there on a daily basis is being fully funded by Iran.”

He noted that there was a lot of “organic concern out there" from Americans about what's going on in the Middle East."

“Most of these protests are formed and fashioned in that regard,” said Kirby.

Vice President Kamala Harris is meeting now with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after skipping his address to Congress on Wednesday. 

Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, is meeting with Netanyahu separately from President Joe Biden's meeting with him earlier on Thursday. 

The two leaders shook hands, took no questions from the media and made no remarks before press were excused from the room.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters about the anti-Israel protests in Washington this week. (DeSantis/X)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the anti-Israel agitators who tore off an American flag from a public building in Washington and burned it while celebrating Hamas should have been arrested and prosecuted.

“That was a complete disgrace,” DeSantis said Thursday. “Why aren't those people being arrested and prosecuted? I know they did that in other situations but they don't want to do it in this one.”

The protesters gathered in the nation's capital Wednesday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was addressing Congress. In additional to protesting, some also spray-pained pro-Hamas slogans on public buildings and statues.

“You don't have a right to write ”Death to America" on a public statue with spray paint," said DeSantis.

He noted that such behavior would have been addressed anywhere in Florida.

“We would have stopped that, I have no doubt,” the governor said. “Every jurisdiction in this state would not have allowed that to happen.” 

The head of the Fraternal Order of Police for the U.S. Park Police said it was “disheartening” to hear members of Congress and the media say officers gave anti-Israel agitators a “pass” during Wednesday's chaotic protests in Washington while blaming the Biden administration for staffing issues.

Chairman Kenneth Spencer said law enforcement made several arrests despite only having 29 officers available with no additional help from the Department of Interior.

“That's why it's so disheartening to hear some Members of Congress and members of the media, many of whom describe themselves as ‘champions’ of law enforcement, suggesting that officers gave protesters a ‘pass’ or that insufficient arrests were made,” Spencer said in a Thursday statement. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

The 29 officers available arrested 10 people while being assaulted by a mob of thousands, Spencer said. He said the agency didn't have the proper staffing or resources.

In an interview with the New York Post , the union chief said protesters started threw objects that had “a very strong smell of feces” but that no one was hit.

“The Interior Department and the National Park Service have stood in the way of congressional action on the US Park Police Modernization Act which would solve many of these issues for decades to come,” said Spencer. 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators burn a U.S. flag, on the day of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to a joint meeting of Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The White House disavowed the violence that occurred Wednesday and the burning of an American flag during anti-Israel protests this week.

The violence occurred as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was addressing Congress on Wednesday.

“Well, we did put out a statement last night from the White House. But absolutely, (we) condemn any violence in protest activity. I mean, it's a First Amendment right to peacefully protest,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said Thursday. “We fully support that. We know that there are strong views, about what's going on in Gaza.”

He said the Biden administration understands that some of the protesters' views are in opposition to the president's policies.

“We get it. That's democracy,” said Kirby. "But when it turns violent and when you burn an American flag and pull it down off a U.S. government site, that's just absolutely unacceptable. And, obviously, we condemn all that."

Demonstrators protest the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House during a rally at Lafayette Park, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

One of the groups responsible for protests in Washington during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress called his embrace by lawmakers a “disgraceful spectacle.”

The Answer Coalition was one of several organizers of Wednesday's demonstration by anti-Israel agitators near the U.S. Capitol.

"The disgraceful spectacle inside the Capitol was matched by a disgraceful spectacle outside," the group said in a news release. "The whole area was converted into ‘Fort Netanyahu,’ with massive fences and barricades blocking all the surrounding streets so as to deprive the people of their right to protest near the war criminal’s whereabouts. They even innovated new ways to waste tax dollars by bussing in NYPD officers to 'serve and protect' Netanyahu for a day.

“As soon as this mass assembly began to march towards Congress, police attacked,” the statement continued. “So not only does the Biden-Harris administration direct U.S. tax dollars to fund the Israeli war machine, they unleash pepper spray on people who object.”

On Thursday, Netanyahu met with President Biden at the White House as Israel continues its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the terror group's deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli communities.

Several commentators on social media condemned Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., for protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday with a sign calling him a "war criminal."

Netanyahu tore into Gaza cease-fire demonstrations across the U.S. and accused Iran of funding those protests during an impassioned address. While many have praised him for his leadership and for his speech to Americans, not all politicians were happy to see him, with several Democrats skipping the event.

Among those in the chamber was Tlaib, a Palestinian American who is one of Israel's harshest critics in the House of Representatives. Tlaib has called for Netanyahu to be arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC). She staged a silent protest for much of his speech, holding a double-sided sign that read "guilty of genocide" on one side and "war criminal" on the other.

Fox News Digital observed a member of the House sergeant-at-arms' staff speaking to Tlaib multiple times, after which she put the sign down, but that didn’t stop social media from erupting over her display.

Florida Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the chaos unfolding on the streets of Washington, D.C., "lies squarely on the shoulders of those in power who failed to act," including Democrats and college officials who did not end or condemn the protests earlier this year as they turned violent and chaotic. 

"Since October 7, the Biden administration and woke university administrators across America have refused to take action and shut down these antisemitic, pro-Hamas riots. Their inaction led to one of the most reprehensible riots on Capitol Hill during PM Netanyahu’s address," he told Fox News Digital. "Rioters attacked police officers, defaced our monuments, set American flags ablaze, and wreaked havoc in Washington, DC, all while spreading antisemitic canards. This chaos lies squarely on the shoulders of those in power who failed to act."

"What happened yesterday is not free speech; it's free hate. This is just a glimpse of what's to come. Universities across the nation are in danger of becoming pro-Hamas dumpster fires as students return to campus this upcoming semester," he added.

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."

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.

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.