Anti-Israel agitators stage massive protest in Washington, DC, amid Netanyahu's US visit
Hundreds of pro-Hamas agitators gathered near Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. At least one agitator was spotted with a Hamas flag. Others ripped American flags down, burning them on the ground. A large effigy of Benjamin Netanyahu was burned.
An anti-Israel protester holding a Hamas flag at a demonstration in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday at first told Fox News Digital that she had “no message” for reporter Griff Jenkins before adding “Free Palestine. That’s my message."
When asked if she supports Hamas, she said “I support the resistance.”
Anti-Israel protesters raised the Palestinian flag over Washington, D.C.’s Union Square on Wednesday during a chaotic protest in which an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an American flag were also burned.
The protesters were demonstrating against Netanyahu's address to Congress.
Actress and activist Susan Sarandon addressed a group of anti-Israel protesters on Wednesday, telling them to loud cheers: “We are here today to reject the normalization of genocide.”
The massive group of protesters had gathered to demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to Congress on Wednesday.
From the stage, the “Thelma & Louise” star told protesters, “I would like all of you to join me in a message to our brothers and sisters in Palestine,” adding in a call and response: “We see you … We hear you … We will raise your voices. No one is free until everyone is free!”
Pro-Hamas agitators were seen tagging a Christopher Columbus statue in Union Square with “Hamas is coming” and burning an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as an American flag.
They were also seen flying a Palestinian flag over Union Station after taking down the American flag.
The agitators were protesting Netanyahu’s address to Congress on Wednesday.
The White House condemned the anti-Israel agitators who descended on Washington, D.C., Wednesday in protest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress.
"Identifying with evil terrorist organizations like Hamas, burning the American flag, or forcibly removing the American flag and replacing it with another, is disgraceful," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a comment to Fox News Digital Wednesday evening.
"Antisemitism and violence are never acceptable. Period. Every American has the right to peaceful protest. But shamefully, not everyone demonstrated peacefulness today."
Read the full story by Emma Colton by clicking here.
Graffiti covers the Columbus Memorial Fountain at Union Station during a pro-Palestinian protest on the day Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S., July 24, 2024. (REUTERS/Seth Herald)
A total of 23 pro-Hamas agitators have been arrested by different law enforcement agencies as of Wednesday evening.
The United States Park Police (USPP) released a statement announcing that at least eight anti-Israel agitators were arrested on Wednesday afternoon during an unruly protest. At least nine more were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) as of 6:00 p.m., and United States Capitol Police (USCP) arrested six more.
The USPP reported that a crowd at Columbus Circle "damaged and destroyed park property, including vandalizing statues and fountains, tearing down and burning flags, and starting several small fires."
"Following efforts by the United States Park Police to calm the crowd, which continued to ignore law enforcement instructions, the permit for the event was revoked at approximately 3:30 p.m. today and everyone was directed to leave the area," the press release continued.
Ages of the nine arrested by the MPD, according to a release, range from 15 to 32. Charges included Assault on a Police Officer and Crossing a Police Line.
According to the USPP, National Park Service conservators will begin working on removing red paint from the statues and fountains at Columbus Circle on Thursday morning.
"It may take multiple treatments over several days to remove all of it," the statement added.
Rep. Roger Williams, a Republican from Texas, tweeted out a message of support for Israel after pro-Hamas agitators caused mayhem in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.
Williams posted a photo of his office with two signs near his door. One sign read "I Stand With Israel," and another read "'Chickens For KFC.'"
"I will always stand with our greatest ally, Israel," Williams wrote.
The second sign was a reference to a speech Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made before Congress that day, when he brought up protesters' ignorance about Hamas' ideology.
"Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming gays for Gaza. They might as well hold up signs saying ‘Chickens for KFC.’ These protesters chant ‘From the river to the sea.’ But many don't have a clue what river and what sea they're talking about," Netanyahu said.
A Jewish man, who expressed offense at the phrase “Hamas is coming” after he saw it tagged on a Christopher Columbus statue outside of Union Station that was vandalized on Wednesday, was harassed and followed.
The man told the demonstrators he was offended by their language, causing some of them to start shouting at him and calling him Hitler. It wasn’t clear if they had been the ones to write “Hamas is coming” on the statue.
“Do you support terrorists?” he asked the agitators who were already following him down the street.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find you. We know who you are,” one agitator could be heard saying.
“He’s a nicely dressed White gentleman,” a woman agitator was heard screaming.
As they chanted “Free, free Palestine” the Jewish man interjected “from Hamas!”
Calling the man a “p----,” one of the agitators accused him of “killing children” in Gaza.
“Enough!” the man said to the agitator, adding “We don’t back down from you and we don’t back down from f------ terrorists!”
The situation quickly escalated into a screaming match with the man and one of the agitators in each other’s faces.
Finally, the man and a woman who had joined him were let inside a locked building by a security guard with the agitators trying to follow.
One of the protesters told Fox News that they decided to harass him because he was a “White gentleman. We were asking his position on Gaza.”
One of the protesters told Fox News that the man had provoked them by calling them “terrorist scum” and said that the “art on the memorial was disgusting,” referring to the vandalism.
He added, “He didn’t want to stop, and I don’t stop.”
The woman then turned on the Fox News reporter, rhetorically asking if Palestinians have the right to defend themselves, adding that asking if they support Hamas is a “red herring.”
She added that people who don’t agree with them want to accuse them of being “terrorists because we’re supporting the people of Gaza."
Representative Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida, speaks during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Rep. Brian Mast called out the anti-Israel agitators who burned American flags on Wednesday in a scathing post on X.
Mast, a Republican from Florida, wrote that he "fought and bled for the American Flag," in an emotional post.
"My friends lost their lives in battle for the American Flag," he wrote. "And when they came home, the American Flag was draped over their caskets.
Mast also linked the protests to Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.
"Yet, the people Kamala Harris is courting burn the American Flag," the post continued. "Shame on them."
During a press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Harris has been "unwavering" in her support of Israel.
"Let me just first say that the vice president has been unwavering in her commitment to the security of Israel," Jean-Pierre told reporters. "As you know, she's been a partner with this president for the past four years, not just domestic issues, but obviously also foreign policy issues."
Harris did not attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress on Wednesday. Instead, she spoke at a sorority event in Indianapolis.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators burn a U.S. flag and an effigy depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, outside Union Station, on the day of Netanyahu's address to a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S., July 24, 2024. (REUTERS/Nathan Howard)
The United States Park Police (USPP) announced that it is seeking information about the anti-Israel protesters who assaulted officers and damaged property in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday afternoon.
"We’re seeking information to help identify members of the crowd who assaulted officers or damaged property," the USPP said in a statement. According to the agency, protesters started small fires and burned flags at Columbus Circle, which is outside Union Station.
The USPP asks anyone with information to contact their tip line at 202-379-4877 or e-mail USPP_tipline@nps.gov.
Pro-Hamas agitators descended on the nation's capital Wednesday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress.
The agitators vandalized statues outside Union Station at Columbus Circle as well as burned American and Israeli flags.
One piece of vandalism read "F--- ISREAL," with Israel misspelled.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress on Wednesday. (Getty Images)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tore into Gaza cease-fire demonstrations across the U.S. and accused Iran of funding those protests during an impassioned address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
"I have a message for these protesters. When the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran's useful idiots," Netanyahu said.
"Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming gays for Gaza. They might as well hold up signs saying ‘Chickens for KFC.’ These protesters chant ‘From the river to the sea.’ But many don't have a clue what river and what sea they're talking about."
Read the full article about Netanyahu by Julia Johnson and Liz Elkind
Security officials prepare for Prime Minister Netanyahu's arrival by installing special fences around the Watergate Hotel. (Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Anti-Israel agitators are reportedly behind the release of larvae in a famous D.C. hotel to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to the nation's capital.
Netanyahu traveled to D.C. to meet with lawmakers and deliver a joint session address to Congress on Wednesday. Anti-Israel agitators have gathered throughout the capital to protest his trip, targeting the Watergate Hotel where he is reportedly staying during the visit.
A video filmed within the hotel shows maggots and crickets released in various common spaces, with one shot showing a table full of mealworms while the Israeli and American flags stood in the background.
"Palestine protestors manufactured chaos at the Watergate Hotel last night so that Netanyahu, Israeli Mossad agents, and the Secret Service had no peace as they continue to terrorize our people," the Palestinian Youth Movement's DMV chapter posted on their social media, alongside the video.
Read the full article about the Watergate Hotel by Aubrie Spady
Pro-Hamas supporters cause havoc outside of Union Station in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
Anti-Israel demonstrators descended on Washington, D.C., on Wednesday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress in a scene that quickly turned chaotic.
At least one demonstrator, whose face was covered, was spotted by Fox News carrying what appeared to be the flag of the terrorist group Hamas while others were heard shouting "allahu Akbar."
At Union Station, agitators burned an American flag and vandalized a statue with the words "Hamas is coming." They also took down American flags and flew the Palestinian flag instead.
The U.S. Capitol Police later advised that "No flags under our protection have been removed or vandalized. Our officers will enforce the law if anyone attempts to remove a flag in USCP jurisdiction. To clear up inaccurate reporting."
Read the full article about anti-Israel protests by Danielle Wallace and Brie Stimson
Live Coverage begins here