The crowds called for a ceasefire, slammed Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal, and demanded that the US stop arming Israel.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Thousands of anti-Israel protestors came to demonstrate in Washington, D.C. against U.S. support for its Mideast ally and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before and during his address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday.
Some held a large doll of President Joe Biden, while others walked with a huge paper mache head of Netanyahu and two “hands,” all dripping with red paint to symbolize blood.
At one point, they set Netanyahu’s “head” on fire. At another, someone defaced a statue of Christopher Columbus, spray-painting on it “Hamas is coming” and “Free Gaza” in large letters.
Signs slammed Netanyahu as a war criminal, the “Prime Minister of Genocide” and “Satanyahu,” called on the government to stop arming Israel, and demanded an end to the war.
Protestors shouted “Shame on you!”, chanted “Ceasefire now” and “Free, free Palestine.”
In a clear call for violence, some addressed Netanyahu by his nickname and yelled, “Bibi, Bibi, We’re not done! The intifada has just begun!”
As people walked along the closed-off avenues, some also set off smoke bombs in the red and green colors of the Palestinian flag.
At Washington’s Union Station, they took down American flags from poles in order to run up several actual Palestinian flags in their place, to the cheers of onlookers.
Four protestors were arrested there, charged with assaulting a police officer outside the station.
Many of the demonstrators wore keffiyehs as a symbol of support for Hamas.
Others had a different message for the prime minister, wearing shirts that said “Seal the Deal NOW.”
This referred to the ongoing negotiations for an agreement with Hamas to exchange a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a massive release of Palestinian prisoners for the 115 hostages the terrorist organization is holding, only dozens of whom are still believed to be alive.
While the demonstration started peacefully under tight security, eventually the police had to act as some became violent while trying to get closer to the Capitol building than was permitted.
“The crowd failed to obey our order to move back from our police line,” police said in a statement. “We are deploying pepper spray towards anyone trying to break the law and cross that line.”
Nine people were arrested across the capital in all during the demonstration.
The night before, some 200 anti-Israel protestors were arrested after rioting during a sit-in at the Cannon building, which contains offices of Congressional Representatives.
Also on Tuesday night, members of the Palestinian Youth Movement released crickets and maggots in a conference room of the Watergate Hotel where some members of the Israeli delegation were staying, and which was apparently set up for their use.
Their motivation, they wrote on X, was to “manufacture chaos” to disturb the Israelis, but the hotel quickly cleaned up the insects and said it was “cooperating fully with authorities” to find the culprits.