Pro-Hamas protesters burn flags on Capitol Hill during Netanyahu speech, while some Congress members wore Palestinian activist merch
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington, D.C., to deliver a speech regarding strategies to address the mounting threat of Iran. It is the first time since the October 7 attacks he has addressed Congress.
Unfortunately, his welcome was less than warm.
Not only did Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), as well as a number of Democratic lawmakers miss Netanyahu’s speech, but “chaos” ensued on Capitol Hill as thousands of pro-Hamas protesters gathered to wreak havoc.
Julio Rosas, Blaze Media’s national correspondent, who was in D.C. to witness the bedlam, joins Jill Savage and the “Blaze News Tonight” panel to relay what he saw.
“Initially the protesters that were against Netanyahu speaking to Congress today tried to get close to the Capitol building, [but] police blocked their path because they didn't want them to get close. That resulted in clashes; police had to use pepper spray. Eventually, the crowd started to move on,” says Rosas, adding that the mob “marched around in the Capitol Hill neighborhood before coming to Union Station.”
“U.S. Park police moved in to stop protesters from tearing down the American flags that are normally placed in Columbus Circle. There was more fighting; more arrests were made. The Park police withdrew after they secured the American flag and the arrestees, but as they were withdrawing, people were chasing them; they were heckling them.”
Then “the protesters tore down the remaining American flags, and they replaced them with Palestinian flags,” Rosas reports.
“Why isn’t this an insurrection?” asks Jill, pointing out the glaring hypocrisy.
“Because the Democratic Party and their media friends have decided that it’s not,” says Blaze Media’s senior politics editor and Washington correspondent Christopher Bedford, adding, “What's striking about what we're seeing here — the flags being torn down, the cops being attacked, flags being burned — is how many members of Congress stand with these people.”
“The members of Congress who actually did show up, which was not a lot of them... some of [the Democrat members] wore some of the activist T-shirts that you actually see in the parade,” he continues.
“Take the image... of protesters ripping down and burning the American flag and put it next to Donald Trump with blood spotted across his face, putting his fist in the air next to the American flag, and ask people which side they want to choose.”
To hear more analysis of the chaos in D.C., watch the episode above.
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