From the Liveblog of
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Senior US Democrat accuses anti-Israel protesters of ‘left-wing totalitarianism’
Anti-Israel protesters in the United States who have repeatedly disrupted public events and taken over public spaces are engaged in “left-wing totalitarianism,” and are attempting to silence and intimidate decision-makers, senior US Democratic Representative Adam Smith charged last week, ahead of the eruption of anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses across the US.
Speaking to the One Decision Podcast in an episode recorded on April 18 and released Thursday morning, Smith, who serves on the US House Committee on Armed Services, condemns the form of protest frequently employed by left-wing protest groups throughout Israel’s war with Hamas as “completely wrong and enormously dangerous.”
While the protesters’ passion for the “life or death situation” faced by many in Gaza is understandable, the aim of the protests is to “silence opposition and intimidate decision-makers,” Smith says, noting that he agrees that the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave must be urgently addressed.
“If there are members of Congress who won’t meet with them, I meet with them. All the time. So they have an opportunity to be heard. They’re not trying to be heard, they’re trying to silence people who disagree with them,” he says.
Asked what he believes the solution to the issue is, Smith says that if the protesters are committing a crime such as “shutting down a freeway, shutting down an airport,” they should be arrested.
The exterior of Smith’s home was vandalized in December with graffiti accusing him of being a “baby killer” and demanding a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas, which began with the massacre committed by the terror group inside Israel on October 7.
At the time, he issued a statement criticizing extremism on both sides of the political spectrum, warning that it was “a threat to a healthy, functioning democracy.”
At the same time, he encouraged protesters to meet with him, and to find a way to work together “in a productive and peaceful way.”
