Several arrested as thousands take to DC streets to protest Netanyahu

WASHINGTON — Thousands of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters converged on Washington on Wednesday to condemn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit, chanting “Free, free Palestine,” burning an effigy of the prime minister and clashing with police as they marched toward the Capitol.

Nine people were arrested across Washington, including four people on charges of assaulting a police officer outside Union Station near the Capitol as Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Demonstrators calling for an end to Israel’s offensive filled several blocks as they weaved through the streets of the nation’s capital carrying Palestinian flags and signs with messages such as “arrest Netanyahu” and “end all U.S. aid to Israel.”

Outside Union Station, protesters removed American flags and hoisted Palestinian ones in their place to massive cheers in the crowd.

“Bibi, Bibi, We’re not done! The intifada has just begun!” protesters shouted, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. “Netanyahu, you can’t hide. You’re committing genocide,” other protesters shouted.

Throngs of demonstrators rallied near the Capitol before starting their march ahead of Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress, but police blocked them from getting close to the building.

Police said they used pepper spray after some protesters became “violent” and “failed to obey” orders to move back from the police line.

Demonstrators declared that “resistance is justified when people are occupied” and one sign called on “Satanyahu” to “return to Europe.”

Before Netanyahu’s speech, some protesters tried to block his route to the Capitol but were removed from the street by police. After being turned away by officers near the Capitol, protesters wound through the Capitol Hill neighborhood for several blocks before gathering in front of the nearby Union station.

Outside of the rail station, protesters shouted, “Let them go!” at officers who formed a circle around several people who were arrested. One person grabbed at a police officer’s riot shield and then raised his fists in a fighting stance. An officer was seen grabbing a Palestinian flag from a woman and tossing it aside. At least one protester appeared to be overcome from the effects of pepper spray.

Cheers rang out as a fire burned what appeared to be a papier-mache likeness of Netanyahu. Protesters spray painted graffiti on a monument to Christopher Columbus, including the words, “Hamas is coming” in large red letters. “Free Gaza” was scrawled in green.

Among the protesters was a group of artists from Baltimore displaying a massive papier-mache sculpture meant to depict US President Joe Biden with blood on his hands and devil horns.

The White House condemned the conduct of protesters, saying “antisemitism and violence are never acceptable.”

“Identifying with evil terrorist organizations like Hamas, burning the American flag, or forcibly removing the American flag and replacing it with another, is disgraceful,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.

Mary Kaileh, a Palestinian woman who moved to the U.S. from the West Bank 17 years ago and now lives in Baltimore, said her people have been ignored and mistreated for decades. She’s not convinced protests will change anything in terms of convincing American politicians to act, but she wasn’t about to stay home.

“I love it, but I don’t see the effects of it,” she said.

“We are horrified by the destruction of the health system in Gaza,” Karameh Kuemmerle, of the organization Doctors Against Genocide, who traveled to the protest from Boston, told AFP. “And we are here to show our opposition to having the criminal Netanyahu come to our capital and being greeted by the politicians who sent him weapons to kill children in Gaza.”

While many of the demonstrators have condemned Israel, others have expressed support while pressing Netanyahu to strike a ceasefire deal in the war with Hamas and bring home the hostages still being held by the group.

Many Jewish Americans view the war in Gaza as just because it came in response to the brutal October 7 Hamas attack, even if they don’t outright support Netanyahu and his policies. The families of hostages taken by Hamas are also protesting, demanding Netanyahu agree to a deal that would free their loves ones.

Capitol Police said in a post on X that six people who “disrupted” Netanyahu’s address were removed from the House gallery and arrested.

“Disrupting the Congress and demonstrating in the congressional buildings is against the law,” police said.

During Netanyahu’s speech, relatives of hostages wearing yellow T-shirts that read “seal the deal now” were removed from the gallery. The individuals stood to prominently display the message on their shirts during moments when others were applauding but had done nothing to disrupt the speech itself.

Police significantly boosted security around the Capitol and closed multiple roads for most of the week. Workers erected a metal fence around the White House on Wednesday morning while tall steel barriers ringed the Capitol.

Dozens of protesters rallied outside Netanyahu’s hotel Monday evening after his arrival in Washington, and on Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators staged a flashmob-style protest in the Cannon building, which houses offices of House members.

The Capitol Police said about 200 people were arrested Tuesday on charges stemming from the sit-in at the Cannon building. Jewish Voice for Peace, which organized the protest, claimed over 400 were arrested, rabbis among them.

Families of some of the hostages held a protest vigil Tuesday evening on the National Mall, demanding that Netanyahu come to terms with Hamas and bring home the approximately 120 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza.

Biden and Netanyahu are expected to meet Thursday, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity before a White House announcement. Vice President Kamala Harris will also meet Netanyahu separately that day.

Harris, as Senate president, would normally sit behind foreign leaders addressing Congress, but she will be away Wednesday, on an Indianapolis trip scheduled before Biden withdrew his reelection bid, which made her the likely Democratic presidential candidate.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he would meet with Netanyahu on Friday.

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers skipped Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, expressing dismay over the thousands of civilian deaths and the humanitarian crisis from Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

The war in Gaza began on October 7 when thousands of Palestinian terrorists broke through the border to slaughter some 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, and kidnap 251 to Gaza.

The enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry has said at least 39,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military offensive. The toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 327.

Netanyahu’s speech was the Israeli leader’s fourth address to a joint session of Congress. He most recently did so in 2015, when he controversially sought to convince US lawmakers to torpedo negotiations at the time between the Obama administration and Iran over its nuclear program.