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In Detroit, a lawmaker’s holiday party was disrupted when anti-Gaza protesters showed up with bullhorns, resulting in a broken nose.
In Fort Collins, Colorado, the mayor abruptly called off a meeting while protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza were clasping their hands to the wall.
And in disparate locations: a historic church in South Carolina and Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall, President Biden has been heckled and drowned out by anti-Israel demonstrators.
Protests over the Biden administration’s handling of the war have disrupted the operations of Democratic officials from city hall to Congress to the White House, complicating their ability to campaign and, at times, govern in a critical election year.
Mr. Biden has been able to avoid a chaotic primary election because he has no significant opposition within his own party. But the Gaza conflict is still raising tensions within the party, and Democrats say continued protests against the war thousands of miles away could reduce domestic voter turnout in November. There are growing concerns.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has disappointed progressives with his unflinching support for Israel, said in an interview, “If you’re organizing people to stop supporting the president right now, If so, you are effectively endorsing and supporting Trump.” This past week. “If you’re going to play with fire like that, you’re going to have to burn yourself.”
Many supporters of the Palestinian cause argue that Biden must win votes and that the death toll and suffering in the Gaza Strip should transcend concerns about electoral politics.
“At a time when all the political threats from Donald Trump are on the horizon, this event should tell us something about how deeply people feel about what’s going on.” said Pastor Michael McBride, founder of Black Church PAC. .
National efforts to pressure U.S. leaders to limit support for Israel have focused almost exclusively on Democrats, with former President Donald J. It rarely, if ever, attracts serious criticism from participants. Trump has said little about the conflict other than to say that Israel should “end” the war.
Intensifying protests and tight security
Mr. Biden has taken an increasingly tough stance on the Israeli government, threatening on Thursday to condition future aid on civilian casualties and the response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
However, he still faces intense criticism.
At a White House rally for Ramadan last week, a Palestinian-American doctor who was one of the few Muslim community leaders who agreed to attend said the impending Israeli ground invasion of Rafah would be a “bloodbath.” ” and then walked out in protest. And a massacre. ”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been protesting in front of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken’s home for weeks, spilling pitchers of fake blood and attacking him and his family. I kept screaming.
And even innocuous photos posted by the White House on social media, such as children participating in an Easter egg roll or newly planted tulips, accuse the regime of complicity in mass murder and starvation in Gaza. I’m flooded with comments.
In recent weeks, Biden campaign officials have stepped up efforts to restrict access to Biden’s events. On the eve of Biden’s big-ticket Radio City fundraiser last month, dozens of ticket buyers flagged by the Biden campaign as potential Gaza protesters were removed from the campaign, according to campaign officials and members of Jewish Voice. He said he received a notice invalidating his purchase. Peace is a progressive anti-Zionist group protesting the Biden event.
“Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate you at this time and all tickets associated with your email address have been refunded,” the unsigned email read. “This decision is final.”
Carol Schrifter, a retired ultrasound technician who lives in Upper Manhattan, paid $250 for a ticket near the back of the first-floor mezzanine. Schrifter, 78, a member of the Jewish group Voices for Peace, said he planned to disrupt the event by shouting on stage about the war in Gaza at Biden and his two Democratic predecessors. .
She went through two checkpoints and was entering the theater lobby when she was told her seat had been changed. Schrifter said he was directed outside to what Biden officials called a “solutions tent.” I was told I was not allowed to go there.
“I was like, ‘What’s going on? ”’ Schrifter said in an interview. “I’ve been waiting here in the rain for hours. I have the tickets, they’re all here.”
Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said the “solutions tent” was staffed by allies from the Biden Victory Fund and Radio City Music Hall. Its main purpose, he said, is to help people with ticketing problems, not to eliminate potential troublemakers.
Some demonstrators made it inside the venue and repeatedly disrupted Biden’s joint appearance with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
One protester, Hannah Ryan, 33, a photographer from Brooklyn, said she was reported to the campaign and asked multiple questions about people she knew and how she got tickets before being allowed entry. Told. “You can’t just talk and not listen,” President Obama told her and other protesters.
Georgia Johnson, a registered Democrat who lives in Manhattan, said she voted for Biden in 2020 but was reluctant to support Biden’s re-election unless the administration took a stance on loosening its support for Israel. Told.
“Many people here have to choose between what they feel is the lesser of two evils,” Johnson, 28, said as he joined hundreds of protesters gathered outside the event. I’m tired of it,” he said. “To me, what he’s doing doesn’t feel like the lesser of two evils. It feels like something very evil.”
“I’ve met them. I’ve answered their calls.”
Other elected Democrats have also struggled to avoid protesters.
In Santa Ana, California, Congressman Lou Correa’s family and neighbors are frustrated by the loudspeakers, loudspeakers and shouts of protesters who gather on suburban streets starting at 6:30 a.m.
Correa, a Democrat who frequently travels to Washington during protests, asked local city councils to support an emergency ordinance that would require activists demonstrating in private homes to stay 90 feet apart. The proposal was not passed.
“I’ve met with them, answered the phone, answered emails, and now they’re saying they’re at my house because they want to see me, and I’m not coming out. ” he said. Correa added that he supports negotiations to end the war and a two-state solution to the broader conflict. “Look, I’m an elected official. Okay. But why a neighborhood? Why a family? Why my neighbor? That’s what I don’t understand.”
Some of the most contentious clashes occurred in heavily Democratic strongholds. A recent City Council meeting in Berkeley, California, turned ugly as protesters interrupted a Holocaust survivor’s speech during a meeting to discuss a bill to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Shri Sanedar, a Democratic congressman from Michigan, was shocked after more than 20 attendees at a holiday party in a crowded Detroit restaurant removed their jackets to reveal pro-Palestinian shirts. said. A physical altercation broke out as they began singing over a loudspeaker. An elderly woman was taken to the hospital with a broken nose.
“It’s heartbreaking to see the deaths in Gaza,” said Sanedar, who supports a “negotiated ceasefire” to free Israeli hostages and end military operations. “But if they’re trying to draw attention to it, hurting the elderly doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll get the help they need.”
And in Danbury, Connecticut, the city council president said he was surprised by demonstrators calling for a ceasefire in the city of about 90,000 people.
“In my opinion, where does that address that concern?” said Assembly Speaker Peter Bouzaid. “You could go to a senator’s office. You could go to a senator’s office, you could protest outside the White House. Right? You could go to the United Nations, that’s me. I never expected it to happen in our local council.”
Fort Collins Mayor Jeni Arndt said she recognizes how emotionally difficult the war was, but wonders what impact local action on the issue will have. Told.
“I don’t think Antony Blinken would think, ‘Oh, the mayor of Fort Collins just said this,'” she said. “If it doesn’t impact members of our community and it’s divisive, then I don’t think it should be done.”
lower the temperature
In some areas, protest tactics have been successful.
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, cadres of protesters have been coming to the city council for years to demand a resolution condemning Israel’s policies toward Palestinians. Six years ago, Mayor Christopher Taylor was about to read a gun violence awareness resolution when he was yelled at by demonstrators demanding why he didn’t mention the people being killed in Gaza.
Taylor, who has been mayor since 2014, has long maintained that Israel and other foreign affairs are not the city’s concern. But in the face of continued protests since the October 7 Hamas attack, he and the council acquiesced and passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire. Temperatures have cooled and most demonstrators have stopped disrupting Congress.
“Foreign policy is far from our purview, but special circumstances may arise,” Taylor said. “When groups in our communities are in deep suffering, we speak up to support those who are suffering.”
Even Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a hero of progressives who broke with the administration over his opposition to additional military aid to Israel, was interrupted by protesters while traveling abroad.
Mr Sanders has encouraged US demonstrators to support Mr Biden, arguing that Mr Trump would be at a disadvantage on the issue of Palestinian rights. But he also acknowledged the pain and frustration of the current moment.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are marching in the streets in this country because they are absolutely outraged by the humanitarian disaster that is currently occurring in Gaza,” he said. “Those people are right.”
Julian Roberts-Gourmela Contributed to the report.
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