Pro-Palestinian protesters picketed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this weekend, marking a new venue for the demonstrators as protests have grown across the country. The appearance came less than a week after the White House issued a statement against antisemitism seen in some of the protests.
Protesters came near the Washington Hilton Saturday shouting slogans outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. During the protest, some of the demonstrators called President Joe Biden “Genocide Joe.”
Protesters yell "Genocide Joe" at those areiving to the White House Correspondents' dinner. pic.twitter.com/sWS3g95GNN
— Jack (@JackFought_1) April 27, 2024
The protesters also shouted “Shame on you” at the participants in the dinner and claimed that there was genocide during Israel’s campaign against the Hamas terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The dinner is an annual tradition and is being hosted by Saturday Night Live newscaster Colin Jost and includes a statement by the president.
The demonstrations come amid the wider wave of student protests against Israel.
The protests included a number of chants that appeared to target Jewish students or the Jewish identity. In one photo taken at Columbia University, a protester held up a sign calling for Hamas to attack a group of pro-Israel protesters.
Furthermore, the protests included activists who called for the deaths of Zionists or made comments against White people, including one activist recently barred from Columbia.
The protests have also resulted in hundreds of arrests, including that of the daughter or Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
At one recent protest one demonstrator flew the flag of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, which killed 241 Marines in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates sdaid that “calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable and dangerous – they have absolutely no place on any college campus or anywhere in the United States of America.”
And echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms,” he added.
