Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters supporting Palestinians gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday evening.
Many of the protesters carried signs calling for Palestinians to take over Israel and for the U.S. to stop sending aid to the Israeli government.
Organizers estimated Wednesday night that more than 1,000 people were in attendance.
“End the occupation now,” they chanted. “End the siege on Gaza now.”
“Tear down Israel’s border wall!”
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Members of the U.S. Secret Service were guarding the Israeli Embassy, the front of which was lit up with blue lights showing the Jewish Star of David. At certain points through the protest, the anti-Israel demonstrators attempted to project the words “GUILTY” onto the embassy.
No arrests were made related to the demonstrations, Secret Service spokesman Alexi Worley told The Daily Signal, noting: “The Foreign Missions Branch of our Uniformed Division protects more than 500 foreign diplomatic missions in the Washington metropolitan area, which can include assisting with handling demonstrations at diplomatic locations.”
Protest leaders repeated claims spread by Hamas and pushed by legacy media outlets that Israel had bombed a hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds. Israeli authorities have denied responsibility and said that a rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad struck the hospital after misfiring.
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One female leader of the protest compared inaction in the current political climate to inaction toward the Holocaust, telling the crowd: “I saw a post that said, if you were ever curious what you would have done during slavery, if you were ever curious what you would have done during the Holocaust … look at what you are doing right now.”
Photographs of signs captured by The Daily Signal exhibited antisemitic or anti-Israel sentiment, including one sign that said: “IS (not) REAL: terrorist, racist, baby killing, evil, apartheid ‘state.'” Another read, “LAND U KILL 4 IS NOT YOURS.” Yet others read, “ISRAEL BOMBS HOSPITALS, BIDEN PAYS FOR IT” and “ISRAEL’S DAYS ARE NUMBERED.”
“Nazi Israel leading the Palestinian Holocaust,” read another.
As has been the case at many pro-Palestinian protests in the D.C. area and across the U.S., many of those attending the protest covered their faces to avoid recognition and wore black-and-white checkered scarves, called keffiyehs, over their heads.
The protesters also took issue with legacy media coverage of the brutal Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, chanting, “Washington Post, you can’t hide. You encourage genocide.”
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