On Saturday, pro-Hamas activists carrying nearly 2 miles of red fabric surrounded the White House to form a “red line,” symbolizing their refusal to back President Joe Biden’s reelection bid due to his support for Israel. I was there for almost the entire protest, and what I witnessed was nothing short of insanity.
One man, who was wearing a mask and sunglasses, described himself as “a terrorist.” He later marched with a sign that read, “Jihad of Victory or Martyrdom,” praising the military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam.
Another man held up a bloodied mask of Biden as others chanted “Intifada revolution” and “We are all the Intifada.” Others climbed statues in Lafayette Park, which is located directly in front of the White House, and hung signs or painted graffiti. Some phrases that had been graffitied include “F*** AmeriKKKa,” “Down with the ‘United States,’” “Al-Qasam [sic] make us proud kill another soldier now,” and “Isreal [sic] is a terrorist state.”
Protesters associated with Code Pink, a supposedly anti-war organization with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party that has previously denied the Uyghur genocide, held up signs that read “Stop Funding War Crimes” and “Lift the Siege of Gaza.”
Some of the more inflammatory posters included one that blamed Biden for the self-immolation of an anti-Israel protester earlier this year, while another condemned “Satanyahu,” a play on the name of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Protesters also carried large paintings of Netanyahu and Biden depicted with red eyes and blood dripping from their mouths.
“The International Youth and Students for Social Equality” set up a table where they taped flyers that read, “No to World War Three! Stop the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine.” It should come as no surprise that terrorist sympathizers also side with Russia.
Members of the Progressive Labor Party also arrived at the protest, marching with a sign that read “Communism will set us free.” I was handed the latest issue of their newspaper, Challenge, which bore a headline that read “Capitalism and Liberation are Incompatible.”
While those groups were complaining about capitalism, vendors were reaping the benefits of the free-market system. One man was selling keffiyehs, while a number of people were selling $20 custom T-shirts that read, “Surround the White House – Join the 2 Mile Long ‘People’s Red Line.’”
The malevolence here was similar to what I saw at the anti-Israel encampment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in prior months. It, too, showed similarly disturbing signs of pure stupidity. As dozens of tents went up, university officials noted the fact that the encampment was illegal. On the third day, after numerous warnings, UW-Madison sent in police, who made numerous arrests, including of a tenured gender studies professor who describes herself as a “polyamorous fat Black queer disabled femme.”
However, the encampment reerected within a matter of hours, and, instead of actually enforcing the rules, the administration decided to negotiate. After the encampment had been up for 12 days, the university agreed to a “compromise” that appeased many of the protesters’ demands.
In the occupied zone, Plan B contraceptives and condoms were available for free. I was told people were having sex in the tents by one person involved with the protest, while the organizers also had trouble enforcing rules against smoking marijuana. I witnessed multiple people using drugs in the encampment.
One student openly declared support for Iran and said that “Israel had it coming” when referring to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. At least he acknowledged that the massacre happened, which was dismissed as a conspiracy theory by some involved in the encampment. Others did not deny that the attacks happened but still claimed that no one was raped by Hamas in the aftermath.
Again, UW-Madison demonstrators numerous inflammatory signs, including a quote attributed to CCP mass murderer Mao Zedong: “Political power stems from the barrels of guns.” In front of the Wisconsin State Capitol, the terrorist sympathizers wrote in chalk, “Power to Hezbollah.”
Almost every day at the encampment, a graduate student or university professor presented a teach-in on a social justice issue vaguely related to Palestinians. I watched many of them, including “Disability Justice and Palestinian Liberation,” “Cops Off Campus Movements,” “No Borders in the Labor Struggle: Solidarity, Imperialism, and Liberation Struggles,” and “Reproductive Justice in Gaza.”
While none of these provided particularly valuable information, one called “Militarism in Research at UW-Madison” was easily the most unhinged. There, the graduate student who gave the presentation claimed that it is a bad thing for the U.S. military to fund breast cancer research.
Many of the demonstrators were not students at the campus. I even witnessed a young family, with two toddlers, setting up a tent. The most disturbing event that was held at the encampment was “Kids for Palestine: Story Time, Arts & Crafts, Chants & Dance Party.” There, activists read to a group of elementary and preschool-aged children about Israel, and then the children took turns leading chants, essentially genocidal, of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Hundreds of university faculty and staff members also held a walkout in support of the student protesters and attempted to convince UW-Madison to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Over the past month, I have spent a considerable amount of time speaking with pro-Hamas protesters and being inside their demonstrations. Therefore, I can say with confidence that most of them are not well-informed on the issues. At UW-Madison, when I asked protesters specific questions about the conflict, they mostly deflected or provided a factually incorrect response. One student told me he was just there “for the vibes,” and his attitude was far from unusual there.
People posting on TikTok and other social media platforms have spread an incredible amount of false information. Additionally, far-left academics incentivize activism and have spread lies about Israel. Finally, participating in a protest is the ultimate virtue signal, and combined with peer pressure to make a statement about the conflict, many students showed up without being particularly dedicated to Palestinians.
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This is not to say, however, that everyone who participated in the demonstrations is simply ignorant. A small number of organizers and dedicated protesters sided with Hamas because of either antisemitism or a broader resentment of the West.
This radicalism needs to be rejected. It is plainly wrong for universities to find compromise with the demonstrators and for the Democratic Party to soften its support for Israel.