7 months ago
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A demonstrator lays candles on the ground next to press vest covered in red paint during a pro-Palestinian protest at the Washington Hilton, Saturday April 27, 2024, in Washington. (Photo/AP)
NEW DELHI: Public discord surrounding the
Israel-Hamas conflict
manifested in a noisy protest outside the Washington hotel hosting the annual media dinner attended by American
President Joe Biden
, journalists, celebrities, and politicians.
Following the tradition of his predecessors, Biden used the glamorous White House Correspondents’ Association banquet to poke fun at his rival, Donald Trump, before delivering warnings about the potential consequences if Trump were to win the presidency again.
“We have to take this serious — eight years ago we could have written it off as ‘Trump talk’ but not after January 6,” Biden told the audience, referring to the supporters of Trump who stormed the Capitol after Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election.
With hundreds of protesters rallying against the Gaza war outside the event and concerns regarding the conflict's humanitarian crisis and the risks faced by journalists covering it, the war cast a shadow over this year's gathering.
However, speakers inside the event only briefly mentioned the conflict, even as some attendees had to navigate through the demonstrators to enter.
During Biden's approximately 10-minute speech, he made no mention of the ongoing Gaza war.
Protesters draped in the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh cloth shouted "
Shame on you
!" as they pursued guests in formal attire rushing inside for the dinner. Chants accused US journalists of undercovering the war and distorting its reality.
Ralliers cried “Free, free Palestine’’. They cheered when a Palestinian flag was unfurled from a top-floor hotel window.
Organizers of the protest aimed to draw attention to the high number of Palestinian and other Arab journalists killed by Israel's military since the conflict began in October. One organizer criticized the White House Correspondents’ Association for its perceived silence on the killings of Palestinian journalists.
A preliminary investigation by the Committee to Protect Journalists released on Friday reported that nearly 100 journalists have been killed while covering the Gaza war. Israel has defended its actions, stating that it has targeted militants.
Criticism of the Biden administration's support for Israel's military offensive in Gaza has also sparked
protests
in American college campuses, with students advocating for divestment from Israel.
Protests that originated at Columbia University in New York have spread nationwide, with demands for universities to sever financial ties with Israel and divest from companies allegedly facilitating Israel's war on Gaza, which has resulted in significant casualties. Law enforcement intervention to remove protesters has led to numerous arrests and prompted faculty members at various universities to express no confidence in their leadership.
