The two leading U.S. presidential candidates, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, on Thursday condemned the most visible of the pro-Hamas protests against Israel that erupted the day before near the U.S. Capitol.
The protests came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was defiantly defending his country's war against the Hamas militants in an address to Congress.
Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee in the 2024 election, said in a statement, "We saw despicable acts by unpatriotic protesters and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric" at Union Station, Washington's train depot not far from the Capitol.
In the plaza in front of the rail station, demonstrators replaced American flags with Palestinian flags, and a man climbed up to the middle of a fountain and used red spray paint to write "Hamas is comin'" in big letters. Protesters also burned an effigy of Netanyahu and a U.S. flag.
On his Truth Social media platform, Trump said "If those people rioting in Washington yesterday were Republicans/Conservatives, they'd all be in jail right now, facing 10- to 20-year sentences. Under this Crooked Administration, nothing will happen to them!"
Police arrest 23
Thousands of protesters were in the Washington streets on Wednesday to protest against Netanyahu's appearance at the Capitol and to support Palestinians. Most of the protests were peaceful, but some demonstrators clashed with police, and 23 were arrested.
"I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews," Harris said. "Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent, and we must not tolerate it in our nation."
In photos: Protests as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses US Congress
Harris also condemned the burning of the U.S. flag. "That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way," Harris said, although a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision said that burning an American flag was a lawful form of freedom of speech.
Some Republicans in the House of Representatives visited Union Station late Wednesday and replaced three American flags that anti-Israel protesters had burned and replaced with Palestinian flags earlier in the day.
"We recognize that they flew Palestinian flags on these poles," Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters. "It is outrageous. They were pulled down, thankfully."
Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic minority leader, also condemned the protests in a statement on Thursday.
"Defacing public property, desecrating the American flag, threatening Jews with violence and promoting terrorist groups like Hamas is not acceptable under any circumstance," he said. "There is a difference between lawful expression and disorderly conduct. Anyone who violates the law must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
In her statement, Harris concluded, "I support the right to peacefully protest, but let's be clear: Antisemitism, hate and violence of any kind have no place in our nation."
In the first days of her presidential campaign against Republican Trump, Harris held a campaign rally with a teachers' union in the southwestern state of Texas on Thursday before flying to Washington to meet with Netanyahu at the White House. Trump is meeting with Netanyahu on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Harris, as second in command to outgoing President Joe Biden, and like all top U.S. officials, condemned the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages.
But as the months of fighting have raged on, and Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza targeting Hamas fighters killed more Palestinian civilians, especially thousands of women and children, Harris became more outspoken, initially blunter than Biden, about the need to end the conflict.
In March, she called for an "immediate" pause in fighting, contending that Israel had not done enough to ease a "humanitarian catastrophe" among Palestinians in Gaza.
"People in Gaza are starving," she said. "The conditions are inhumane, and our common humanity compels us to act."
She has not — as she prepared to meet with Netanyahu — publicly said what she would tell him. Biden has often recently said it is time for the war to end. But Israeli and Hamas negotiators have failed to reach agreement on a six-week cease-fire and fighting continues.
As for Harris' broad view of Israel, her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, told a group of Jewish groups earlier this week, "Let me just make this clear, Vice President Harris has been and will be a strong supporter of Israel as a secure, democratic and Jewish state. And she will always ensure that Israel can defend itself. Period. That's who Kamala Harris is."
Trump, after remaining mostly silent about the Israel-Hamas war, in March told Israel it has "to finish the problem. You had a horrible invasion that took place that would have never happened if I was president."
After Wednesday's protests, Trump called for Israel to quickly end the war and said the country was "not good" at promoting its cause in world affairs.
"You got to get it done quickly," Trump told Fox News.
