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‘Hamas Is Coming’: Anti-Israel, Anti-US Protests Erupt in Washington, DC With Netanyahu in Town
US Capitol Police and NYPD officers clash with anti-Israel demonstrators, on the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Anti-Israel rallies have erupted across Washington, DC this week in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the city and speech to a joint session of the US Congress.
Outside of Union Station, rioters vandalized numerous statues and landmarks, including The Freedom Bell, which is a replica of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The phrase “Hamas is coming,” written in all capital letters, was spray-painted on a monument, along with an upside-down red triangle, a symbol used by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas when attacking Israeli targets.
“These images are deeply disturbing. The glorification of Hamas — a terrorist organization backed by the Iranian regime and holding over a hundred hostages in Gaza — is unacceptable and has no place in our country,” US Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) posted on Twitter/X on Wednesday as images of the protests began to emerge.
These images are deeply disturbing. The glorification of Hamas – a terrorist organization backed by the Iranian regime and holding over a hundred hostages in Gaza – is unacceptable and has no place in our country. https://t.co/WWf0mwniPJ
— Senator Jacky Rosen (@SenJackyRosen) July 24, 2024
“F—k Israel” was also spray-painted at various spots in the US capital city.
Meanwhile, video emerged on social media showing rioters attacking police officers and burning American flags. They also tore down the American flag in front of Union Station and replaced it with a Palestinian flag. They subsequently set the American flag on fire.
Anti Israel protesters burn the American flags they removed from flag posts at Union Station in DC https://t.co/C7eeionfhI pic.twitter.com/Q8OcYSHvKO
— Timcast News (@TimcastNews) July 24, 2024
On Wednesday night, a group of Republican lawmakers — including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) — visited the spot where the American flag was burned and said the Pledge of Allegiance.
The protests, which were sponsored by more than 15 organizations, had an explicitly pro-Hamas message.
Anti-Israel demonstrators protest, on the day of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint meeting of the US Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Seth Herald
Posters handed out by the US Palestinian Community Network read, “Resistance is justified when people are occupied. #AlAqsaFlood,” referring to the name Hamas gave to its Oct. 7 attack, in which it led some 3,000 Palestinian terrorists in murdering 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages during an onslaught across southern Israel. The poster also includes a photo of armed men on a type of military vehicle.
A number of Hamas flags were also seen at the protests. One woman, waving a Hamas flag, dressed as Abu Obeida, the alias of the spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, with a red keffiyeh covering her face, a green headband, and a military jacket.
Another person, waving a black flag that has the words of the Islamic creed known as the Shahada on it — traditionally understood to be the flag under which the Muslim prophet Muhammad began his conquests — held a separate sign reading, “Allah is gathering all the Zionists for the ‘Final Solution.’” The poster included a large bomb being exploded in the middle of an Israeli flag.
Just seen on Capitol Hill. pic.twitter.com/dGiGxpQufz
— Christina Hoff Sommers (@CHSommers) July 24, 2024
Earlier this week, protesters gathered outside of the Watergate Hotel, where Netanyahu was staying while in Washington.
Video emerged of one person screaming, “Jewish motherf—kers. We’re gonna kill all of you. We’re gonna burn you. Allahu Akbar. Hamas!” When the same man later saw a person with an Israeli flag, he confronted him, saying, “Jewish coward motherf—ker!”
The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) released a video on Instagram saying protesters released maggots and crickets into the hotel where Netanyahu was staying. “BON APPETIT!! MAGGOTS REPORTEDLY RELEASED ON THE CRIMINAL ZIONIST’S WAR TABLE!” it wrote.
“Mealworms and maggots (not talking about Netanyahu) were reportedly left on their banquet tables, and crickets were released on multiple floors of the hotel,” PYM continued. “Fire alarms were triggered for over 30 minutes on multiple floors to ensure that there will be no rest before Netanyahu and Congress disgrace themselves in front of the world for failing to achieve any of their military and political objectives.”
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) lambasted the demonstrators and called on US authorities to do more in response to what appeared to be outright hatred of both Jews and the Jewish state.
“These mobs were not pro anything; they were just filled with violent hate and rage, and many seemed to have a bloodlust for anything Jewish or Israeli,” CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa said in a statement. “They crossed all lines and now it is the responsibility of the US authorities to clamp down on them and take immediate and forceful action. Yesterday, the true face of terror in the US revealed itself.”
Roytman Dratwa argued the demonstrators’ actions show they are not pro-Palestinian but anti-American and anti-Western, adding, “Writing ‘Hamas is coming’ on an American national monument, is more than an idle threat; it is an aspiration, and they are openly calling for an Oct. 7-style massacre to take place in the US, inciting for genocide against Jews.”
The post ‘Hamas Is Coming’: Anti-Israel, Anti-US Protests Erupt in Washington, DC With Netanyahu in Town first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.