Thousands take to streets to protest Netanyahu and Gaza conflict

Thousands of Palestinians and critics of the Israeli war in Gaza descended on Washington DC to protest Benjamin Netanyahu’scongressional address on Wednesday, with US flags set alight and pepper spray deployed during clashes.

“The crowd failed to obey our order to move back from our police line,’’ Capitol Police said X during the protest. “We are deploying pepper spray towards anyone trying to break the law and cross that line.’’

Several hundred protesters at the city’s Union Station Plaza replaced US flags with Palestinian ones, and it was the site of the burning of the US flag.

The visit of Israel’s controversial leader on Capitol Hill drew thousands to the streets, shutting down several blocks while a smaller group led a march around the vicinity.

Though Netanyahu was speaking to Congress, it was the presidential race atop the minds of both demonstrators and speakers who delivered addresses between shouted chants of “free, free Palestine!”.

Both at the main rally and a much smaller sidewalk setup organized by the Socialist Equality Party, speakers warned that Vice President Kamala Harris’sascension to the top of the Democratic ticket meant little hope for a meaningful shift in US-Israel policy either in the next few months or under a potential Harris administration.

However, it was in that potential Kamala Harris presidency that organizers found reason for hope — even if Harris herself remains, like Biden, an ally of Israel generally. Speakers at Wednesday’s event pointed to two factors, Harris’s apparent decision to avoid attending today’s speech and the decision by Biden to step aside, as signs that the political pressure exerted by their movement on the Democratic Party was working. The Democrats’ dropping of