AMMAN, Jordan: Pro-Palestinian groups gathered Tuesday outside the White House in Washington, DC to protest Israel’s war crimes in the Gaza Strip and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Donald Trump.
The demonstration came as Trump hosted Netanyahu in the Oval Office for talks.
Netanyahu’s visit to the US capital comes as a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues to hold in Gaza, where more than 47,500 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023.
Waving Palestinian flags, the protestors chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “Stop hosting a war criminal.”
They also held signs saying “Prime Minister of Genocide,” “Netanyahu is a War Criminal” and “Israel Kills.”
The protesters also called for the arrest of Netanyahu, who is facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
– Netanyahu ‘should be at The Hague’
Matthew Watterman, who protested Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump, told Anadolu that the US has backed 15 months of Israeli genocide in Gaza and decades of Israeli occupation and war crimes against the Palestinian people.
“We believe that Netanyahu coming here, to our city to ask for yet more of our tax money to be used to commit atrocities against the Palestinian people is something that has to be protested, has to be resisted,” he said.
Watterman said Americans do not want their tax dollars used to “commit atrocities.”
“We don’t want our taxes used for genocide. We don’t want them used for occupation. We don’t want them used for colonization,” he added.
Another protester, Dolia C., said Netanyahu is a “war criminal.”
“He shouldn’t really be here. He should be at The Hague,” she told Anadolu.
Palestinians deserve their rights, freedom and their land back, she stressed.
– Trump should stop ‘this brutal occupation’
Yitzchok Deutsch, a rabbi, said it is “ridiculous” for “a war criminal” to claim that he is representing the Jewish religion.
“This is totally false. We are standing now after 15 months of a terrible genocide, unimaginable genocide, broadcasted live on TV and social media,” Deutsch told Anadolu.
Netanyahu is using religion to justify “all these crimes,” he added.
“We are here with a message to President Trump: If you would like to be the president of peace in the world, you should stop this movement of Zionism, stop this brutal occupation which has been taking place for over 76 years,” Deutsch said.
Trump said Monday that he cannot guarantee that the ceasefire in Gaza will hold and told reporters in the Oval Office that he has “no assurances” that the truce will remain in force.
“I’ve seen people brutalized. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. No, I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold,” he said.
Before meeting with Netanyahu, Trump reiterated his suggestion of moving Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip, saying “I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza.”
Laith Al-Jnaidi, Mohammad Sio @AA Africa
