By Joshua Arnold

An already historic year grew more unprecedented Wednesday when anti-American activists nearly disrupted a foreign leader’s speech to a joint session of Congress. In a speech designed to strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saluted the University of North Carolina fraternity brothers who “protected the American flag against these anti-Israel protesters” during a campus riot in April. Half an hour later, the anti-Israel protestors tore down more American flags only blocks away at Washington, D.C.‘s Union Station.

On Wednesday, Washington witnessed one of the vilest displays of anti-Semitic hatred in America since the 2017 neo-Nazi gathering in Charlottesville. Demonstrators covered their faces, waved signs with anti-Semitic tropes, burned an effigy of Netanyahu, implied on camera they wished to do violence upon his person, and graffitied praise for a terrorist group onto U.S. government property. If they had been consciously trying to imitate the KKK, there is little more they could have done.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is supposed to preside over joint sessions of Congress, skipped Netanyahu’s speech, largely in an attempt to win votes among the pro-Hamas faction that lusts for Israel’s destruction.

The protests against Netanyahu began on Tuesday night before his speech, when left-wing activists released maggots and crickets inside common areas of the Watergate Hotel — yes, that Watergate — where he was staying. That may be the weirdest, most bizarre political act performed in that hotel — and that’s a high bar to clear.

Protestors also manufactured a noisy ruckus outside the hotel that lasted until at least 10 p.m., reportedly forcing Netanyahu to change rooms. “Palestine protestors manufactured chaos at the Watergate Hotel last night so that Netanyahu, Israeli Mossad agents, and the Secret Service had no peace as they continue to terrorize our people,” boasted the D.C. chapter of the Palestine Youth Movement, a pop-up group with a far grander name than it deserves.

Indeed, the protestors themselves took little rest, spurred on by their utter detestation for the long-serving leader of America’s closest ally. By 11 a.m., protestors were assembling, organizing, and distributing protest signs in bulk. They planned to “surround” the Capitol, “blocking Congressional motorcades” from arriving for Netanyahu’s 2 p.m. speech.

The protestors, who gathered at a stage on the National Mall for a rally beforehand, broadcast this plan openly, with a speaker announcing at 11:30 a.m. that anti-Netanyahu protestors were blocking five intersections across the city. An hour later, some road-blocking protestors remained, and they planned to remain until they got arrested.

In preparation for the anti-Netanyahu demonstrations, U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) had brought in outside assistance, in the form of 200 officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD). It seems they learned their lesson after the last time Capitol Police lacked manpower in the face of an aggressive mob.

Earlier in the day, the USCP were mocked for calling in outside help. “Despite these rallies being peaceful, Capitol Police have asked the NYPD to come to D.C.,” sneered an “independent reporter” with the Twitter/X handle “SpyderMonkey0_0,” shortly before noon. An hour later the user added, “the NYPD biker cops brought in have barely needed to do anything, most police are just waiting around.” The USCP would be vindicated within the hour.

After the anti-Israel rally ended at one o'clock, the crowd of protestors lurched towards Capitol Hill amid a cloud of red and green smoke, the colors of the Palestinian flag. They also began warming up to violence. At 1:10 p.m., they surrounded a lone counter-protestor with an Israeli flag, screaming curses at him and blaring air horns. The police intervened to protect him.

Of course, the crowd was partial toward violence already. A Hamas flag was seen among the demonstrators at 1:19 p.m. Another demonstrator carried a jihadist flag used by ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and similar groups, explaining, “this is the flag of Islam.” Other demonstrators — who called in sick to work to participate in the all-day affair — declined to say what they would do if they got to Netanyahu because “I don’t want to incriminate myself.” They did, however, show off a miniature guillotine.

Soon afterward, the mob began to press against the police barricade at the base of Capitol Hill. Video footage of the confrontation shows items that look like water bottles flying toward the officers. Fortunately, the debacle of January 6 would not be repeated, as USCP was forewarned and forearmed with more officers, heavier gear, and even more at stake.

Officers stationed at the barriers soon donned riot gear, including gas masks. One officer warned the crowd, “step back now. You will get sprayed.” Sometime between 1:40 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., the police responded to the crowd’s rising violence by dispersing pepper spray above their heads. The chemical irritant worked as intended, redirecting the crowd’s attention from assaulting the police to rinsing their burning eyes. The crowd continuing throwing items at officers, who continued responding with pepper spray, while more bike officers arrived as reinforcements.

Although deterred at their first approach from the west, the anti-Israel demonstrators quickly fanned out, seeking a vulnerable point of attack. By 2:15 p.m., a large crowd had marched up Louisiana Avenue NW to Union Station, the majestic train hub situated three blocks north of the Capitol.

Others circled around the Capitol’s barricaded perimeter to the eastern side, where they faced off with police at the intersection of 3rd and E Capitol Street at 2:30 p.m. Police reinforcement soon arrived there too, carrying shields and other riot gear.

Meanwhile, other demonstrators continued to harass police at the western barrier; video captured one demonstrator in a U.S. Postal Service hat unreasonably shouting “let us through.”

Unable to find a weak point in the Capitol’s security perimeter, thousands of pro-Hamas demonstrators marched back up Massachusetts Avenue NE and assembled at Union Station around 2:45 p.m. The station itself lay behind a protective barrier of U.S. Park Police, who are responsible for the site. However, the demonstrators congregated in front of the station, in the open area known as Columbus Circle.

The protestors’ next move was unclear. They had been frustrated in their original mission of — well, I’m not even sure they knew, perhaps storming the Capitol and disrupting Netanyahu’s speech. SpyderMonkey0_0, whom we met previously, lamented that “lots of people who kept going in spite of the police repression are leaving due to the intense heat.” At the time, it was 86 degrees and overcast. At this point, the protestors could have sung some more chants and then dispersed peaceably.

But, no, this crowd was too transgressive for that. They hadn’t even had a good opportunity to show off their “less than flattering effigy of Netanyahu with blood on his hands.” Oh no, they were determined to make a scene.

Heritage intern Olivia Pero captured it first, in a video posted to X at 3:13 p.m., “Mobsters just took down the U.S. flag in front of Union Station.” The stars and stripes fly on three flagpoles in front of Union Station, and demonstrators had scrambled up the base of one flagpole, endeavoring to lower the U.S. flag and replace it with that of Palestine.

The next minutes were “absolute chaos,” Blaze TV’s Julio Rosas recorded. As soon as the activists lowered the first flag, Park Police closed in, secured the American flag and tried to arrest the perpetrators. They fled through the crowd, and most of those responsible escaped. However, video captured by reporter Richie McGinniss does show the Park Police catch and arrest one perpetrator while the shameless crowd chanted “shame on you.” As multiple police officers were making the arrest, another demonstrator forcibly pulled a police officer off the arrestee and threw him to the ground, forcing the officer to draw his baton.

The pro-Hamas, anti-American activists soon pulled down all three American flags and raised the flag of Palestine in their places. The police were severely outnumbered, and venturing into the seething mass of hatred was already dangerous enough the first time. They maintained a perimeter, but they didn’t interfere with these additional attempts to disgrace the stars and stripes.

At 3:17 p.m., U.S. Park Police tweeted, “A crowd in Columbus Circle is engaged in criminal activity and confronting law enforcement on scene. USPP is attempting to deescalate and contact the event organizer for help.” They advised members of the public “to avoid the area.”

By 3:27 p.m., the activists had kindled a fire in Columbus Circle, apparently with the aid of a shopping cart and some kind of liquid accelerant. They set ablaze the effigy of Netanyahu, as well as the American flags they so unceremoniously and illegally tore down. An Israeli flag was also burned. So many Palestinian flags dominated the scene — none of which were set alight — that an uninformed spectator would be forgiven they were watching an anti-American, patriotic display in a Middle Eastern Arab state.

Disturbing video posted at 3:31 p.m. shows the American flag burning on the ground, while a ring of onlookers chant, “Allahu Akbar.” The phrase means, “God [Allah] is great” in Arabic. In this context, the chant clearly communicates that a religious war is underway, in which the Muslim god Allah has gained a symbolic victory over the United States by burning her flag on her own soil. If American political leaders fail to recognize the religious and symbolic overtones to this event and act accordingly, they will have only themselves to blame for the fallout.

By now, the lawlessness was in full cry. “The mob continued to chase police officers to try to free protesters who had been arrested at Union Station,” Rosas observed at 3:33 p.m. “Pepper spray was eventually used to push the crowd back.”

Activists pulled out spray paint to draw graffiti on The Freedom Bell and other statues. The fact that activists had brought the spray paint with them — the nearest hardware store is 14 blocks in the wrong direction — indicates they had contemplated lawless behavior from the very beginning of their “peaceful” rally and were merely waiting for an opportunity. The graffiti endorsed terrorism (“I commend Hamas”) and genocide (“End Israel”) and made threats against the United States (“Hamas is coming”).

On numerous occasions, in multiple major speeches, President Biden has forcefully condemned what he describes as the hate propagated by MAGA Republicans, which he has insisted poses a great danger to democracy. “Identifying with evil terrorist organizations like Hamas, burning the American flag, or forcibly removing the American flag and replacing it with another, is disgraceful,” a White House spokesperson responded to Wednesday’s incident. However, Biden himself has not condemned it publicly.

Video shot by Richie McGinniss clearly captured the faces of two young women engaged in spraying the word “Gaza” in red paint onto white stonework. Protestors can be heard chanting in the background, “We will honor all our martyrs,” a reference to the Hamas terrorists who died in the wake of October 7. When McGinniss began asking questions, one of the women said he was a “Zionist” and called the crowd’s attention to the “Zionist over here.”

U.S. Park Police issued another alert at 3:37 p.m., “The permit for Columbus Circle was revoked. Please leave the area at this time.” Law enforcement agents from a variety of departments were mustering in force just across the street from the lawless demonstration, but they had not yet moved in to clear the circle.

At this uncertain, dangerous moment, an unlikely hero rose to the occasion. A lawyer working in a nearby building was disturbed by the commotion. “I heard a loud pop, and I saw the American flag coming down, and I went to go see what had happened to them. And I saw that they were being burned,” he said.

He had to do something. So, in his white dress shirt and khakis, he casually sauntered into the crowd, most of whom were wearing red t-shirts. Then he made a dash past the fire, snatched out the half-consumed American flag, and dashed through the crowd. Voices shouted, “get him!” Several activists tried to block his path. Someone seized the flag, which weakened by fire, ripped asunder (is that a metaphor for the country?).

The man never stopped running until he reached the safety of the police line. He only had a tattered triangle of the flag to show for his efforts, but it was something. “They ripped the rest of it out of my hand,” he said sadly, still breathing heavily. “I’m ashamed I didn’t go back and get the rest of it.” The reporter who caught up with him replied, “I don’t think you would have lasted long in there.” He’s probably right.

I wish I knew who this man was, so I could shake his hand, but he preferred to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Hopefully, left-wing radicals do not succeed in doxing him. America needs more anonymous heroes like him.

By 3:45 p.m., the police had assembled in sufficient numbers to move in and arrest those believed to have a hand in removing the flags. However, the police still “struggle[d] to maintain order as their comrades try to de-arrest them,” according to Timcast News.

At 4:03 p.m., likely after securing the arrest of those believed to have a hand in illegal behavior, the U.S. Park Police issued another alert, “A crowd remains in Columbus Circle. The permit for Columbus Circle has been revoked. Please leave the area of Columbus Circle at this time.”

It’s unclear how the crowd was eventually dispersed. At total of 23 people were arrested, eight by U.S. Park Police and the other 15 by D.C. police and USCP. Among the charges, Rosas reported that evening, were “destruction of government property, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, statue climbing, fighting, interfering, and assault on police officers.”

“The city is in gridlock because of protests that have been taking place: pro-Hamas pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests,” Family Research Council Tony Perkins said on “Washington Watch.” “It’s a demonstration of what the prime minister said is at stake here. It’s Western civilization. It’s not just Israel … it’s also America.”

Speaking of America, at around 9:30 p.m. that evening, the U.S. Park Police officers folded and secured the American flag they had saved from the mob earlier that afternoon.

And, shortly before midnight, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and several other House members (no Democrats) replaced the American flags that fly in front of Union Station. They cited the pledge of allegiance, and cheers and applause issued as the stars and stripes rose.

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.