Angry pro-Palestine demonstrators blasted Democrat Senator John Fetterman who waved a Israeli flag and strolled through a crowd demanding ceasefire on Capitol Hill Thursday.
A viral video, posted by the social media account @VetsAboutFace, captured Fetterman emerging from the Russell Senate Office Building with a small Star of David flag in hand.
The seething crowd erupted in fury as they shouted ‘shame! What a joke!’ as Fetterman, in his signature hoodie-and-shorts, casually bypassed protesters being handcuffed by Capitol security.
A protestor escalated the accusations hissing ‘you support genocide,’ as Fetterman walked past, placid to the heated chants and venom spewing from the crowd.
Before making his departure, Fetterman turned back towards the crowd and antagonized the protesters by waving the Israeli flag once again.
Democrat Senator John Fetterman set off a crowd of pro-Palestine protesters by waving a Israeli flag at those who were demanding ceasefire on Capitol Hill Thursday
As Fetterman, in his signature hoodie-and-shorts, walked through the crowd, angry pro-Palestine demonstrators shouted, ‘Shame! What a joke!’
The senator’s support for Israel has placed him in opposition to many within the Democratic Party and among his supporters who do not share his views
‘Jackass @JohnFetterman saw veterans getting arrested and laughed,’ the veterans against war group About Face wrote on X, formerly Twitter, alongside the video.
‘We asked to see @SenGillibrand. We were put in cuffs. We need leaders who listen to veterans demanding a #CeaseFireNow,’ the group continued.
The advocacy group organized the Thursday protest to demand an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Palestine.
Demonstrators occupied Senator Gillibrand’s office and requested a meeting with her during the Veteran’s Day weekend. Multiple protesters were arrested after Capitol police arrived at the scene.
Fetterman has been known as a staunch supporter of Israel since the brutal October 7 massacre in which Hamas slaughtered 1,400 innocent civilians.
Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Senator said, ‘In my front office, I have displayed the posters of the innocent Israelis kidnapped by Hamas,’ and shared a video of the posters on X.
‘They will stay up until every single person is safely returned home,’ he wrote.
Fetterman also said he had met with families of Hams hostages and survivors of the October 7 massacre last month.
‘Together, we began to post photos of the hostages outside my office to stress the urgent need to bring them all home. My office is posting every last one,’ he wrote on X.
The senator’s support for Israel has placed him in opposition to many within the Democratic Party and among his supporters who do not share his views.
He criticized his Democratic colleagues for hastily assigning blame to Israel for a hospital blast in Gaza last month.
‘It’s truly disturbing that Members of Congress rushed to blame Israel for the hospital tragedy in Gaza,’ Fetterman said in a post on X.
‘Who would take the word of a group that just massacred innocent Israeli citizens over our key ally?’
Despite the heated reaction from the crowd, he turned back with a smile, waving the Israeli flag once again before he left
Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Senator said, ‘In my front office, I have displayed the posters of the innocent Israelis kidnapped by Hamas,’ and shared a video of the posters on X
More than 200 hostages were taken from Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7. The youngest is a ten-month-old baby.
Hamas has released video footage of some of the hostages to serve as proof of life, and said last week they were ‘ready’ to allow some to return home after relentless airstrikes.
Israeli official said on Thursday that they do not know how many Hamas hostages are still alive after being taken underground, and the health of the majority of the hostages remains unknown.
The officials, speaking at a screening of the Hamas atrocity at the Consulate in New York, made a public plea for ‘two way’ humanitarian aid to rescue the hostages while the world calls for a ceasefire to save remaining Gazan civilians.
‘We have some intelligence that we’re not sharing but it’s largely a black hole,’ Aviv Ezra, Acting Consul General of Israel in New York, said.
‘They have been split into groups but we don’t know how. Hamas will not even give us their names.
‘There are 10 people who we still cannot say whether they have been killed or kidnapped because the bodies of those murdered are so badly burned,’ he said.
Israel is calling for the hostages to be freed in the four-hour, daily humanitarian pauses that were yesterday agreed upon.