There was chatter amongst Congressional reporters about wandering over to The Monocle for a drink final Wednesday evening. The Monocle is an old-school Capitol Hill watering gap situated subsequent to U.S. Capitol Police Headquarters and throughout the parking zone from the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Senators generally grasp on the market whereas they await the physique to get its enterprise collectively for late evening votes.
It was pushing 9 p.m. final Wednesday and the Senate was mired in a vote which started at 2:26 p.m. Senators struggled to work out a deal to complete up its work earlier than Thanksgiving. The solely purpose reporters nonetheless lingered on the Capitol at that hour was as a result of the Senate was slated to vote later to align with the House and avert a authorities shutdown. There would have been drama surrounding a possible authorities funding cliff just some days earlier. But not now. The query was not if the Senate would move the stopgap spending bundle – however when. And since there wasn’t an settlement over a pending protection coverage invoice, the Senate forestalled closing the roll name vote till all the things was settled.
That’s when phrase got here from the Capitol Police that each one the workplace buildings on the House facet of the Congressional advanced have been locked down. No one may come or go.
An enormous, pro-Palestinian demonstration descended on the Democratic National Committee Headquarters simply steps from the House workplace buildings. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Minority Whip Kathleen Clark, D-Mass., Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., and different Democratic members have been on the DNC for an occasion. Democrats huddled all through the day on the DNC with marketing campaign operatives and Democratic candidates forward of the 2024 election cycle.
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The protesters encircled the constructing, demanding a Middle East ceasefire, blocking anybody from getting into or leaving the DNC.
The Capitol Police moved in.
Jeffries and Clark have USCP safety particulars attributable to their management positions. The protesters fired tear gasoline on the Capitol Police. The USCP then started clearing the best way to evacuate members from the group. USCP arrested one man for assaulting officers.
The protesters injured a complete of six officers.
U.S. Capitol Police safe the U.S. Capitol Building in response to a name for a “Day of Rage” on Oct. 13, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“Last night’s group was not peaceful,” mentioned the USCP in an announcement the following day. “When demonstrations cross the line into illegal activity, it is our responsibility to maintain order.”
Democrats holed up within the DNC and let free on the protesters.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., who’s Jewish, characterised them as “pro-Hamas” and “pro-terrorist.” He added that demonstrators “want Republicans” to win in 2024.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., can be Jewish and was trapped within the DNC as properly.
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“When you engage in tactics that are intimidating and certainly blocking access or exit from a building, I think that crosses a line,” mentioned Wasserman Schultz. “It was a very troubling, disturbing situation.”
“We were rescued by armed officers who did not know the protesters intent,” mentioned Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., on Twitter.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., tweeted that she was caught in her workplace within the Longworth House Office Building along with her new child child throughout the raucous demonstration.
Democrats have an issue.
U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) waits for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union handle throughout a joint assembly of Congress within the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol on February 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. The speech marks Biden’s first handle to the brand new Republican-controlled House. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
There is a tear of their get together over the Middle East. Progressive, left-wing activists – fueled by school campus outrage – are fracturing the get together over requires a ceasefire and Israel’s assertion to defend itself. That’s to say nothing of controversial feedback by Squad members like Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., for a ceasefire and criticism of pro-Israeli teams like AIPAC (the American Israel Political Action Committee).
“I don’t think the Democratic Socialists of America, the Justice Democrats, et cetera, are part of the Democratic coalition,” mentioned Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill.
Schneider has lengthy aligned with AIPAC. He voted to sanction Tlaib on the House flooring for pushing the trope “from the river to the sea,” which requires the elimination of Israel.
“What we need is people of good conscience and moral clarity to stand united and say Israel was attacked by a terrorist organization seeking to destroy the country,” mentioned Schneider.
AIPAC is now ready to run candidates in opposition to Democrats who oppose its targets.
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Progressive teams warned Jeffries final week that he and Democratic Congressional Committee Chairwoman (DCCC) and Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., must maintain AIPAC out of Democratic primaries.
Republicans have loads of schisms on their facet – between “Reagan” Republicans, the MAGA crowd, the Freedom Caucus and people who simply need to lay a blowtorch to all the things. That is radioactive. But the political, radioisotopes over the Middle East cauterize like no different points.
That’s why some on the left now consult with President Biden as “Genocide Joe.”
The New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America confronted criticism after it included a watermelon on a flyer pushing for a protest of Jeffries. Jeffries is Black. Racists have lengthy used a watermelon to emphasise anti-Black views. The watermelon can be an icon of Palestinians who view Israel as occupiers.
A reporter requested Jeffries final week concerning the accusation by Rep. Summer Lee, D-Penn., that he shared the stage with Pastor John Hageee at a pro-Israel rally on the National Mall. Lee termed Hagee “an antisemitic bigot,” including “this must be condemned.”
Pro-Palestine protestors collect outdoors the New York Public Library. (Stephen Yang for Fox News Digital)
Jeffries replied that he appeared on stage on the rally alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
“I have no idea what she’s talking about,” responded Jeffries to Lee’s accusation.
Republicans may not face the identical internecine sniping as Democrats over the Middle East battle. The GOP is extra unified on the subject of standing behind Israel and approving laws to help the Jewish state financially and militarily. But there are Republicans who’re uninterested in U.S. involvement in “foreign wars” and the spending which accompanies that. Look no additional than the GOP divide over Ukraine. A possible Republican cut up hasn’t materialized but over Israel. But it’s one thing to look at.
Democrats like Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., and Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., at the moment are the victims of anti-Israel graffiti and vandalism at their district and state workplaces.
The rift over the Middle East is extra pronounced on the Democratic facet as evidenced by the protest on the DNC final week. Republicans actually have their very own particular stage of chaos after the Speaker debacle and struggles to move their very own spending payments.
But nothing is as risky because the Middle East. It poses a particular stage of political issues for the Democratic Party.
That’s why the lockdown of the House workplace buildings and the tense protest outdoors the DNC final week was so essential. It’s liberals attacking liberals. There’s division amongst Democratic members as talked about earlier with the Squad and others. Democrats will battle to focus on inner Republican dissent over authorities funding and even threats of violence between lawmakers when members of their very own get together are clashing over one thing as flammable because the Middle East.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/divide-protest-israel-exposed-serious-rift-democratic-party
