Citizen's arrest: Thousands of US protesters demand Israel's Netanyahu be locked up

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a depleted House when he addressed a joint seating of the US Congress on Wednesday, after dozens of lawmakers opted to either boycott or skip his speech.

Reasons given for not being present for Netanyahu's address range from opposition to his far-right government to opposing his approach to the war on Gaza to having scheduling conflicts.

Outside the US Capitol building and across downtown Washington DC, thousands of pro-Palestinian and anti-war activists from all over the country were on the streets to show their ire against the Israeli war on Gaza, with their centre of attention being Netanyahu, who they accuse of leading a genocide on Palestinians in Gaza.

The goal of the protesters: arrest Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and genocide committed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

The International Criminal Court is currently deliberating over whether to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, and the protesters in Washington issued a symbolic notice of a "citizen's arrest".

As for those in Congress attending the address, the protesters say they are complicit in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.

"Netanyahu and the members of Congress he will be addressing are partners in crime," Hatem Abu Dayyeh, national coordinator for the US Palestinian Community Network, said in a statement shared with Middle East Eye.

"We are gathering to express our outrage not only with Netanyahu but also with the US political elite who are indispensable to Israel's ability to massacre Palestinians."

Loan Tran, an activist with the group Rising Majority, said they want to make it clear that the government "has to stop enabling this genocide". Tran added that he's confounded that Netanyahu is allowed to address Congress despite such severe opposition to him in the US. 

"It’s been really mind-boggling that over the last nine months as students and everyday concerned citizens of the US have taken actions such as these, that folks have been arrested…when the International Court of Justice ruled and said the real criminal, the war criminal, is Benjamin Netanyahu.”

The latest mass pro-Palestinian protest in Washington comes nearly ten months into the war, which began in October 2023 after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza, decimated the enclave's civilian infrastructure and killed hundreds of journalists, medical workers, and UN staff members.

Blocking Netanyahu's motorcade 

While the main protest was taking place right outside the US Capitol, several different contingents of activists dispersed throughout the surrounding areas to try and anticipate which route Netanyahu's motorcade would take to drive from the Watergate Hotel where the Israeli prime minister was staying to Congress for his address.

After trying one location on 14th Street and Independence Avenue, dozens of protesters shifted towards 7th Street, where their attempt to block the road was met with a quick response from police who shoved them onto the sidewalk. The protesters took it as a sign that they were at the right spot to block Netanyahu's arrival to Congress.

'Netanyahu should be in handcuffs, not in the halls of Congress ... If they won’t block him, then we will'

- Loan Tran, Rising Majority

“It is unconscionable that the US government is platforming an internationally recognised war criminal responsible for the mass murder of Palestinians over the last nine months, including over 40 members of my family," said Reem Assil, a member of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center.

"As attention turns away from the genocide, it has only gotten worse. I am participating in these actions because I must do everything I can to ensure that those in power who are complacent with this visit are held to account,” Assil added.

The protesters said they were able to successfully reroute the prime minister's motorcade away from the roads they blocked, and while Netanyahu reached Congress, the activists felt the Israeli leader got the message that he was not welcome in the city.

“Netanyahu should be in handcuffs, not in the halls of Congress," said Tran. "If they won’t block him, then we will."

The police presence and security throughout downtown Washington was heavy, with checkpoints dispersed across different points of entry to the main protesting area. After several hours, the crowds in front of the US Capitol began to surge, and police began launching pepper spray to disperse them. US Capitol Police accused the protesters of being "violent" and of failing "to obey our order to move back from our police line", a charge demonstrators deny.

BREAKING: Capitol police deploy pepper spray and brutalize protesters and journalists including BT's @KeiPritsker en route to the capitol to protest Netanyahu's visit. pic.twitter.com/Cgw2zxHhqm

— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) July 24, 2024

Meanwhile inside the House Gallery, as Netanyahu began his address, several attendees stood up and revealed T-shirts displaying the message: "Seal the Deal Now", referring to ceasefire negotiations that have come to a standstill between Hamas and Israel over a possible end to the war in Gaza.

Those individuals were removed from the chamber and arrested, and Netanyahu went on to say that Israel will continue waging war on Gaza for as long as necessary.

'A dark stain on Congress'

Israel's war has been met with sparse words of opposition in the US Congress, which has voted to continue funding Israel's military and supplying them with weaponry to continue the war effort despite near-weekly reports of Israeli massacres of Palestinians.

Mass pro-Palestinian protests have taken place numerous times in Washington, DC, and other major US cities, with calls and demands for the end to US military aid to Israel and for the US to push Israel to accept an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

'July 24th will be remembered as a dark stain on the legacy of the 118th Congress'

- Mohamad Habehh, American Muslims for Palestine

Despite what observers have said is the largest pro-Palestinian mobilisation to have occurred in US history over the past several months, the Biden administration has continued to shield Israel and Netanyahu from public scrutiny as well as diplomatic isolation.

While several countries have cut ties with Israel and others have recognised Palestinian statehood, the US has continued to provide a diplomatic shield to Israel, most recently by submitting an amicus brief to the ICC in opposition to a potential arrest warrant for Netanyahu.

Congress, for its part, extended an invitation to Netanyahu to address a joint session of the legislature, despite the Israeli leader openly criticising the US government for not doing enough to support Israel's war.

"July 24th will be remembered as a dark stain on the legacy of the 118th Congress. Inviting a war criminal to speak in our legislative halls while he is committing genocide is a new low for this body," Mohamad Habehh, development director at American Muslims for Palestine, said in a statement shared with MEE.

"Congressional leaders have supported this genocide in Gaza in both word and deed. Not only have they excused the atrocities Israel is committing, they have passed billions of dollars in funding to enable them."

Roughly half of Congress' Democrats opted not to attend the speech, with many citing opposition to Netanyahu's continuation of the war and lack of accountability for civilian deaths in Gaza. However, Rashida Tlaib, the lone Palestinian-American member of Congress, chose to attend his address.

She sat and listened to Netanyahu while holding up a two-sided sign, reading: "War Criminal" and "Guilty of Genocide" - for the Israeli leader to see while he spoke.

I will never back down in speaking truth to power.

The apartheid government of Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. Palestinians will not be erased. Solidarity with all those outside of these walls in the streets protesting and exercising their right to dissent. pic.twitter.com/TSbbXdv13U

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) July 24, 2024

Meanwhile, the speech took place amid a turbulent moment in US politics, as US President Joe Biden announced on Sunday he will not be seeking reelection, moving to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee, facing off against Donald Trump in November.

Harris herself didn't attend the speech despite one of her duties as vice president being to preside over the Senate. She instead was on the campaign trail.

Still, despite the apparent snub by a future US president, Harris will be holding a private meeting with Netanyahu - a move protesters say hints that not much is likely to change if Harris wins in November.