Anti-Israel agitators storm U.S. Capitol complex, 200 arrested

PUBLISHED: July 24, 2024 | www.baltimoresun.com

FILE – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Dec. 24, 2023. Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week is looming as a particularly fraught one between two allies. The Israeli leader is coming to address Congress Wednesday, July 24, 2024, at a moment of extreme political flux in the United States. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool, File)

Anti-Israel agitators stormed the U.S. Capitol complex Tuesday, with approximately 200 arrested in the Canon House Office Building rotunda.

The agitators did a sit-in to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s anticipated speech to Congress on Wednesday.

One elected official, Rep. Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat, said his interns had to barricade themselves in the office because the agitators were “violently beating” on all of their doors.

His chief of staff alleged that they attempted to forcibly enter the office.

Look, the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters were wrong, and these people are wrong too. Beating on doors, occupying public buildings, and impeding the public’s and staff’s access to the building is not acceptable by any means.

Let’s just hope that prosecutors deal with the protestors the way they dealt with the people who were arrested on Jan. 6.

Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.

Originally Published: July 24, 2024 at 1:58 p.m.