Looking for a Middle Around the Edges of Bibi’s Visit

There was the split screen—on one side, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing a joint session of Congress and calling Americans who protest his war “useful idiots of Iran.” And on the other, pro-Palestinian demonstrators at nearby Union Station dancing around burning American and Israeli flags and spray painting “Hamas Is Coming” and “All Zionists Are Bastards” on a fountain. Around the edges of yesterday’s split screen (metaphorical and as seen on TV), I had an opportunity to talk to individuals and smaller groups who turned out on a sweltering midweek summer day to express their feelings about the Israeli leader and the war between Israel and Hamas that has affected so many Palestinians in Gaza.

Not unlike many of the Israelis Moment Editor-in-Chief Nadine Epstein interviewed on a recent trip to Israel, I encountered strong criticism of Netanyahu, although those I spoke with, all Americans, were decidedly more strident in what they wanted to see happen to him. “He should be arrested,” a government worker from Alexandria named Bernard Curtis told me. “Netanyahu knew there was going to be an attack,” he said, referencing a conspiracy theory while also calling out Hamas for its barbarous actions on October 7. “It’s not a good look for the United States to host a war criminal, or to support a genocide,” said a woman in a headscarf who wore a Palestinian flag like a cape while pushing her two children in a stroller. “I don’t think we’d invite Putin,” she added. Alana Eichner, a young Jewish woman who lives in DC and attended the Peace & Justice Bloc gathering on the National Mall, wasn’t expecting anything transformative from the Israeli leader: “Where Bibi stands is clear. Giving him a platform is wrong.” Many expressed little hope that the next U.S. president would get tough enough on Israel to end the war and forge a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And yet here they were, on the edges of that rather extreme split screen, to try to make some difference.

Suda Billinger from Tucson, AZ

I meet Suda Billinger from Tucson, AZ, on the Metro heading into DC. She’s hard to miss, waving a Palestinian flag and holding onto a four-wheeled walker festooned with glittery posters. One is of a watermelon (which has long been a stand-in for the Palestinian flag). Another says, “Save Gaza” in pink and blue, and a third proclaims that “Funding Genocide Is Wrong Regardless of Political Party.” The final element of Billinger’s display is the most jarring: a photo blow-up of an extremely emaciated child looking directly at the camera.

Billinger feels strongly that hurting innocent people is a crime. She’s been to 52 Israel protests since October 7 and she has almost 35,000 followers on TikTok, where she posts regularly about the war and her involvement in the protest movement. I ask her if she’s gotten blowback about the image of the child. “I have,” she says. “I’ve been attacked. I just don’t understand how bringing attention to the killing of children is what’s negative. How many children must be killed or starved or injured? It’s not a political issue, it’s a humanitarian one.” She says having a presence on social media can invite nasty responses but notes that her followers had paid for her ticket to DC and bought her a body cam, which she proudly displays. She feels it was wrong to invite Netanyahu to address Congress and “absolutely supports” the efforts of the hostage families calling for a cease-fire in order to secure their release. When I ask Billinger about the upcoming election, she throws out that presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris “gets $5 million from AIPAC” and that she plans to vote for Claudia de la Cruz (Party for Socialism and Liberation) in November. And while she says it’s not okay to associate all Jewish people with the actions of Israel, she also doesn’t think antisemitism is a big problem.

Emerging from the metro at the Capitol South station, keffiyehs and Palestinian flags are in abundance. I see a man with a congressional pin on the lapel of his perfectly tailored plum-colored suit move toward an Uber and think several seconds too late, after he hops in, to call out, “Congressman, are you going to Bibi’s speech?” Several confused groups seem unsure where to go since the police have closed many of the roads around the Capitol where Netanyahu is scheduled to speak in two hours. “We’ll see a big dome when it’s around,” a blondish hippie-looking guy says to his group of ethnically diverse compatriots. “Nobody blocks off Anacostia!” a woman jokes to her friends as stressed-out congressional aide types look for alternative routes. (“Everything’s messed up,” one says out loud to whoever’s on the other end of his phone call. “I can’t get where I want to be. It’s crazy around here!”)

I start walking toward where I think a protest is happening and meet Curtis from Virginia. He works for the government but won’t say in what capacity. He got interested in the Israel-Palestine issue in the late 1990s, he tells me, and feels very strongly that Palestinians deserve their own state. He isn’t Jewish and says that he has Jewish colleagues but they no longer speak. Curtis expects that Netanyahu will spend his speech to the U.S. Congress reciting a litany of what Israel did in response to the Hamas attack and will ask for more time to do what it needs to do to destroy the terrorist group. He doesn’t think Bibi will ever support giving Palestinians a state (“Netanyahu just wants to depopulate Gaza”). And whether Trump or Harris is the next president of the United States, “Either way the Palestinians lose.” I thank him for his time and he tells me he’s a long way from where he last saw his wife and others he was with. “That’s okay,” he says, “we have our phones.” I don’t know if it’s the humidity (the 100-degree temps of the past weeks were unusual but now sticky is back), but so far the people I’ve encountered seem weary. They care, but they’re not exactly energized.

The mother pushing a stroller and draped in a Palestinian flag only wants to give her first name, Ambreen. She’s also come from Virginia and says her parents, who immigrated from India, took her to protests in DC when she was a kid. Of course she’s had Jewish teachers, coworkers, and friends, she says; “I grew up here.” She knows that antisemitism existed before October 7 but also stresses that “anti-Israel sentiment is not equal to antisemitism.” I ask her who she’s planning to vote for in the presidential election. She says she has no idea. Gaza is the number-one issue for her. “I wasn’t going to vote for Biden. Now I’m just not sure.”

I’ve been walking and talking and realize I’m not sure where I’m headed. I approach the intersection of 7th Street and Independence Avenue near the back side of the Air and Space Museum. It’s occupied by a smallish protest where people are chanting: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever!” A dozen protesters sit on the asphalt holding a long yellow banner that reads “Mourn the dead, fight for the living! We stand with Gaza against Fascists.” 

As I head farther down Independence I hear a voice projecting from a bullhorn shouting profanities. “F—k you! What do you think you’re doing?” It’s not clear who is speaking and who they’re speaking to. A line of police cars borders the intersection where people are demonstrating—perhaps the police are the target of the taunts. I spot a group of young protesters with a bullhorn. I approach and ask if they’re willing to be interviewed. They spend a good five minutes trying to decide, asking if I will be filming them. “Up to you,” I say. They want to know what I’ll ask and which outlet I’m with. I say “Moment” and one teen mishears. “Vogue?” she asks, sounding a little excited. I correct her and joke, “If it was Vogue would you agree to be interviewed? “No!” several yell. They’re messing with me, that much is clear.

I finally hold up my phone and start to ask who they had been yelling at down the street. The person holding the bullhorn tells the group we’re now recording and instructs a few to stand in the background. I ask again who the profanities had been directed at. “We were yelling at Netanyahu,” says one teenager who becomes the group’s spokesperson. “And trying to get him to back off because he knows that this is the people’s place.” She reiterates what others have told me, that Netanyahu should be held accountable “for all the war crimes he’s committed.” I then ask if the United States should cut all military aid to Israel. “Yes,” she says, and when I follow up asking about arming Israel for defense against the likes of Hezbollah, the teen turns to the others and says, “You were right,” and starts to walk away. “What did you expect?” another asks. I try a new question about who they plan to vote for in November. “Third party,” the group’s spokesperson answers, now talking to me through the bullhorn. I ask for a name. “Claudia,” she says, referring to Claudia de la Cruz. “She stands for peace, against genocide. There is no war, it’s genocide.” I stop recording and several others from the group get close and pepper me with questions. “Why did you keep talking to her? Why did you videotape that?” It’s time to move on.

A group labeled the Peace & Justice Bloc has set up on the National Mall near 4th Street to bring together Palestinians, Israelis, Jews, Arabs and allies to protest Netanyahu and call for peace. “Our futures are intertwined! Netanyahu must resign!” they chant.

The bloc includes Supporters of Standing Together DC/NYC/Philly, American Friends of Combatants for Peace, Win Without War, Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, Israelis for Peace, T’ruah and Halachic Left. Their demands include an immediate cease-fire and a hostage/prisoner deal, an end to the occupation of the West Bank and for “collective liberation and safety for all.” They hold up white kites featuring black doves and rainbow streamers. Kite festivals are a tradition in Gaza, and kites have become a symbol of the Palestinian liberation movement.

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“You cannot be pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas,” says speaker Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian American activist originally from Gaza. It’s almost as if he’s speaking to the crowd defacing the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain approximately a mile away at Union Station. Alkhatib shares a story of how his sister had to ask permission directly from Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to leave Gaza. He also stresses how important it is not to ignore the plight of the hostages.

One of the organizers of the demonstration, Aaron Shneyer, is there with Supporters of Standing Together DC, which, he says, is inspired by the Israeli group Standing Together. “Trump has been a total disaster for Palestinians and for Israel,” Shneyer says when asked about who he’ll vote for come November. Like everyone I’ve talked to today, he says it’s a shame that Netanyahu was asked to address Congress and meet with President Biden, Vice President Harris and former president and GOP nominee Donald Trump. But hasn’t Netanyahu’s visit served to intensify the spotlight on the issue? I ask. “Yes,” he concedes, and adds that it’s also galvanized extremists. “There’s a way to be pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian. What we need to do is grow the middle.”

It’s a challenging reorientation, to look away from the most dramatic scenes and try to see the middle.