Palestinian Flags replaced American Flags in DC

In “Netanyahu protest cleanup begins” (7/26/24), The Washington Post omitted critical information about the Pro-Hamas protests that occurred at Union Station this past week. The result of the omission was to downplay the extent of what happened that violent day when Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to Congress.

The article stated that “demonstrators took down flags” but failed to disclose what happened after that. In a sight unseen in our country since perhaps 1812, the insurrectionists replaced the American flags with Palestinian flags.

To their credit, The Washington Post admitted that the Hamas protesters set fire to an American flag. It was all shocking!

A foreign actor staked a claim to an area in Washington DC. Foreign flags were flying over our capital city. We need to let that sit in our minds when defenders of the Palestinian/Hamas cause call their protests “peaceful.”

Yes in America, foreign flags replaced our American flags. And the Post didn’t feel that was a critical detail to publish. Not mentioning the offense was a cover up of epic proportions.

The protests were not peaceful. They were hateful and violent; threats were shouted not just against Israel but against those of the Jewish faith and it included assaults on police officers. Police, to protect themselves, repelled the rioters with pepper spray. Police officers who were arresting the unruly were physically attacked and thrown. Videos of this were posted on X for all to see. According to the article, only “23 people had been arrested”.

All were released right away. Eight of those arrested for acts including assaults against the police “were ordered to stay away from Union Station grounds and report back for preliminary hearings at the end of August.” Ordered to “stay away”? For assaulting police?

The United States is headed down a dark road if our judicial system blows off the assault of our police.

Further, we have a legacy media that protects those who replace American flags with foreign flags– not reporting essentially the conquering of a part of our capital city.  And this occurred just steps from the Capitol.

This is not going unnoticed by our enemies throughout the world:  Russia, China, Iran, North Korea. They only understand strength, and this will serve to embolden them – if they weren’t already emboldened.  Our weak response has been posted and is flourishing across social media. Our allies will not be comforted.

This is not good sign for the future of our great nation.

Dr. Michael Berenhaus is a freelance activist who works to combat anti-Israel bias in the media.  He has been widely published in news sources such as The Economist, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.