Vice President Harris on Thursday forcefully condemned protests outside Union Station in Washington, D.C., during a speech to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the display “despicable acts by unpatriotic protestors.”
“I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews,” Harris said in a statement. “Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation.”
“I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way,” she added.
Harris — whose husband is Jewish — said she supports peaceful protest but rejected antisemitism, which has sharply risen in the U.S. since last October’s terrorist attacks in Israel.
The sharp statement comes as the vice president has emerged as the likely Democratic nominee for November after President Biden ended his candidacy and endorsed her to take his place atop the ticket. Harris is set to meet Thursday afternoon with Netanyahu in a one-on-one meeting.
The Israeli leader will also meet separately with Biden and former President Trump, the GOP nominee for the White House.
Demonstrators took down an American flag and replaced it with a Palestinian flag Wednesday in protest of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. At one point, protesters also burned the U.S. flag before someone ran into the crowd and snatched it off the ground.
Inside the Capitol, Netanyahu used part of his nearly hourlong speech to denounce the protesters outside and on college campuses earlier this year, accusing his critics of standing “with evil” and saying they should be “ashamed of themselves.”
Republicans and Democrats have both condemned the anti-Israel demonstrations in Washington, as Netanyahu spoke on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. A group of House Republicans restored the U.S. flags around Union Station, and Trump used the incident to renew his push for jail sentences for those that desecrate American flags.