Protesters shouted, booed and waved recording cellphones in lawmakers’ faces during their tense tour of the pro-Gaza camp at George Washington University on Wednesday.
Hundreds of people were at the university and its adjacent streets to see how the gallant Republican would pass through the Gaza Garden.
In the center of the camp, the towering Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., met with the court and received questions and insults in equal measure.
“How dare you call yourself a Christian,” charged one activist wearing a keffiyeh. “You are contributing to the genocide of the Palestinians.”[s].’
Donalds stopped and turned to the man. Then the instigator stopped and left before the Republican could answer the question.
“Look, here we don’t believe in debate, we believe in shouting,” said the Floridian.
Another agitator then called Donalds, who is black, an “Uncle Tom” and a “race traitor,” before other activists told him to leave.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., speaks during a press conference following a tour of the pro-Gaza encampment in University Yard at George Washington University (GWU) on Wednesday. Student activists have protested for almost a week demanding school divestment in Israel.
Students and activists completely surrounded Donalds, shouting questions and singing.
The Republican was in the heart of the camp, near the statue of George Washington, unrecognizable wrapped in a Palestinian flag.
The protests began only on university property but have now spread to the streets of DC.
Students painted the historic statue of Washington and stamped a new nickname for GWU on the pedestal: ‘Genocidal Warmongering University.’
The visit was a show of force by House Oversight Committee Republicans who came to monitor the George Washington University (GWU) camp to discern its impact on DC and student life.
“The House Oversight Committee is deeply concerned by reports that the DC Metropolitan Police Department rejected George Washington University’s request for help in removing radical, anti-Semitic, and illegal protesters occupying the campus.” and surrounding public lands,” said Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. , he said in a statement prior to the visit.
He was in college alongside fellow Oversight members Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.
The committee has requested that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Metropolitan Police (MPD) testify at a May 8 hearing about the student camp and the city’s response to the school’s plea for help. .
The MPD reportedly refused to intervene in the camp despite GWU’s requests to do so.
However, MPD has been continually present to direct traffic, close streets as necessary, and instruct passersby and protesters as necessary.
After Donalds danced through the camp followed by a horde of activists and media, he arrived at a prearranged press conference podium where Boebert, Luna and Comer addressed a growing crowd.
“If you don’t want to do something to fix this problem, we’ll say goodbye to federal funding,” Boebert said to boos.
“You can’t do that,” one activist shouted.
Comer (left) addresses a crowd of activists and media alongside Boebert (center) on the street outside GWU.
The Republican lawmakers’ trip to campus took about an hour. Still, they were followed by a crowd of people the entire time, making it difficult for them and others to walk.
Then Luna, holding a megaphone, said ‘there are professional organized protesters who are not students who are currently inciting what you are seeing happening in this community right now.’
‘There is also a big difference between the First Amendment and peaceful protest and intentionally preventing people from getting an education. [and] Intentionally trespassing on property.’
The GWU’s pro-Palestinian protest has continued for a week.
Students have been camping there as happened at Columbia University and elsewhere. These activists have demanded that GWU divest from entities linked to Israel, but the school has not relented.
Some Jewish students at the university told DailyMail.com last week that they were “afraid” of the camp and that activists there often broadcast “pro-Hamas” messages.
The field has continually defied the university’s demands to disband.
Instead, protesters and activists removed the yard fences and dumped all the barricades in a pile in the middle of the camp.
It is there as a defiant reminder that the protesters are in charge.