A mother at a pro-Gaza protest outside the White House could not answer when DailyMail.com asked her which river and sea are mentioned in a popular anti-Israel chant.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” has become a rallying cry for Hamas terrorists and their supporters calling for the abolition of Israel.
However, Adrienne, mother of a sixth grader who attended the ‘School Strike for Gaza’ protest, told DailyMail.com that the chant simply ‘refers to the historic land that is Palestine.’
‘So it’s not a call to violence. It is not a call for the abolition of Israel. It is simply a call for freedom for people who are occupied by a colonial power,’ he insisted.
But when DailyMail.com pressed her on whether she knew the names of the river and sea in the song, she couldn’t name them.
adrien he responded “I do” before lamenting that he was being asked “hostile questions” and storming off without giving an answer.
The correct answer would be the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
‘Okay, it looks like you’re actually from a right-wing source who wants to ask hostile questions. And so at this point, it really doesn’t make much sense for me to continue because I thought this was a news interview and not an attack,” Adrienne said before storming off.
During the testy interview, a protester sporting a neon yellow traffic vest attempted to intervene and prevented Adrienne from answering DailyMail.com’s questions.
‘Um, are you a spokesperson for the action?’ —the vest-wearing organizer interrupted.
“Actually, they’re interviewing me as a member of the community,” Adrienne responded.
‘We usually ask people who have had media training to actually talk to the media, if that’s okay with them. Would it be great to end here? the organizer continued.
“I actually have extensive media training,” Adrienne told the man.
‘So I absolutely understand your concern. But now we are on video. Yeah, it’s a little awkward,” he continued.
He had cornered the vest-wearing pro-Gaza organizer, forcing him to concede.
‘I can’t make you do anything. “Have a great day,” she said before walking away.
“I’m sorry,” Adrienne told DailyMail.com.
In total, there were approximately 70 activists at the rally, which began a few blocks from the White House before the group marched toward Joe Biden’s current home.
There were numerous Palestinian flags and keffiyehs, as well as activists with megaphones and protest supporters carrying audio equipment, snacks, water and other commonly seen protest supplies.
There was also a sign reading “Queer Youth for Palestine,” indicating that the group had welcomed broad swaths of intersectional activists.
A group of high school students from the Washington, DC area held a protest to demand an immediate ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. About half of the attendees did not appear to be of high school age.
Adrienne said she knew which river and sea the protesters were singing about, but she refused to say which ones before leaving the interview.
One protester marched with a sign that read “Queer Youth for Palestine!”
Before marching to the White House, the event began a few blocks away at McPherson Square.
A poster circulated on social media and encrypted messaging apps to notify protesters of the planned demonstration.
In addition to the moody back-and-forth with the organizer and the claim that DailyMail.com’s questions were an “attack,” Adrienne provided interesting insights into the local pro-Palestinian movement.
The mother revealed that she was part of a group of local protest organizers responsible for assisting demonstrations across the area using group chats on the encrypted messaging service Signal to coordinate their actions.
“I’ve been a part of organizing DC residents, who are organizing in this area, to stop the genocide since this phase of the genocide began, and that’s why I’m in several Signal groups.”
“Right now we are building on the momentum of the incredible camping movement of college students and communities alongside them, which really had its biggest example here in DC in the GW camps, which as I’m sure you know, were violently evicted with the help of DC police from DC.
He was referring to the large, week-long student protest at George Washington University that was broken up by police after the university president requested help from local authorities.
Earlier this month, the president of George Washington University asked D.C. police to clear a pro-Gaza student camp after protesters refused to leave a school lawn for more than a week.
Local authorities finally cleared the camp early on May 8, leading to arrests.
After the GW camp was cleared, workers removed the remaining tents, trash and debris.
Adrienne went on to call the police response “fascist” and compared the college student’s experience to that of Palestinians who lived in Gaza during the war.
He said the clearing of the camp “has given the students even greater resolve and shown them that the fascist repression of their activism in solidarity with the Palestinians is intimately linked to the types of oppressions that Palestinians are experiencing in their homeland.” .
When pressed by DailyMail.com on whether the DC police were really fascist, Adrienne responded: “American police officers, and many forces across the country, are trained by Israelis.”
The sixth grader’s mother also criticized Biden for his support of Israel and pointed out how there is an organized effort to write in ‘Gaza’ for the upcoming DC Democratic primary.
“He’s supporting genocide,” Adrienne said of the president.
“And there are many people in the United States who do not support genocide and that puts their victory and that of the Democrats at risk.”
‘Voters have made this clear across the country with no-compromise campaigns. And here in DC there is a campaign for people to write their vote for Gaza in the Democratic primaries.”
At the event, flyers were distributed urging DC Democratic primary voters not to vote for President Joe Biden, but to write in ‘Gaza’ as the candidate they wish to support.
The flyers claimed to indicate that writing about ‘Gaza’ would not help Donald Trump
Simone, a high school student who spent weeks organizing the event, criticized Biden for promising to stop the war between Israel and Hamas but then failing to keep his promise.
Another protester, Simone, a local high school student who helped organize the event, also didn’t mince words about Biden’s approach to the war.
—He just gave a speech at Morehouse. And it’s like ‘let’s immediately put an end to the genocide that’s happening in Gaza.’ But then he returned to DC and actually “still had to send them money.”
“It’s like he’s constantly lying to us.”
Simone couldn’t understand why Biden wasn’t meeting the protesters’ demands.
“We’re asking for something extremely simple and you say, ‘I’m going to keep funding it’ to keep it happening.”
“We also demand that they stop funding genocide in general, such as specifically that Biden stop funding the genocide that is happening in Gaza right now,” he continued.