Harris condemns flag burning, protesters call it distraction from Gaza crisis
Adds Thursday protests and statements from protesting groups and families of hostages held in Gaza
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday condemned the burning of American flags by protesters a day ago when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress, while pro-Palestinian demonstrators distanced themselves from the act and said it was a distraction from the crisis in Gaza.
Thousands demonstrated outside the Capitol on Wednesday in a protest in which police used pepper spray on marching protesters as they reached a police blockade. About a mile away from that spot, some demonstrators later hoisted Palestinian flags and burned American ones, an act condemned by top U.S. leaders, including Harris.
"I condemn the burning of the American flag," Harris said in a statement. "It should never be desecrated in that way."
Her statement also condemned pro-Hamas graffiti and made no mention of police using pepper spray on protesters.
Later on Thursday, a few dozen pro-Palestinian protesters and a smaller number of pro-Israel demonstrators gathered outside the White House on Thursday as President Joe Biden and Harris met with Netanyahu.
Pro-Palestinian protesters held banners that read "Israel uses U.S. tax dollars to kill Palestinian children" and "Arrest this criminal," referring to the International Criminal Court prosecutor office's arrest warrant against the Israeli leader over alleged war crimes in Gaza that he denies.
Pro-Israeli demonstrators carried Israeli flags and demanded release of hostages held in Gaza.
One pro-Palestinian protest organizing group said the focus on the flag burning was a distraction from the use of pepper spray by police against demonstrators and from the humanitarian crisis in Gaza against which protesters demonstrated.
"They are attempting to demonize the protests, and focus on one individual sign or some individual's burning of the American flag," the ANSWER group, an acronym for 'act now to stop war and end racism', said.
Another group, CodePink, said it did not participate in or endorse the burning of flags.
"We do question the moral clarity of people more upset over the burning of fabric than over the burning to death of children by weapons their own country supplied," CodePink added.
Gaza's health ministry says nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave in Israel's assault that has also displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million population and caused a hunger crisis. The Israeli assault followed an Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which governed Gaza, on Israel that killed 1,200 with about 250 people taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Separately, family members of some hostages met U.S. and Israeli officials, including Biden and Netanyahu, at the White House and urged that a ceasefire deal be reached quickly to get hostages released and stop the killings in Gaza.
"We came in really emphasizing ... a desire to get this (ceasefire) deal done," Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of one of the hostages, told reporters after the meeting. "We came today with a sense of urgency."
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Rami Ayyub, Don Durfee and Daniel Wallis
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
