Biden Says Anti-Israel Protesters ‘Have a Point’ in Democratic National Convention Speech

US President Joe Biden stressed the necessity of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and suggested protesters against the Jewish state “have a point” during his speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Monday night.

“We’ll keep working to bring hostages home and end the war in Gaza and bring peace and security to the Middle East,” Biden said in Chicago, where the convention to nominate the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate began earlier in the day.

Biden then referenced anti-Israel protesters who gathered outside the DNC to oppose US support for the Jewish state. “Those folks down the street have a point: a lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides,” he said.

The comments echoed those of US Vice President Kamala Harris, who in a recent interview said that young anti-Israel protesters are showing “exactly what the human emotion should be” as a response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

On Monday night, Biden emphasized that he has been working furiously to stop the “civilian suffering” in Gaza, the enclave bordering Israel to the south that is ruled by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Biden added that he and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are “working around the clock” to “prevent a wider war” in the Middle East. 

On Monday, anti-Israel protesters flooded the streets outside of the DNC in Chicago, condemning the Democratic Party for issuing support to Israel’s ongoing war efforts against Hamas. The demonstrators bellowed chants such as “Biden, Biden you can’t hide — we charge you with genocide.” The demonstrators similarly targeted US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to be formally named the Democratic presidential nominee later this week.

Police established a security perimeter around the DNC, which was held in the United Center, to prevent agitators from disrupting the event. Some protesters successfully broke through the security perimeter, prompting law enforcement to engage in force to subdue them. 

A large coalition of anti-Israel organizations such as the Palestinian Youth Movement and US Palestinian Community Network urged their supporters to join a protest against the DNC to demand the Biden administration end its “unconditional diplomatic and material support to Israel as it commits a genocide against the Palestinian people.” Protesters demanded that the US government achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and end all aid to Israel. 

Biden’s suggestion that anti-Israel protesters “have a point” was met with widespread criticism online.

“Those protesters outside have zero point other than to support terror,” wrote Eyal Yakoby, a Jewish recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, on X/Twitter.

“Pro-Hamas radicals tore through a fence around the DNC secure perimeter and assaulted law enforcement. But Joe Biden thinks they ‘have a point’ and Kamala Harris continues to appease them. A total disgrace,” the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) posted on social media.

In the months following Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of 1,200 people throughout southern Israel, the Biden administration has scrambled, so far unsuccessfully, to secure a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

On Monday, Blinken revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted a “bridging proposal” presented by the US designed to close disagreements to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to do the same. Blinken warned that the current ceasefire proposal might be “probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity” to achieve an end to the fighting.

Hamas accused Israel of placing “new conditions” on the ceasefire deal.

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