An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday butted up against growing public discord over the Israel-Hamas war, with large protests outside the event condemning both Biden's handling of the conflict and the Western news' media coverage of it.
In previous years, Biden, like most of his predecessors, has used the glitzy annual White House Correspondents' Association gala to needle media coverage of his administration and jab at political rivals, notably Republican rival Donald Trump.
With hundreds of protesters rallying against the war in Gaza outside the event and concerns over the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the perils for journalists covering the conflict, the war hung over this year's event.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, April 29, 2023. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)
鈥淪hame on you!鈥 protesters draped in the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh cloth shouted, running after men in tuxedos and suits and women in long dresses who were holding clutch purses, as guests and other participants hurried inside.
Chants accused U.S. journalists of undercovering the war and misrepresenting it. 鈥淲estern media we see you, and all the horrors that you hide,鈥 crowds chanted at one point.
Other protesters lay sprawled motionless on the pavement, next to mock-ups of flak vests with 鈥減ress鈥 insignia.
Ralliers cried 鈥淔ree, free Palestine." They cheered when at one point someone inside the Washington Hilton 鈥 where the dinner has been held for decades 鈥 unfurled a Palestinian flag from a top-floor hotel window.
Criticism of the Biden administration's support for Israel's 6-month-old military offensive in Gaza has spread through American college campuses, with students pitching encampments in an effort to force their universities to divest from Israel. Counterprotests back Israel's offensive and complain of antisemitism.
Biden鈥檚 speech before an expected crowd of nearly 3,000 people was being followed by entertainer Colin Jost from 鈥淪aturday Night Live."
There will also likely be a spotlight on the many journalists detained and otherwise persecuted around the globe for doing their jobs, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023.
Law enforcement, including the Secret Service, have instituted extra street closures and other measures to ensure what Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said would be the 鈥渉ighest levels of safety and security for attendees.鈥
The agency was working with Washington police to protect demonstrators鈥 right to assemble, Guglielmi said. However, 鈥渨e will remain intolerant to any violent or destructive behavior.鈥
Demonstrators protest the 2024 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. (Kevin Wolf/AP Photo)
Protest organizers said they wanted to bring attention to the high numbers of Palestinian and other Arab journalists killed by Israel's military since the war began in October.
More than two dozen journalists in Gaza wrote a letter last week calling on their colleagues in Washington to boycott the dinner altogether.
鈥淭he toll exacted on us for merely fulfilling our journalistic duties is staggering," the letter states. 鈥淲e are subjected to detentions, interrogations, and torture by the Israeli military, all for the 鈥榗rime鈥 of journalistic integrity.鈥
One organizer complained that the White House Correspondents' Association 鈥 which represents the hundreds of journalists who cover the president 鈥 largely has been silent since the first weeks of the war about the killings of Palestinian journalists. WHCA did not respond to request for comment.
According to a preliminary investigation released Friday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, nearly 100 journalists have been killed covering the war in Gaza. Israel has defended its actions, saying it has been targeting militants.
鈥淪ince the Israel-Gaza war began, journalists have been paying the highest price鈥 their lives鈥攖o defend our right to the truth. Each time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth,鈥 CPJ Program Director Carlos Mart铆nez de la Serna said in a statement.
Sandra Tamari, executive director of Adalah Justice Project, a U.S.-based Palestinian advocacy group that helped organize the letter from journalists in Gaza, said 鈥渋t is shameful for the media to dine and laugh with President Biden while he enables the Israeli devastation and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza."
In addition, Adalah Justice Project started an email campaign targeting 12 media executives at various news outlets 鈥 including The Associated Press 鈥 expected to attend the dinner who previously signed onto a letter calling for the protection of journalists in Gaza.
鈥淗ow can you still go when your colleagues in Gaza asked you not to?" a demonstrator asked guests heading in. "You are complicit.鈥
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