While the networks mostly skipped over Saturday's nasty pro-Hamas demonstrations outside the White House, The Washington Post filed a story Saturday evening, but the word "whitewash" came to mind. "The demonstration and march remained largely peaceful. A D.C. police spokesperson said the agency had not made any arrests, while the U.S. Park Police did not respond to an inquiry on arrests."
Despite smoke bombs, vandalizing statues, overt celebration of Hamas, and crazy talk about "vampirical" universities, the headline was bland:
"Thousands circle White House to demand Biden enforce Gaza ‘red line’."
The picture at the top of the story cast the protesters as possessing the moral authority as the opponents of "genocide."
Reporter Meagan Flynn's introduction was vaguely promotional:
Thousands of demonstrators surrounded the perimeter of the White House in a sea of ' fabric Saturday, saying they were drawing a red line for President Biden and calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
On the same day that Gazan officials said at least 210 Palestinians were killed in a refugee camp, the demonstrators — many of whom had arrived on buses from more than two dozen cities — marched to chants of “Free Palestine!” while holding signs that said “Genocide is our red line” and “Israel bombs, your taxes pay.” While marching, they held a seemingly unending strip of red fabric around the entire perimeter.
There were no ideological labels -- no "liberal," no "leftist," not even a "progressive." There was a "pro-Palestinian" in the copy, but there were no "anti-Israel," which certainly fit. "Genocide" was used in three quotes.
“If Joe Biden’s red line was a fiction … and it was designed to make us become quiet, instead of that, we are going to become louder,” said Brian Becker, a leader of the ANSWER Coalition, one of the organizers of the march. “Only we can be the red line against genocide.”
Becker and his ANSWER Coalition are Marxist-Leninists, which you could see from its official Liberation Store -- a curious choice for communists.
The word "Hamas" only appeared once in the piece:
For Mohammad, a leader in the Palestinian Youth Movement who addressed the demonstrators before the march, it’s personal.
His aunts and uncles are in Rafah, not far from where an Israeli strike killed dozens of people at a tent camp. His parents and other family are in North Gaza. He remembers the first call he got from his family members after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that ignited the deadly war.
“They told me, ‘We go to sleep knowing we might not wake up in the morning. The sun rises and we hope Gaza is still there,’ " recalled Mohammad, who did not share his last name for safety reasons.
The word "graffiti" only appeared once, in a caption to a photo of a child examining "pro-Palestinian graffiti."
Flynn posted one tweet on the event, with a bland ten-second video which underlined the "largely peaceful" company line:
Thousands of demonstrators have surrounded the perimeter of the White House, marching to a chorus of Free Palestine pic.twitter.com/YejsyDyr5V
— Meagan Flynn (@Meagan_Flynn) June 8, 2024
There's an interesting contrast to the Post coverage of the annual "March for Life" protest against abortion in January. This year, the trio of Post reporters called the protesters "antiabortion" five times and "abortion opponents" three times. But Flynn's story never called these protesters "anti-Israel," or "Israel opponents," which they clearly are, with all the "genocide" talk.
