Gaza war looms over White House Correspondents' dinner

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
28 Apr 2024 05:01

The White House Correspondents' Association dinner is overshadowed by protests and calls to boycott the Israeli war on Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian protestors demonstrate outside the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 27, 2024. (AFP)

As administration officials, journalists, and celebrities arrived at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner in DC on Saturday, protesters called for Biden to take further action to safeguard Palestinian lives in Gaza.

Many VIP guests, ranging from journalists to celebrities such as Chris Pine and Molly Ringwald, arrived in elegant black-tie attire. However, outside the Washington Hilton hotel, over 100 protesters chanted slogans like "shame on you" as they confronted the attendees.

At one point, protesters unfolded an enormous, multi-story Palestinian flag from a window on the hotel's top floor, while others gathered on the road below, brandishing placards, chanting, and amplifying their message through bullhorns.

“SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU!”

Wild scene outside of White House Correspondents Dinner #WHCD as #FreePalestine protesters hold U.S. corporate media complicit in genocide pic.twitter.com/OXrv01meyr
— #StopCopCity (@ChuckModi1) April 27, 2024

This week, over two dozen Palestinian journalists penned an open letter, appealing to their American counterparts to boycott the dinner.

"You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and uphold journalistic integrity," said the letter. "It is unacceptable to stay silent out of fear or professional concern while journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured, and killed for doing our jobs."

“Fuck Joe Bi-den. Fuck Joe Bi-den.”#FreePalestine protesters outside White House Correspondents Dinner #WHCD pic.twitter.com/vf85etY5HD
— #StopCopCity (@ChuckModi1) April 27, 2024

Code Pink, a member of an anti-war coalition, announced its intention to "shut down" the dinner in protest against "the complicity of the Biden administration in the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli military."

NOW: Protestors are SHUTTING DOWN the entrance to the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

"EVERY TIME THE MEDIA LIES, A JOURNALIST IN GAZA DIES!" pic.twitter.com/POd0PlLxvp
— CODEPINK (@codepink) April 27, 2024

Terrorist sympathizers stage a massive protest outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, complete with a “die-in” and the unfurling of a huge Palestinian flag from a hotel window.

They are scaling up - as they always do.pic.twitter.com/8SIP86n37f
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) April 28, 2024

Please watch and share.

This memorial for Palestinian journalists killed by Israel was placed outside the White House Correspondents Dinner.

The White House Correspondents Dinner is attended by those sponsoring the Genocide and those providing media propaganda cover for it. pic.twitter.com/0lMsio318n
— Khalissee (@Kahlissee) April 28, 2024

The number of journalists killed at the hands of Israeli occupation forces since the beginning of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip now stands at 141, according to the Office. In addition, hundreds more were injured, their families were targeted, and their homes, offices, and media headquarters were destroyed.

The Gaza Government Media Office had previously accused the Israeli occupation of deliberately targeting journalists to obscure the Palestinian narrative, distorting facts, and preventing journalists from documenting the crimes of the Israeli occupation forces to the public.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned the killing of journalists in Gaza, calling for the necessity of protecting them from the violence of the Israeli occupation forces and enabling them to perform their work.