Senate Republicans are demanding the Biden administration investigate the pro-Hamas demonstrations amid Israel’s war against the terrorist organization.
In a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Arkansas Sen.Tom Cotton urged him to direct the Department of Justice to look into the protesters who attempted to block a U.S. military supply ship leaving the Port of Oakland, California.
According to CBS Bay Area, “”The protesters also blocked the entrance to Berth 20 where the container carrier Cape Orlando is moored. Protest groups say the ship is bound for Israel after being loaded with weapons and military equipment in Tacoma, Washington.”
The 200-person demonstration was organized by the San Francisco-based Arab Resource Organizing Center (AROC). The protesters were holding Palestinian flags and banners calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
“We’re hoping that when it reaches Tacoma, the workers in Tacoma will not load that military cargo, that people of Tacoma will show up to protest this genocide and that workers around the world will continue to stop ships like this anywhere they may be found,” AROC executive director Lara Kiswani said. “We are simply trying to call for an immediate cease-fire and stop the aiding of the genocide of my people.”
In his letter to the AG, Cotton wrote: “Yesterday, hundreds of pro-Hamas extremists shut down the Port of Tacoma to obstruct what they believed to be a military ship transporting military aid to Israel. A few days earlier, many of these same saboteurs reportedly blocked the entrance to a port in Oakland, tampered with a military ship’s mooring lines, and attempted to scale the ship with a rope ladder.”
“Any attempt to impede and interfere with U.S. military movements, like attempting to trespass on or damage military property, breaks several federal laws. Each person involved in these schemes should be arrested promptly and prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” the letter continued. “The Department of Justice must take immediate action against these criminals; otherwise, it will send a dangerous message that radical activists can undermine our Armed Forces with impunity.”
This comes after the Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel and invaded towns along the Gaza border earlier last month, killing at least 700 people. The attack prompted Israel to declare war against the terrorist group with a ruthless aerial campaign that has flattened homes, schools, medical institutions, and government buildings in the Gaza Strip.
