Protesters in Gaza hold dinner with White House correspondents, as Biden lashes out at Trump: NPR

A protester with red paint on his hand and face is seen behind a police barricade during a pro-Palestinian demonstration against the war between Israel and Hamas at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, on Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Washington.

Terrance Williams/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Terrance Williams/AP

A protester with red paint on his hand and face is seen behind a police barricade during a pro-Palestinian demonstration against the war between Israel and Hamas at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, on Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Washington.

Terrance Williams/AP

WASHINGTON — The war in Gaza sparked large protests over a glitzy roast with President Joe Biden, journalists, politicians and celebrities on Saturday, but went virtually ignored by attendees inside, with Biden using the dinner instead annual White House correspondents to make both jokes and sinister remarks. warnings about his Republican rival Donald Trump’s fight to win back the US presidency.

An evening usually devoted to presidents, journalists and comedians outrageously mocking political scandals and each other often seemed to illustrate this year the difficulty of putting aside the upcoming presidential election and the unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Biden opened his roast by focusing directly but jokingly on Trump, calling him “Sleeping Don,” in reference to a nickname Trump had previously given the president.

Although they are similar in age, Biden said, the two presidential candidates don’t have much else in common. “My vice president supports me,” Biden said. Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, refused to support Trump’s re-election bid.

But the president quickly followed up with a somber speech about what he believes is at stake in this election, saying another Trump administration would be even more damaging to America than his first term.

“We have to take this seriously — eight years ago we might have considered it a ‘Trump speech,’ but not after January 6,” Biden told the audience, referring to Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol after Biden defeated Trump in the general election. 2020 election.

Trump did not attend Saturday’s dinner and has never attended the annual banquet as president. In 2011, he sat in the audience and glared at then-President Barack Obama’s celebrity status on reality TV. Obama’s sarcasm was so searing then that many political observers linked it to Trump’s subsequent decision to run for president in 2016.

Biden’s speech, which lasted about 10 minutes, made no mention of the ongoing war or the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

One of the few mentions came from Kelly O’Donnell, president of the Correspondents’ Association, who briefly discussed about 100 journalists killed during Israel’s six-month war against Hamas in Gaza. In an evening devoted largely to journalism, O’Donnell cited detained journalists around the world, including Americans Evan Gershkovich in Russia and Austin Tice, who is reportedly detained in Syria. The families of both men were present, as at previous dinners.

To get to Saturday’s dinner, some guests had to rush through hundreds of protesters outraged by the growing humanitarian disaster for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. They condemned Biden for his support of Israel’s military campaign and Western media for what they called undercoverage and misrepresentation of the conflict.

“Shame on you!” shouted protesters draped in traditional Palestinian keffiyeh, running after men in tuxedos and suits and women in long dresses clutching clutches as guests rushed inside for dinner.

“Western media, we see you, and all the horrors you hide,” the crowds chanted at one point.

Other demonstrators lay motionless on the sidewalk, next to models of bulletproof vests emblazoned with the “press” insignia.

Protesters shouted “free and free Palestine.” They cheered when at one point, someone inside the Washington Hilton — where the dinner has been held for decades — unfurled a Palestinian flag from the hotel’s top-floor window.

Criticism of the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has spread to US college campuses, with students setting up encampments and resisting police sweeps in a bid to force their universities to disengage from Israel. Counter-demonstrations support the Israeli offensive and complain of anti-Semitism.

Biden’s motorcade took a different route Saturday than in previous years between the White House and the Washington Hilton, largely avoiding crowds of protesters.

President Joe Biden, right, and host Colin Jost attend the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton, Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Washington.

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

President Joe Biden, right, and host Colin Jost attend the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton, Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Washington.

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Saturday’s event attracted nearly 3,000 people. Celebrities included Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Hamm and Chris Pines.

The president and comedian Colin Jost, who spoke after Biden, took jabs at the ages of both presidential candidates. “I’m not saying either candidate is old. But you know, Jimmy Carter is thinking, ‘Maybe I can win this thing,'” Jost said. “He’s only 99 years old.”

Law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service, have instituted additional street closures and other measures to ensure what Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said are “the highest levels of security.” and safety for participants.

Organizers of the protest said they aimed to draw attention to the high number of Palestinian and Arab journalists killed by the Israeli army 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.

“The toll imposed on us for simply carrying out our journalistic duties is staggering,” the letter said. “We are subjected to detention, interrogation and torture by the Israeli army, all for the ‘crime’ of journalistic integrity.”

One organizer complained that the White House Correspondents Association — which represents the hundreds of journalists who cover the president — has remained largely silent since the early weeks of the war on the killings of Palestinian journalists. WHCA did not respond to a request for comment.

Nearly 100 journalists were killed while covering the war in Gaza, according to a preliminary investigation released Friday by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel defended its actions, saying it was targeting militants.

“Since the start of the war between Israel and Gaza, journalists have paid the highest price – their lives – to defend our right to the truth. Every time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of this truth,” said Carlos, CPJ program director. Martínez de la Serna said in a statement.

Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Adalah Justice Project, a U.S.-based Palestinian advocacy group that helped organize the Gaza journalists’ letter, said “it is shameful for the media to dine and laugh with President Biden as he enables Israeli devastation and famine.” Palestinians in Gaza. »

Additionally, the Adalah Justice Project launched an email campaign targeting 12 media executives from various outlets – including the Associated Press – who were expected to attend the dinner and who had previously signed a letter calling for the protection of journalists in Gaza.

“How can you still go when your colleagues in Gaza have asked you not to?” » a protester asked the entering guests. “You are accomplices. »