The Anti-Israel Protests Appear To Be Losing Steam

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The anti-Israel march in Washington, D.C. earlier this month had all the conditions for a massive rally that would leave a lasting impact, and even damage: It was a warm day, hundreds of people were bused in from the eastern part of the country, and there was new things related to Gaza and Israel for protesters to be upset about.

This was the first major protest organized by various far-left groups to have a rally and march in the nation’s capital with Donald Trump as president. These types of protests have been happening in the aftermath of Hamas’ attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023. Nearly every single protest on this large scale has resulted in violence and vandalism.

The first one of its kind saw protesters pushing in the White House gates, which resulted in temporary security fencing to be placed to keep the crowd away from the main perimeter. Protesters then tried to take down those fences and vandalized the statues in Lafayette Square. This happened multiple times.

Last year, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress, the same organizers and crowd tried to march on the Capitol building, but were repelled by police. When marchers found themselves in Columbus Circle, they vandalized the statues there and burned American flags they stole from the plaza. Though severely outnumbered, U.S. Park Police officers rushed in to save the remaining American flags from being burned.

I recount all of this because this month’s protest should have been big and angry. Not only has President Trump continued his tough stance against Hamas, but his State Department has cracked down on foreigners who have been causing disruptions through anti-Israel protests on college campuses, such as Mahmoud Khalil. They accuse this administration of “kidnapping” and “disappearing” people for free speech (They are not).

While thousands of people did show up to protest, almost nothing happened. I say almost because when the crowd left U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters, a few DHS police vehicles were vandalized, but that was it.

The crowd intended to march to the White House, but everything fell apart when they were blocked by D.C. police from walking into traffic. It was not a hard block, there were plenty of other routes for them to take to get to White House, but people just dispersed and called it a day.

Barely a few dozen anti-Israel protesters made it to Lafayette Square, outnumbered by the tourists going about their day. Unlike with the Biden-Harris administration, the statues were also fenced off to prevent further damage.

To say the energy was low compared to the other D.C. protests is an understatement. Speakers addressed the common criticism, from within their own ranks, on why they still do these types of events when it’s had barely any impact to stop Israel’s war on Hamas. The speakers insisted the “pressure” they have applied through activism has made an impact and by protesting, they’re showing the government they won’t be silent.

And that’s just it. The issue has never been about whether they are allowed to have events like this. In fact, it’s all people ever talk about on social media and mainstream media. The world has been talking about Israel-Gaza nonstop since October 7, but nothing has radically changed to satisfy the anti-Israel side.

I think the far-left side is losing steam. They have been doing the same thing over and over, and while there are a couple new situations and incidents since the start of the current wave, there is almost no lasting political impact. The only thing the movement can really say is they made strides to not vote for former Vice President Kamala Harris, but that only resulted in an even bigger supporter of Israel to become president. This means they are not even back at square one, they are at square zero.

There have hardly been any attempts at creating college encampments this semester. Any attempt has been met with a hard no from college administrations, and that is because the Trump administration told them there will be serious consequences should there be a repeat of last year’s encampments. The activists are not risking any sort of crackdown.

While I’m sure there will be that dedicated contingent who will always heed the call to protest on behalf of Gaza or something of the sort, the vast majority of regular people and passive supporters are tired of it, I believe.