The July 2024 Washington DC protests was a series of anti-Israel protests held in Washington DC from 23 to 24 July 2024 as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United States.
On 23 July 2024, hundreds of Jewish Voice for Peace protesters held a sit-in protest inside the United States Capitol, and 400 were arrested. On 24 July, on the same day as Netanyahu's visit to America, the ANSWER Coalition, Palestinian Youth Movement, People's Forum, and International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network arranged a major protest attended by thousands of activists. Many protesters wore keffiyehs in solidarity with the Hamas, PIJ, and other Palestinian terrorist groups resisting Israel's retaliatory campaign in the Gaza Strip, while some flew Hamas and jihadist flags and carried anti-Semitic signs.
Protesters refused to obey police orders and engaged in violence, forcing the police to push them away from the Capitol and use pepper spray. Many protesters turned away from the Capitol gathered in front of Washington Union Station, where they tore down American flags, replaced them with Palestinian flags and burned the US ones, and heavily defaced the Freedom bell with spray paint and markers; their messages included "End colonialism," "Hind's Hall," "F*** America," "Welcome to the Intifada," "Anarchy 2025," and "This is Biden's legacy." Protesters also burned an effigy of Netanyahu and displayed a papier-mache effigy of President Biden depicting him with devil horns and bloodied hands, accusing him of supporting "genocide." At the Watergate Hotel, where Netanyahu was staying, protesters released groups of maggots, beetles, and crickets. Capitol Police arrested six people who entered the House of Representatives gallery without permission to disrupt Netanyahu's joint address to the US Congress. While Vice-President Kamala Harris opted not to attend Netanyahu's address of Congress, likely in a bid to win back young and progressive support for her presidential bid, she later condemned the "unpatriotic," "dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric" by the rioters.