Washington, D.C. — Protesters on Wednesday marched from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol building in a demonstration intended to tie the cause of Black Lives Matter to the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment movement against Israel.
The march, led by Harvard University rising senior Christian Tabash, attracted about 200 people who carried signs with messages either supporting the Palestinian Liberation Organization or Black Lives Matter. The event, although independently organized, was held in tandem with a series of “Day of Rage” demonstrations against Israel’s territorial claims on the West Bank.
As the march progressed, Tabash led his followers in alternating chants about Israel and racial justice.
“Israel, we know you, you murder children, too,” the crowd chanted at one point.
The crowd immediately followed that chant with alternating rallying cries of “Black lives matter!” and “Palestinian lives matter!” Many more shouted criticisms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A woman waved a sign that on one side bore the Palestinian flag and, on the other, the phrase “Black Lives Matter.”
Tabash also led the group in the reading of poetry detailing the crimes of Israel against Palestinian Muslims. One poem entitled “Mr. War” decried the Israeli government: “Curse thee, the corrupters of Zion. F— this occupation!” The poem later referred to the Jewish state as the “puppet master of continents,” a reference to a centuries-old conspiracy that Jewish people secretly rule the world.
While Tabash walked out in front of the marchers, he paused several times to say that the Palestinian movement is “intrinsically tied to Black Lives Matter” and calls to defund police departments. Tabash said that “American capitalism” and the Israeli state were built on the same principle: repression of minorities.
“And that’s why we say police from Palestine to Mexico to the United States — police as a whole — need to go!” he shouted.
When the group paused to chant in front of the Capitol building, Tabash reflected on the “dim options” that people within his movement face as the 2020 election approaches. On the one hand, President Trump is unacceptable, he said. And on the other, he added, former Vice President Joe Biden is a “rapist” and the author of the 1994 crime bill criticized by liberals.
Tabash also leveled criticism at former President Barack Obama, saying that he “shut up” Black Lives Matter activists and that he “dropped 8 times more bombs on black and brown folks around the world” than former President George W. Bush.
“And Bush was a war criminal!” Tabash screamed.
The event ended after several more people read poems and Tabash asked the crowd to follow him on Instagram.
