Netanyahu targeted by Palestine protesters as maggots dumped in his US hotel

Thousands of maggots, mealworms and crickets were dumped by pro-Palestine protesters inside the Washington hotel where Benjamin Netanyahu was staying.

Footage posted on social media by the Palestinian Youth Movement showed swarms of the insects crawling on banquet tables of the Watergate Hotel.

The group also claimed to set off fire alarms in the hotel where the Israeli Prime Minister was staying.

In a statement, Watergate Hotel said it was aware of the video and “the unfortunate incident that occurred at the property yesterday.”

A spokesperson from the Palestinian Youth Network wrote on social media: “Palestine protestors manufactured chaos at the Watergate Hotel last night so that Netanyahu, Israeli Mossad agents, and the Secret Service had no peace as they continue to terrorise our people.”

Meanwhile, protesters hoisted Palestinian flags and burnt American ones outside Washington’s Union Station in demonstrations against the state visit by Netanyahu. Less than a mile away, police used pepper spray on some of the thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters who gathered outside the US Capitol while Netanyahu spoke to Congress.

At the protest, Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon took to the stage and condemned the death toll in Gaza. “No one is free until everyone is free,” Sarandon said.

Netanyahu, while addressing Congress, said he had a message for the protesters. He said: “When the tyrants of Tehran who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair are praising, promoting, and funding you, you have officially become Iran’s useful idiots.”

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who is due to meet Netanyahu tomorrow, Friday, called for a quick end to its war with Hamas and a return of the hostages, adding that Israel has to better manage its “public relations”

Speaking to Fox News, Trump also criticized those who protested the Israeli prime minister’s speech to the US Congress, calling for a one-year jail sentence for desecrating the US flag.

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers skipped Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, expressing dismay over the deaths and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza where nearly all of its 2.3 million people have been displaced.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court say there are reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Al-Masri and Ismail Haniyeh, bear criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Citizens in Gaza have been quick to decry Netanyahu’s speech. Abu Mohammed said: “For those who have been killed in the Gaza Strip, the majority, ninety percent of them, are civilians, which is contrary to what (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu said in Congress.

“Let the international organizations come to the hospitals and see who is dying – children and the elderly and women. Those are documented with the United Nations.”

Mohammed Al-Naqah added: “We are patient (resilient) in this land. This is our land and will not leave it, with its olives, its wheat, we want to return to our homes and live in safety.”

Tamer Al-Burai, a resident of Gaza City, now displaced in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip said: “It was depressing, he didn’t even mention ceasefire at all, not even once. People awaited some surprise, a ceasefire announcement by Netanyahu as a gift to Biden, but they slept with much disappointment, as Netanyahu said he was determined to pursue war.”

Israeli forces advanced deeper into some towns on the eastern side of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours after Netanyahu told US lawmakers he was actively engaged in bringing hostages home.

Fighting in recent days has centred around the eastern towns of Bani Suaila, Al-Zanna, and Al-Karara, where the army said on Wednesday it had found the bodies of five Israelis who were killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and held in Gaza since.

Hamas militants took more than 250 hostages in the early morning raid into southern Israel and killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel retaliated by vowing to eradicate Hamas in Gaza in a nine-month war that has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say.