US President Joe Biden clashed with protesters in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday over his support for Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, US media reported.
As Biden’s motorcade headed to his regular campaign event from the Scranton Cultural Centre, a crowd of protesters chanted “Biden, Biden you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”
Carrying Palestinian flags, they also chanted, “Free free free Palestine.”
Mass protests in support of Palestine swept the US on Monday. Pro-Palestine demonstrators blocked San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, completely halting traffic for hours as part of a coordinated day of action against the Israel’s war in Gaza.
Protesters blocked roads on Monday in Philadelphia and shut down highway traffic heading into Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport — forcing some passengers to make their way by foot to catch their flights.
Monday’s protests come as US President Joe Biden faces continued criticism from his own party over Washington’s continued support for Israel.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Wednesday that she does not see a UN resolution recommending the Palestinian Authority become a full member of the United Nations as conducive to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Thomas-Greenfield made the comments at a news conference in Seoul after being asked if the United States was prepared to recognise the Palestinian Authority’s request for full UN membership. She said:
We do not see that doing a resolution in the Security Council will necessarily get us to a place where we can find… a two-state solution moving forward.
She said US President Joe Biden has categorically stated that Washington supports a two-state solution and is working on the ground to make it happen as soon as possible.
Diplomats said the Palestinian Authority is expected to push the 15-member Security Council to vote as early as Thursday on a draft resolution recommending it become a full member of the world body. Security Council member Algeria circulated the draft text late Tuesday night.
Israel has been waging a military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas last October that killed nearly 1,200 people. Since then, more than 33,800 Palestinians have been killed and 76,600 injured amid widespread destruction and shortages of basic necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the seaside enclave, leaving its population, especially those living in northern Gaza, on the brink of starvation.
As a result of the war, 85 per cent of Gaza’s population has been displaced in the face of severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, and much of the enclave’s infrastructure has been reduced to rubble.
