Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters disrupted President Joe Biden’s star-studded fundraising event at Radio City Music Hall Thursday night.
Chants of “Free, free Palestine!” “F—k Joe Biden” and “Genocide Joe has got to go!” echoed outside the iconic venue on Sixth Avenue, where former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined Biden, sources tell the New York Post.
In anticipation of the large anti-Israel protest organized by the “Flood Manhattan for Gaza” movement, the NYPD erected barricades outside the theater and stationed patrols. However, this did not stop some from trespassing on the event hosted by late-night host Stephen Colbert. According to Axios, some interrupted the event a few times, and in one instance, Biden was called a “war criminal.”
Per the report, Biden responded to one disruption by saying, “That’s alright, let them go. There are too many innocent victims, Israeli and Palestinian.”
Former President Obama reportedly came to the defense of his former vice president, emphasizing the complex nature of decisions made by world leaders.
“One of the realities of the presidency is that the world has a lot of joy and beauty, but it also has a lot of tragedy and cruelty,” Obama remarked. He emphasized the challenging balance leaders must maintain, stating, “I think people understandably often want to feel certain about how those decisions are made. But a president doesn’t have that luxury.”
Obama’s comments were met with jeers, prompting him to say, “No, no, listen. You can’t just talk and not listen… That’s what the other side does. It is possible for us to understand that we can have moral clarity and deeply held beliefs, but still recognize that the world is complicated and solving these problems is hard.”
