Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) condemned both the “shameful” vandalism outside his Capitol Hill office and the anti-Semitic protests in Chicago on Independence Day, accusing the perpetrators of empowering Hamas terrorists.
“Yesterday, my Capitol Hill office was vandalized in a despicable act of hate. Posters of the more than 100 people still being held hostage in Gaza – including eight Americans – were ripped from the walls, shredded and thrown across the hallway,” said Schneider, who is Jewish. Posted on Friday X.
“This is a disgraceful act on any day, but especially on the Fourth of July, our nation’s Independence Day. Sadly, this is just one of many hateful and un-American acts that have taken place across the country on a day that celebrates freedom and democracy,” he said.
“We are aware of this matter and it is under investigation,” a spokesperson for the US Capitol Police told The Washington Post. “To protect the investigation, we cannot provide any further information at this time.”
Schneider, co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Abraham Accords Congressional Caucus to Strengthen Israel’s Stand in the Middle East, also said he was “sickened by the videos and reports of people calling the Fourth of July a ‘terror holiday’ and burning the American flag.”
“This isn’t just happening in my office in Washington, DC,” Schneider continued in the X-thread. “My home, over 700 miles from the Capitol, was targeted at 2:30am last weekend by approximately 50 masked protesters banging drums, honking horns, and yelling anti-Semitic slogans.”
“The same group that was at my house earlier this week marched in Chicago on the Fourth of July and rather than calling for peace, they instead condemned the United States of America,” he added.
“Such actions will not advance peace,” Schneider continued, “but rather will play into Hamas terrorists’ hands and enable them to continue holding hostage not only those they have kidnapped from Israel, but all of Gaza’s civilians.”
The Illinois Democrat is the latest politician to be targeted by anti-Israel protesters and to have had property destroyed as a result of demonstrations that have taken place in many U.S. cities since the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas.
In mid-June, thousands of protesters descended on the White House, chanting pro-Hamas slogans and defacing federal monuments. No arrests were made.
South Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York) also had his campaign office vandalized by “anti-Israel extremists” on Christmas Day 2023, when a figurine of the young Jesus Christ was splashed with bright red paint.
“The bloody doll represents Jesus, who the vandals are calling ‘the saviour of the Palestinian children,'” Torres posted on X at the time.
“The escalation of threats and incitement against lawmakers seems to me to be heading in a dangerous direction,” he said. “I am not going to be intimidated.”
The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has divided the Democratic Party in a crucial election year, with far-left “Squad” members voting against military aid funding to the Jewish state and calling for a ceasefire before the terror group is removed.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists killed nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, including 33 American citizens, and kidnapped an additional 240 people and took them back to Gaza.
Schneider and dozens of other Democrats voted in November to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who has defended terrorist attacks as a legitimate “resistance” and called for the annihilation of the Jewish state.
Pro-Israel Democrats have supported Israel’s war effort but have at times criticized the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Biden.
In May, Schneider and 25 other House Democrats submitted a letter expressing concern that the Biden administration’s decision to suspend arms exports to Israel would embolden Hamas.
