Mehdi Unfiltered ‘He Was Trying to Lunge at Us’: Palestinian Journalist on Confronting Ben-Gvir on Capitol Hill
When Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s extremist far-right Minister of National Security, made a recent visit to Capitol Hill, he ended up crossing paths with a group of pro-Palestine activists. That group included award-winning Palestinian author and journalist Laila el-Haddad, whose books include ‘Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting, and Everything in Between.’
El-Haddad joined Mehdi on set in Washington DC to discuss the confrontation, which she caught on video and shared widely on Instagram.
“I personally looked at him and said, ‘You were responsible for killing my family members in Gaza,’ el-Haddad tells Mehdi, adding that Ben-Gvir “was shouting back at us, and he had to be restrained because he was trying to lunge at us.”
Discussing the role the last Democrat administration had with regards to Israel-Palestine and the 2024 presidential election result, Laila el-Haddad also notes that the genocide in Gaza will be Joe Biden’s “lasting legacy,” saying his failure to take a stand against Israel “is one of the reasons that we have Trump sitting here today.”
If you're a paid subscriber, you can watch the full interview above to hear el-Haddad reflect on the Uncommitted movement in 2024, the Trump crackdown on college campuses, the newly introduced West Bank Violence Prevention Act, and what happened to a lawsuit she was a plaintiff that aimed to hold the Biden administration accountable for their complicity in genocide.
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