Protesters calling for Israel to cease fire in its war with Hamas who have disrupted US public events and infrastructure are practicing leftwing fascism or leftwing totalitarianism, a senior US House Democrat said, adding that such protesters are challenging representative democracy and should be arrested.
Intimidation is the tactic, said Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking Democrat on the House armed services committee. Intimidation and an effort to silence opposition I dont know if theres such a thing as leftwing fascism. If you want to just call it leftwing totalitarianism, then thats what it is. It is a direct challenge to representative democracy now.
Smith was speaking before the outbreak this week of mass protests on US college campuses, many producing arrests to the One Decision Podcast and its guest host Christina Ruffini, a CBS News reporter.
Ruffini asked Smith about protests in his district, including vandalism at his home and a town hall meeting disrupted by protesters demanding an end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza prompted by attacks by Hamas on 7 October.
Disruptive, aggressive protests are illegal completely wrong and enormously dangerous, Smith said, adding: I really want people to understand and I put out a statement after they shut down a town hall meeting that I was trying to have [in March] whats going on here.
And everyones like, Well, you understand their passion and all that. And I do understand that, I do. This is a life-or-death situation. It is certainly not the only life-or-death situation that I and all policymakers deal with. But it is one that is important. But thats not what [the protesters are] doing.
What they are trying to do is they are trying to silence opposition and intimidate decision-makers. Ive been doing town hall meetings for 34 years now, in some pretty hotly contested environments [but] I have never had a town hall that I couldnt keep under control enough so that people had the chance to say their piece.
But [the protesters] goal and their objective was not to get their point across. It was to silence anyone who dared to disagree with them, to make sure that only one voice was heard. And their other goal was to intimidate. Thats why theyre showing up at members houses.
More than 1,100 people were killed on 7 October when Hamas attacked Israel, also taking hostages. Since then, more than 34,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, where the population also faces displacement and starvation.
Protesters, Smith said, would say, Children are dying. This is a huge humanitarian crisis. And theyre right about that and by the way, I do have some sympathy with these people. If there are members of Congress who wont meet with them, I meet with them. All the time. So they have an opportunity to be heard. Theyre not trying to be heard. Theyre trying to silence people who disagree with them.
Asked what kind of protest might be appropriate, Smith cited a recent instance in an armed services hearing in which people came in and they didnt say anything, they just held up bloody hands. And the chairman noticed that and said, You cant do that, youre out, and they got up and left.
But he said: You go back to the civil rights movement, they expected to be arrested, they knew they were violating the law. And also you have to enforce the law. You have to make clear that this is about more than just the issue. You know, they can be heard, but then other people get to be heard.