DALLAS — Pro-Palestinian voices from North Texas gathered Thursday morning to protest President Joe Biden's campaign fundraising visit to Dallas this week.
Members from the Palestinian Youth Movement posted up and chanted from across the street of Downtown Dallas' Fairmont Hotel, where Biden spent the night during his overnight visit to the city.
In a press release, the organization said the group was there, in part, "to protest his visit as he attempts to propel his campaign in the upcoming presidential elections. While Biden raises funds in two private campaign receptions set up by lawyers in North Texas, over 1 million Palestinians in Gaza are on the verge of death due to starvation, all the while being signed off by the Biden administration."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently railed against growing criticism from top ally the United States against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas, describing calls for a new election for his position as “wholly inappropriate.”
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country and a strong Israel supporter, had called on Israel to hold a new election, saying Netanyahu had “lost his way.” President Joe Biden expressed support for Schumer’s “good speech," and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurting Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza.
The U.S., which has provided key military and diplomatic support to Israel, also has expressed concerns about a planned Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, told Fox the U.S. still hasn't seen an Israeli plan for Rafah.
The U.S. supports a new round of talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in exchange for the return of Israeli hostages taken in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
The Israeli delegation to those talks was expected to leave for Qatar after Sunday evening meetings of the Security Cabinet and War Cabinet, which will give directions for negotiations.
Despite the talks, Netanyahu made it clear he would not back down from the fighting that has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. More than five months have passed since Hamas’ attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people and left another 250 hostages.