Protestors denounced President Joe Biden on the streets of Scranton during his hometown visit. Few supporters spoke in his defense.
In contrast to the warm welcome he received inside the Scranton Cultural Center, demonstrators outside yelled out “Genocide Joe!” and “Not my president!” during Biden's speech.
Sophomore Aryan Chandavarkar protested alongside Christians for the Common Good. It’s part of the University of Scranton’s Peace and Justice Studies Program. He said he had respectful debates with other protestors. They found a common enemy: Biden.
“So, it’s really interesting. You’ll very rarely see supporters of Palestine and Gaza standing hand-in-hand with Orthodox Jews who support Israel. But we’re coming here to protest against Joe Biden and specifically against what’s going on in Gaza, but there are some common grounds," Chandavarkar said.
Christians for the Common Good sang prayers and chants against Biden and military support of the war on Gaza. Students cried slogans like, “Not another nickel, not another dime. No more money for genocide!”
NEPA for Palestine echoed Christians for the Common Good. They added chants like, “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide!”
Loai Daher lost 55 family members in the war. He started organizing with NEPA for Palestine to show Americans what he and his loved ones have been through.
“I’m paying money to kill my family,” said Daher. “Can you believe it? Can you comprehend how … I’m [living] here and pay and work and have my kids buy stuff, you know. And we are helping them to kill my family. How disgusting is that?
While protestors were united against Biden, they were divided over how to stop the conflict and who could run the country.
'Lock him up'
A medium sized group of Trump supporters erupted in chants of “lock him up” while waiting to catch a glimpse of the president. Rose Sherlinski criticized Biden’s domestic and foreign policies.
“Well, look what he has done to our country. He does not care about us. He doesn’t care about nothing,” said Sherlinski.
Richard Csontos unregistered to vote years ago. He called America the world’s “largest terrorist organization.”
“We’re supposed to be a democracy. We have two parties that can possibly win and they’re both the war party. That’s the only bi-partisan thing they have. So, every year they win. The war party wins.”
University of Scranton student Liam Ahern plans to vote for Biden, but he’s not satisfied with his choice.
“It’s going to be a tough vote, except it is, just like it was in 2020, maybe even in 2016, a lesser of two evils kind of a thing,” said Ahern.
Gaza in focus
A small group held up signs with the now familiar “Bring them home” message splayed across them, in reference to hostages still held by Hamas.
Daniel Chejtec is the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania. He said he came to oppose the “pro-Hamas” protestors.
“We wanted to make sure that the Israeli side of the story, the Jewish side of the story was also heard. We have still around a hundred and forty people unaccounted for among those that were kidnapped into Gaza,” said Chejtec.
One of the posters they held up was of a picture of a baby boy held captive in Gaza: Kfir Bibas turned one in captivity.
Palestinian protestors countered that they have not been free for years, long before the Oct 7 terrorist attack on Israel. NEPA for Palestine organizer Leila Hazov said that calling her organization “pro-Hamas” was part of colonialist propaganda. Her father fled in 1948 during the Nakba — that means “catastrophe” in Arabic, and refers to the exodus of Arabs from Palestine.
“My entire family became refugees at that point and are scattered in the Diaspora all over the world … So yeah, we are the children of refugees because of a great injustice. And this, what now is happening, is even worse than the Nakba in many senses,” Hazov said of the violence in Gaza. “The amount of deaths that have happened in just six months.”
For more coverage and photos of Biden's visit tonight and Wednesday, check back here at WVIA.org.
