A pro-Palestinian protester claims a congressman attacked her when he swiped her phone while she was harassing him about Gaza.
Sumer Mobarak, a Palestinian-American who regularly ambushs lawmakers over the issue, harassed Congressman Mike Ezell in a hallway of the U.S. Capitol.
The first-term Republican was walking to a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting on Tuesday when two activists started yelling at him.
One of them asked him whether Israel should accept a peace proposal from Hamas. “Do you want this genocide to continue?” she said.
Sumer Mobarak (center), a Palestinian-American who regularly ambushs lawmakers over the issue, claims a congressman attacked her when he swiped her phone while she was heckling him about Gaza in the U.S. Capitol (photo outside)
Mobarak said: ‘Do you want the murder of my people, my Palestinian people?’ to which he replied, “Shut up. Stop that’
Mobarak then added: “Do you want the murder of my people, my Palestinian people?”
‘Quiet. Turn it off,” Ezell says as the video shows him reaching out and knocking over the phone used for the recording.
Mobarak said she had filed a complaint against Ezell for assault. The U.S. Capitol Police said they were investigating the incident but provided no further comment.
“You’re a disgusting racist. How shameful of you to even work in this government and you lay your hands on anyone, shame on you, shame on you,” she later shouted at him.
“You are the violent one, not the people who protest peacefully.”
Mobarak and her fellow activist were from CodePink, which calls itself a “feminist grassroots organization working to end America’s wars and militarism.”
Her Instagram profile contains numerous other videos of her harassing lawmakers in the halls of the Capitol, other buildings and on the streets.
First-term Republican Congressman Mike Ezell was walking to a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting on Tuesday when two activists started yelling at him
Mobarak in a rare photo without her hijab, in traditional clothing
It is unclear how the activists regularly gain access to the Capitol and confront politicians.
“These Chinese-backed protesters want to harass and intimidate members of Congress to end our support for Israel and our opposition to Hamas terrorists,” Ezell said.
“I will not be harassed or intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party, Hamas or their supporters, and I will continue to support our Israeli allies in the fight against terrorism.”
CodePink says on its website that “China is not our enemy” and shares some of the Chinese Communist Party’s views, including its human rights abuses.
The group views the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China that is ruthlessly persecuted by the government, as terrorists and defends their mass detention in “re-education camps.”
In the video, he can be seen reaching out and pulling down the phone used for the recording
Ezell served as sheriff before winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in southern Mississippi in 2022, and he is seeking re-election this year.
Last year he spoke out against massive pro-Palestinian protests in which 300 people were arrested for gathering in the rotunda of an office building next to the Capitol.
“Thousands of pro-Hamas demonstrators showed up on Capitol Hill. Many of them chose to break the law and were arrested in the Cannon House office building, not far from my office. Fortunately, my staff and I are fine,” he said.
“While I believe in the First Amendment, I condemn both the lawless actions and hateful rhetoric of these protesters.
“Anti-Semitism and support for terrorism have no place on Capitol Hill or anywhere else in the United States.”
Mobarak attempted the same stunt on Congressman Brian Mast, a 12-year U.S. Army veteran who lost both his legs to an IED in Afghanistan.
The activists asked him if he agreed that there should be a ceasefire in Gaza because “the world was asking for it.”
“I think Israel should go in there and kick them out, just absolutely destroy them, raze their infrastructure, everything they touch to the ground. Clear enough?’ he replied.