The
war
in
Gaza spurred
large
protests
outside
a
glitzy
roast
with
President
Joe
Biden,
journalists,
politicians
and
celebrities
Saturday
but
went
all
but
unmentioned
by
participants
inside,
with
Biden
instead
using
the
annual
White
House
correspondents’
dinner
to
make
both
jokes
and
grim
warnings
about
Republican
rival
Donald
Trump’s
fight
to
reclaim
the
U.S.
presidency.
An
evening
normally
devoted
to
presidents,
journalists
and
comedians
taking
outrageous
pokes
at
political
scandals
and
each
other
often
seemed
this
year
to
illustrate
the
difficulty
of
putting
aside
the
coming
presidential
election
and
the
troubles
in
the
Middle
East
and
elsewhere.
Biden
opened
his
roast
with
a
direct
but
joking
focus
on
Trump,
calling
him
“sleepy
Don,”
in
reference
to
a
nickname
Trump
had
given
the
president
previously.
Protests
against
the
Israel-Hamas
war
have
sprung
up
at
college
campuses
across
the
United
States,
with
many
offering
online
classes
through
the
end
of
the
semester.
Despite
being
similar
in
age,
Biden
said,
the
two
presidential
hopefuls
have
little
else
in
common.
“My
vice
president
actually
endorses
me,”
Biden
said.
Former
Trump
Vice
President
Mike
Pence
has
refused
to
endorse
Trump’s
reelection
bid.
But
the
president
quickly
segued
to
a
grim
speech
about
what
he
believes
is
at
stake
this
election,
saying
that
another
Trump
administration
would
be
even
more
harmful
to
America
than
his
first
term.
“We
have
to
take
this
serious
—
eight
years
ago
we
could
have
written
it
off
as
‘Trump
talk’
but
not
after
January
6,”
Biden
told
the
audience,
referring
to
the
supporters
of
Trump
who
stormed
the
Capitol
after
Biden
defeated
Trump
in
the
2020
election.
Trump
did
not
attend
Saturday’s
dinner
and
never
attended
the
annual
banquet
as
president.
In
2011,
he
sat
in
the
audience,
and
glowered
through
a
roasting
by
then-President
Barack
Obama
of
Trump’s
reality-television
celebrity
status.
Obama’s
sarcasm
then
was
so
scalding
that
many
political
watchers
linked
it
to
Trump’s
subsequent
decision
to
run
for
president
in
2016.
Biden’s
speech,
which
lasted
around
10
minutes,
made
no
mention
of
the
ongoing
war
or
the
growing
humanitarian
crisis
in
Gaza.
One
of
the
few
mentions
came
from
Kelly
O’Donnell,
president
of
the
correspondents’
association,
who
briefly
noted
some
100
journalists
killed
in
Israel’s
6-month-old
war
against
Hamas
in
Gaza.
In
an
evening
dedicated
in
large
part
to
journalism,
O’Donnell
cited
journalists
who
have
been
detained
across
the
world,
including
Americans
Evan
Gershkovich
in
Russia
and
Austin
Tice,
who
is
believed
to
be
held
in
Syria.
Families
of
both
men
were
in
attendance
as
they
have
been
at
previous
dinners.
To
get
inside
Saturday’s
dinner,
some
guests
had
to
hurry
through
hundreds
of
protesters
outraged
over
the
mounting
humanitarian
disaster
for
Palestinian
civilians
in
Gaza.
They
condemned
Biden
for
his
support
of
Israel’s
military
campaign
and
Western
news
outlets
for
what
they
said
was
undercoverage
and
misrepresentation
of
the
conflict.
“Shame
on
you!”
protesters
draped
in
the
traditional
Palestinian
keffiyeh
cloth
shouted,
running
after
men
in
tuxedos
and
suits
and
women
in
long
dresses
holding
clutch
purses
as
guests
hurried
inside
for
the
dinner.
“Western
media
we
see
you,
and
all
the
horrors
that
you
hide,”
crowds
chanted
at
one
point.
Other
protesters
lay
sprawled
motionless
on
the
pavement,
next
to
mock-ups
of
flak
vests
with
“press”
insignia.
Ralliers
cried
“Free,
free
Palestine.”
They
cheered
when
at
one
point
someone
inside
the
Washington
Hilton
—
where
the
dinner
has
been
held
for
decades
—
unfurled
a
Palestinian
flag
from
a
top-floor
hotel
window.
Criticism
of
the
Biden
administration’s
support
for
Israel’s
military
offensive
in
Gaza
has spread
through
American
college
campuses,
with
students
pitching
encampments
and
withstanding
police
sweeps
in
an
effort
to
force
their
universities
to
divest
from
Israel.
Counterprotests
back
Israel’s
offensive
and
complain
of
antisemitism.
Biden’s
motorcade
Saturday
took
an
alternate
route
from
the
White
House
to
the
Washington
Hilton
than
in
previous
years,
largely
avoiding
the
crowds
of
demonstrators.
Saturday’s
event
drew
nearly
3,000
people.
Celebrities
included
Academy
Award
winner
Da’Vine
Joy
Randolph,
Scarlett
Johansson,
Jon
Hamm
and
Chris
Pine.
Both
the
president
and
comedian
Colin
Jost,
who
spoke
after
Biden,
made
jabs
at
the
age
of
both
the
candidates
for
president.
“I’m
not
saying
both
candidates
are
old.
But
you
know
Jimmy
Carter
is
out
there
thinking,
‘maybe
I
can
win
this
thing,’”
Jost
said.
“He’s
only
99.”
Law
enforcement,
including
the
Secret
Service,
instituted
extra
street
closures
and
other
measures
to
ensure
what
Secret
Service
spokesman
Anthony
Guglielmi
said
would
be
the
“highest
levels
of
safety
and
security
for
attendees.”
Protest
organizers
said
they
aimed
to
bring
attention
to
the
high
numbers
of
Palestinian
and
other
Arab
journalists
killed
by
Israel’s
military
since
the
war
began
in
October.
More
than
two
dozen journalists
in
Gaza
wrote
a
letter last
week
calling
on
their
colleagues
in
Washington
to
boycott
the
dinner
altogether.
“The
toll
exacted
on
us
for
merely
fulfilling
our
journalistic
duties
is
staggering,”
the
letter
stated.
“We
are
subjected
to
detentions,
interrogations,
and
torture
by
the
Israeli
military,
all
for
the
‘crime’
of
journalistic
integrity.”
One
organizer
complained
that
the
White
House
Correspondents’
Association
—
which
represents
the
hundreds
of
journalists
who
cover
the
president
—
largely
has
been
silent
since
the
first
weeks
of
the
war
about
the
killings
of
Palestinian
journalists.
WHCA
did
not
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.
According
to
a
preliminary
investigation
released
Friday
by
the
Committee
to
Protect
Journalists,
nearly
100
journalists
have
been
killed
covering
the
war
in
Gaza.
Israel
has
defended
its
actions,
saying
it
has
been
targeting
militants.
“Since
the
Israel-Gaza
war
began,
journalists
have
been
paying
the
highest
price
—
their
lives
—
to
defend
our
right
to
the
truth.
Each
time
a
journalist
dies
or
is
injured,
we
lose
a
fragment
of
that
truth,”
CPJ
Program
Director
Carlos
Martínez
de
la
Serna
said
in
a
statement.
Sandra
Tamari,
executive
director
of
Adalah
Justice
Project,
a
U.S.-based
Palestinian
advocacy
group
that
helped
organize
the
letter
from
journalists
in
Gaza,
said
“it
is
shameful
for
the
media
to
dine
and
laugh
with
President
Biden
while
he
enables
the
Israeli
devastation
and
starvation
of
Palestinians
in
Gaza.”
In
addition,
Adalah
Justice
Project
started an
email
campaign
targeting
12
media
executives at
various
news
outlets
—
including
The
Associated
Press
—
expected
to
attend
the
dinner
who
previously
signed
onto
a
letter
calling
for
the
protection
of
journalists
in
Gaza.
“How
can
you
still
go
when
your
colleagues
in
Gaza
asked
you
not
to?”
a
demonstrator
asked
guests
heading
in.
“You
are
complicit.”