Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) shared a video on Wednesday showing his confrontation with anti-Israel activists on Capitol Hill, during which he accused them of taking money from China.
The video posted to X shows Hawley addressing a group of people, some with the color red painted onto their hands to evoke blood, asking if they were with the far-left group Code Pink.
The anti-Israel Code Pink crazies are back roaming the halls of the Senate calling Israel a terrorist state. But when I confront them about all their dirty funding from China – they get suddenly tongue tied. 😂 They “don’t know” if the Uyghur genocide is real! Astroturf wackos pic.twitter.com/AOhj6nnNLY
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 10, 2024
“You’re funded by China,” Hawley said. He asked the crowd to answer whether China was committing a genocide against the Uyghurs but did not get a straight answer. Hawley also pressed them to stop taking money from Beijing, but was told he was getting off-topic.
“The anti-Israel Code Pink crazies are back roaming the halls of the Senate calling Israel a terrorist state. But when I confront them about all their dirty funding from China — they get suddenly tongue-tied,” Hawley said. “They ‘don’t know’ if the Uyghur genocide is real! Astroturf wackos.”
Activists demonstrated on Capitol Hill this week to call for a cease-fire in Israel’s fight against Hamas in Gaza. Dozens were arrested on Tuesday after protesting in the Senate cafeteria as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testified having no evidence of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Several Republican lawmakers approached by camera-wielding activists over the past several months have used the encounters to declare their support of Israel and put Hamas on blast.
Hawley shared a video in February showing him telling protesters they were “pro-terrorist” and calling them anti-Semitic. He also said, “If you guys had your way, there’d be a second Holocaust … that’s what you want.”
On Wednesday, Hawley also shared a link on X to a New York Times report from August that discussed how records show Code Pink received donations from groups linked to a U.S. tech mogul whose network has been pushing Chinese propaganda.
“Code Pink once criticized China’s rights record but now defends its internment of the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, which human rights experts have labeled a crime against humanity,” Hawley quoted, adding Code Pink “mix[es] progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points.”
Hawley told Fox News host Sean Hannity in October that he hopes the Department of Justice is investigating who is funding student groups holding anti-Israel protests on college campuses.