Pelosi's remarks about US protesters undemocratic, Russian diplomat says
On April 25, US police said at least 127 people were arrested during large-scale protests on American university campuses against Israeli actions in the Palestinian enclave
MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi's statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin has a hand in pro-Palestinian protests in the United States is an insult to American citizens and inherently undemocratic, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"It is impossible to see this as anything other than an affront to Americans and an attack on democracy," the diplomat wrote on her Telegram channel, commenting on Pelosi's words.
On April 25, US police said at least 127 people were arrested during large-scale protests on American university campuses against Israeli actions in the Palestinian enclave. Of those, 93 students were arrested at the University of Southern California and another 34 at the University of Texas. On April 18, New York City police arrested at least 100 Columbia University students who had held a rally in support of Palestine.
On April 21, Al Jazeera reported that Palestinian emergency services found a mass grave containing 50 bodies of those killed in the Israeli military operation at Gaza’s Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported on the West Bank. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, over 34,300 Palestinians have been killed and almost 77,300 injured since tensions escalated on October 7, 2023, while up to 1,500 Israelis have been killed and nearly 4,200 injured.