Late Wednesday, a group of Republican House lawmakers made their way to Union Station in Washington, D.C. near the U.S. Capitol to replace the U.S. flags that were taken down earlier in the day by pro-Hamas protesters.
Those protesters were there to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before a joint session of Congress. During their protest, they removed and burned the U.S. flags in front of Union Station. They were then replaced with Palestinian flags.
U.S. Reps. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) and Dale Strong (R-Monrovia) were among the House members led by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
After the lawmakers returned the American flags to those poles, Johnson spoke to Fox News reporter Ryan Schmelz.
"Brandon Williams, our congressman from New York had the idea," Johnson said. "We were so outraged and disgusted by what happened here earlier today. You can see the monuments are painted with graffiti celebrating Hamas. While Prime Minister Netanyahu was here representing our closest ally in the Mideast, our dear friend Israel, giving an inspirational talk to the Congress, they were here desecrating Union Station. So, one of the things they did in addition to burning the American flag is they took the flags down from the flag pole and they flew the Palestinian flag over Union Station."
"So all of these members, veterans, patriots came here to set this right, get the American flags hoisted again," he added. "We're happy to get that done."
Both Carl and Strong posted remarks to their social media accounts.
"Tonight, a handful of us Congressmen came back over here to Union Station, where they burnt the flags today," Carl said. "As you can see, we found three flags in my office and we came over here and we put them back up with the help of a whole lot of our friends from law enforcement, as well as the Speaker of the House. The Speaker actually met us over here, too."
"So, our flags are flying again," he continued. "We'll be here tomorrow. If they take them down tomorrow, we'll be back tomorrow. The American flag will always fly above this Capitol. God bless you."
"They took our flags down today and put Hamas flags up at Union Station in Washington, D.C.," Strong said. "We're not putting up with it."
Jeff Poor is the editor in chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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