Pro-Palestinian protesters camp outside Jewish Democrat’s home in Ohio

On the eve of the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, masked pro-Palestinian demonstrators have escalated their harassment of a Jewish member of Congress by camping outside the Cincinnati home of Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio. Landsman said Monday that protesters arrived at his doorstep Sunday morning. By night, he said, they had set up tents, cots and sleeping bags on the road and harassed him and his family throughout the night, forcing them to get in and out with police escorts for safety. “On the eve of the first anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks, in which Jewish people were brutally murdered and kidnapped, these individuals arrived at a Jewish family’s home at night, dressed in black and wearing masks,” Landsman said in a statement. He said he and his daughter will be forced to walk through the encampment in order to attend the October 7 ceremony later Monday. Midwest Direct Action 4 Barre! shared a video of the demonstration on Instagram. The video showed masked, black-clad participants marching down the street in front of Landsman’s home. Their faces were covered as they carried white wraps of bodies and waved banners representing the body count. Landsman’s office said the group was still at the site on Monday. “On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the start of the Palestinian genocide, local Cincinnati activists gathered outside of Congressman Greg Landsman’s house to denounce his vote to hide the death toll and continue to fund mass murder in Gaza,” the group said in its post. “We are standing solemnly vigil and we will not rest until the genocide is over and Palestine is free.” Mike Madanat, a spokesman for the group, told the Associated Press that it was unclear how long they would stay at Landsman’s home and that they did not plan to leave anytime soon. Madanat noted that these types of decisions are something they make “every day.” He said the activists involved are members of different groups but are all “Cincinnati taxpayers” who took part in the action because Democrats were “silent in response to our calls, postcards, and town hall attendance.” Madanat said the activists realize they are in a residential community and are doing everything they can to respect Landsman’s neighbors and the area, including speaking with local police and residents every day to ensure their actions are legal. “This has nothing to do with religion and never has,” Madanat said. “This is all about the body count,” and the congressman’s “support for violence and displacement.” This isn’t the first time Lansman and his district have been targeted since the conflict began. Just a month into the conflict, protesters put up a poster outside a building near Lansman’s district office that featured his picture and the words “This Ken supports genocide,” among other inflammatory language.
In July, Lansman visited Cincinnati’s Cordale Cemetery, where 176 Jewish gravestones had been toppled.