A town hall with 3rd District Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, devolved into a shouting match Thursday as audience members questioned her continued support for Israel despite a rising death toll in the Gaza Strip.
Audience members at Lower Columbia College’s Rose Center for the Arts were asked to submit written questions, which town hall moderator and former Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Warning read out.
When Warning read a question about the Israel-Hamas war, audience members erupted in chants of “free Palestine” and shouted at Gluesenkamp Perez about child deaths in Gaza. Some protesters were escorted out of the auditorium by security officers after refusing to quiet down.
“You’re killing babies,” one protester said on their way out.
Another protester criticized Gluesenkamp Perez for accepting campaign contributions from pro-Israel organizations. According to the Federal Election Committee, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group often known as AIPAC, has donated $10,500 to Gluesenkamp Perez this year.
“Stop taking Israeli money, whore,” the protester shouted as she was escorted out.
Gluesenkamp Perez did not react to any audience remarks, but Warning argued back, asking them to quiet down so she could answer the original question and referring to the protests as “children’s hour.”
“You’re killing f-----g kids,” an audience member responded. “You f-----g signed off on it. You’re filling your f-----g pockets.”
The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that almost 62,000 Palestinians have been killed as of Wednesday, including more than 18,000 children. That includes 235 malnutrition-related deaths, 106 of which were children. The rate of malnutrition-related deaths is increasing, with 170 reported since July 1.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs, limits on humanitarian aid have left Gaza on the brink of famine, with 22% of the analyzed population experiencing “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity as of July 31.
The conditions in Gaza have led human rights advocates, including some Israeli groups, to accuse Israel of genocide, an accusation the Israeli government has denied.
After some protesters were escorted out, Gluesenkamp Perez said that the war could end when Hamas released its remaining hostages and that maintaining a positive relationship with Israel benefits America.
“Thinking about how we move towards our geopolitical interests, America’s national interest is better served when there is a liberal democracy in the Middle East, and right now, that is Israel,” she said. “I think it’s pretty important to have a country in the Middle East that doesn’t kill gay people.”
Her response prompted more criticism from the audience, and several more members were escorted out.
“Nobody came here to listen to you,” Warning told one protester.
“No one came here to listen to you,” the protester responded.
Past complaints
Constituents also protested outside a Longview fundraiser Gluesenkamp Perez attended Tuesday.
Liz Kearny, a Longview resident who attended Tuesday’s protest, said local tax dollars that go toward supporting Israel could be better used for things like affordable housing, health care and education that would benefit Southwest Washington voters.
“She always talks about prioritizing the needs of rural voters, but her insistence on paying for Israel’s bombs instead of what we need to thrive here in Cowlitz County is evidence that she is more interested in the campaigning money offered by (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) than funding what we need here in my own community,” Kearny said.
At an April town hall in Vancouver, Gluesenkamp Perez faced criticism for voting with Republicans in favor of the SAVE Act, which would require all voters to provide proof of citizenship. Critics of the bill say it would disenfranchise millions of Americans who have changed their name, which includes many married women as well as transgender people.
Audience members also brought up the SAVE Act Thursday, asking why Gluesenkamp Perez voted against women’s rights.
While she didn’t clearly explain her decision Thursday, Gluesenkamp Perez released a statement in April.
“I do not support noncitizens voting in American elections — and that’s common sense to folks in Southwest Washington,” the statement reads in part. “Voting in our nation’s elections is a sacred right belonging only to American citizens, and my vote for the SAVE Act reflects that principle.”
Headlights and sea lions
For most of the town hall, Gluesenkamp Perez focused on less controversial topics, including her efforts to promote a maximum headlight brightness standard for vehicles and make it easier to remove sea lions from the Columbia River.
Sea lions, which threaten endangered salmon and sturgeon populations in the Columbia River, are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. However, fish and wildlife agencies in Washington, Oregon and Idaho have permission to use both lethal and nonlethal measures to remove sea lions to protect endangered fish in some circumstances, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Gluesenkamp Perez said the House of Representatives planned to review a bill during the most recent session that would authorize more options for sea lion removal, but was unable to do so after the session was cut short to prevent a vote about the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
She also discussed a failed amendment she proposed that would allow the Office of Congressional Conduct to set guidelines for evaluating Congress members suspected of cognitive decline.
At the end of Thursday’s town hall, an audience member called out to ask Gluesenkamp Perez what she was doing about ICE arrests in Cowlitz County. Gluesenkamp Perez hurried off stage without answering.
