Activist says US congressman knocked cellphone from her hand as she asked about Israel-Hamas war

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A U.S. congressman from Mississippi knocked the cellphone out of the hand of an antiwar activist who was walking behind him Tuesday and asking about the killing of Palestinians, video shot by the activist shows.

First-term Republican Rep. Mike Ezell was walking in a hallway before a House committee meeting in Washington when two activists from the antiwar group CodePink asked him about the Israel-Hamas war. One asked Ezell whether Israel should accept a peace proposal.

“You want this genocide to continue?” the unidentified woman asks in the video.

CodePink identified the second woman as Sumer Mobarak, who is Palestinian American. The video shows her asking Ezell: “You want the killing of my people, my Palestinian people?

“Shut up. Knock it off,” Ezell says as the video shows him extending a hand and knocking down the cellphone that was being used for recording.

Mobarak said she filed a police report against Ezell, alleging assault. U.S. Capitol Police told The Associated Press they are looking into the incident, but they did not comment further.

Ezell was a sheriff before winning a U.S. House seat in south Mississippi in 2022, and he is seeking reelection this year. His spokesperson said the confrontation happened before a meeting of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“These China-backed protesters want to harass and intimidate Members of Congress into ending our support for Israel and our opposition to Hamas terrorists,” Ezell said in a statement. “I will not be harassed or intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party, Hamas, or their supporters, and I will continue standing with our Israeli allies against terrorism.”

CodePink says on its website that “China is not our enemy.”

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Associated Press reporter Mike Balsamo contributed to this report from Washington.