Pro-Hamas protesters who block U.S. federal highways are "terrorist sympathizers" looking to create chaos, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., wrote in a column in The Washington Times.
"'Shut it down four Palestine.' This is the cry of pro-Hamas protesters as they block highways all over the United States — in Washington, Rhode Island, Illinois — to shift U.S. policy toward Israel in favor of antisemitic terrorists," they wrote.
"This is not a peaceful cause. It champions a group that slaughtered more than 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7 and still holds more than 100 hostages, including babies.
"These aren't peaceful protests, either. Their goal is to create chaos by preventing parents from picking children up from school, blocking ambulances from assisting the sick and injured, and grinding businesses to a halt. We cannot give these terrorist sympathizers a free pass.
"Florida — as well as Iowa, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas — have taken state action against road blockers. But these efforts don't apply to federal interstates, as we lack a federal law on the books.
"It's time to change that. Our Safe Passage on Interstates Act, to be introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives as of [Tuesday] would criminalize any intentional obstruction of a highway that occurs without proper authorization."
Rubio and Collins said blocking highways is one of the key tactics used by the progressive left "to cudgel Americans into accepting its unpopular policies."
"Recently, the practice was taken up by climate activists, who blocked highways across the country to 'save Mother Earth' — and ironically caused hundreds of vehicles to stall in the process, releasing a sizable quantity of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere," the lawmakers wrote.
"Pro-Hamas protesters are the latest to pull these stunts. Their website brags that 'protesters have shut down highways, train stations, and bridges' — bridges that, as New York City Mayor Eric Adams notes, 'people are … driving to and from, across … to go to their place of employment … [and to deal] with some real emergency-type issues.'
"But these protesters don't care about that, just as their terrorist allies in Gaza don't care about innocent lives in Israel, Gaza or elsewhere. For Hamas, 'death, not life, is the prize.'"
Rubio and Collins said U.S. citizens have the freedom to express support for "terrorists," who rape and murder innocent civilians. But they said criminalizing highway blockage would provide law enforcement more tools to maintain the peace.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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