The pro-Hamas protests appear to be migrating off of college campuses as summer arrives and moving out into more public areas. That was the case in Florida yesterday when a group calling itself "Queers for Palestine" decided to park their cars on the Interstate 4 exit for Disney World and begin demonstrating with signs. This disruption immediately began backing up traffic for miles. The protesters were chanting "free Palestine" and claiming that Disney "supports genocide." The blockaded commuters were having none of it and the police were quickly called to the scene. Some motorists exited their vehicles and confronted the protesters in an angry fashion. (NY Post)

A small group of anti-Israel protesters from a Florida chapter of Queers for Palestine blocked access to Walt Disney World Saturday — and were promptly arrested.

The keffiyeh-clad crew used their vehicles to block the Disney exit of Interstate 4 in Orlando, alleging that the company “supports genocide.”

The protesters held banners across the ramp and chanted, “Free free Palestine.”

Some fed-up drivers were seen using the shoulder of the highway to go around the demonstrators — while one angry motorist got out of his car to confront them, video showed.

Here is some video of the angry commuter attempting to educate one of the pro-Hamas protesters to little avail.

However the Angry Dad isn't done giving a piece of his mind.

"You are losing people to your cause because of this... Think a little bit. You are causing people to actually hate you."

"Go fuck yourself. 45,000 people dead."

More police show up and one officer walks up to the… pic.twitter.com/mqcbUgns17

— Stu (@thestustustudio) May 11, 2024

What we're seeing here is very similar to the errors made by the Black Lives Matter movement during the BLM riots of 2020. Traditionally, when people would go out and protest for a particular cause, the intention was to draw the attention of the public and hopefully enlist the support of others to effect change. These pro-Hamas protesters, just like BLM, are doing precisely the opposite. The angry motorist in the video was attempting to get the message across to the protesters, though they were clearly not in any mood to listen.

Some of those people who were stuck in traffic may very well be opposed to the war in Gaza and might support a ceasefire. But when you bottle up a family in the middle of a highway when they are simply trying to go about their private business, they are quickly going to grow to hate you and want to see you locked up. Protest organizers went on social media to clarify this "strategy" by declaring there would be "no business as usual during genocide." 

Therein lies the problem. If you are the people who are intentionally trying to disrupt "business as usual," you will be seen as the people who are, in effect, attacking society itself. It doesn't matter what all of those motorists may think about Israel, the Gazans, October 7, or Israel's response to defend itself. They need to get their families home from a day at the park or get to work or do whatever else they were in the process of doing. You don't represent a message or a cause to them. You are a criminal who needs to be dealt with by the police and nothing more.

That's precisely what happened in Orlando yesterday. The police reportedly arrived within eleven minutes of the first call. They arrested the protesters who refused to disperse and cleared the roadway. People were cheering for the police, not the protesters. This is precisely what needs to be done on college campuses and anywhere else where these spoiled brats show up and try to disrupt everyone's lives.

One last point for these protesters, in case any of them happen to be reading this. Try going over to Gaza and declaring that you are "queer" and start waving a rainbow flag. Your heroes in Hamas will throw you off of the top of a building faster than you can say "free Palestine," assuming they can find one left standing.