Pro-Palestinian students protest Warnock while he delivered sermon at Atlanta church
Pro-Palestinian students stood in protest during a sermon delivered by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, a congregation once led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., where he serves as senior pastor.
As Warnock, 54, began his sermon on Sunday, a group of students wearing shirts that read "Stop Arming Israel" stood up and then gradually left the sanctuary, one by one, in silence.
In a video posted to TikTok and reported on by FOX 5 Atlanta, one of the protestors captured the demonstration, saying they supported Warnock in the past.
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"I voted for Raphael Warnock in the first election that I could legally vote in because I thought that he would stand for what's right but unfortunately I was wrong and he has failed the Palestinian people and the community who voted for him in Atlanta," the video caption reads.
During his Sunday morning message, Warnock said, "I want to thank God for the students and the young folk who are here," adding, "I wish they'd hang out so we can talk after church."
"Let them know that they're welcome to stay. Let's talk after church," Warnock said before returning to the main topic of his sermon, which included a focus on the Last Supper.
Last week, Warnock spoke on the Senate floor defending the idea of a "negotiated ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas, a terror group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, to provide humanitarian aid and free remaining hostages held by Hamas.
"We must be careful not to create through indiscriminate killing that which we seek to destroy. We must find a more excellent way — the way of peace," stated Warnock on the Senate floor.
"We are at an inflection point — a place where two ways meet. And time is running out. I call upon Israel and Hamas to come to a negotiated ceasefire with the immediate release of hostages, and opening of humanitarian corridors so that food, medicine, water and other supplies can be delivered to the people of Gaza with the fierce urgency that the situation demands."
Warnock said that while he believes "the world would be better off without Hamas," the terrorist group was deeply embedded in the ideology of the people of the Gaza Strip.
"Hamas is more than a terrorist organization. It is an ideology. It is a mindset, it is a way of thinking that sits in a place deeper than the tunnels beneath Gaza," he continued.
"And if the legacy of Hamas' violence on Oct. 7 becomes continuing and escalating indiscriminate violence in turn, then the destructive ideology of Hamas will have won the day."
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched a series of coordinated surprise attacks in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostages, many of whom were women and children.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched a series of air strikes and then a ground offensive seeking to eradicate Hamas and secure the release of hostages. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has stated that over 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began but hasn't differentiated between combatants and civilians.
Israel claims that its forces have killed over 12,000 operatives in Gaza, according to The Times of Israel.
Last November, Hamas and Israel held a temporary ceasefire, which involved the terrorist organization freeing 105 hostages in return for the Jewish nation freeing nearly 250 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom were women and teenagers.
