Biden campaign event in Marquette met with protesters over Israel conflict

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WJMN) — As First Lady Jill Biden stopped into Marquette’s Ore Dock Brewery for a campaign event, protesters outside called for a stronger reversal of the Biden administration’s military support of Israel.

Our Local 3 crew outside the event also spoke with Biden supporters and others who were simply curious about the increased police presence.

One such person we spoke with was Maya Reyst, a 22-year-old who recently graduated from Nothern Michigan University.

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“I heard about this 15 minutes ago when I was at work. I don’t know, I think it’s pretty cool to see someone who is in the presidency, in Marquette, getting involved, so I came down to see what it was about,” Reyst said.

Reyst said her opinion of the president, vice-president and their spouses was mixed due to the administration’s ongoing support for Israel’s military.

People outside the event were blocked by a police barricade from entering the brewery. When asked what she would’ve liked to hear from Biden and Emhoff, Reyst said an assurance that the Biden administration would support women’s rights and Palestine.

We also spoke with Grant Kammer, a Marquette County resident who later joined a group of protesters outside the brewery who had “Free Palestine” signs and were chanting into a megaphone.

Kammer said he also happened upon the event, and was put off by a command from police officer who was helping maintain a perimeter around the event. About a block of West Spring Street around the Ore Dock was barricaded from the public.

“I think this is a ridiculous use of taxpayer dollars,” Kammer said, “coming here to my community, telling me where I can and cannot walk. You’ve got three secret service cadres here, how much does this cost? For what? For her to come out and take a pretty picture while there’s a genocide going on in the middle east?”

We asked Kammer what he would’ve hoped to hear from Biden, had he been in the audience at the Ore Dock.

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“I want to hear that she’s going to be de-funding the ongoing genocide in Palestine. And I want to hear that she is listening to what her constituents have to say, which is an end to the genocide in Palestine, an immediate cease fire. Now. That’s what we want is what needs to happen.”

Local 3 asked Kammer to elaborate.

“People are dying. Hundreds of tens of thousands of people are dying. Women, children doing nothing, sitting there trying to live. Being excluded from basic rights to live. And it needs to end now.”

Our reporter replied to Kammer, “and then the counterargument, is it’s all Israel defending itself October 7th, and that they have a right to do so. What do you think about that?”

“I think that it’s a gross misinterpretation,” said Kammer. “Like, if you honestly
think what Israel is doing right now is a legitimate military defense, you know pretty much nothing about military logistics.

“There’s no way an entirely occupied army, even an insurgency, even if every member of Hamas is living in Rafah right now, it’s not the way to end like bombing them is not the way to end it. It’s that they’re not combatants. They’re women, their children. They’re the people trying to live. And just like we’re trying to live.”

Recently, Biden halted a shipment of 3,000 bombs to Israel, and threatened to withhold more if Israel’s assault on the Gazan city of Rafah, which is estimated to house 360,000 Palestinian refugees, continues.

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