Suozzi victory speech interrupted by protesters: ‘Cease-fire now!’

Pro-Palestinian protestors crashed the start of former Rep. Tom Suozzi’s (D) victory speech Tuesday, accusing the representative-elect of supporting genocide, moments after he won back his seat in the House in New York’s special election.

Suozzi was beginning his speech in Woodbury, N.Y., when a person with a Palestinian flag attempted to come up to the newly elected lawmaker. 

“You can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide! Stop supporting genocide,” the protestor screamed.

Suozzi continued smiling at the audience, while a voice in the crowd could be heard shouting, “Genocide! You support genocide! Cease-fire now, cease-fire now!”

Security appeared to remove the protestor off stage and the crowd continued to shout Suozzi’s first name. 

“There are divisions in our country where people can’t even talk to each other. All they can do is yell and scream at each other,” he said, acknowledging the demonstrators. “That’s not the answer to the problems we face in our country. The answer is to try and bring people together to try and find common ground.”

“The way to make our country a better place is to try and find common ground. It is not easy to do. It is hard to do,” Suozzi added later, per The Associated Press. 

Suozzi defeated Republican Mazi Pilip in Tuesday’s special election to fill the seat of former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was expelled from the lower chamber in December in the wake of various criminal charges and a scathing ethics report.

The win for Suozzi flipped New York’s 3rd Congressional District back to blue, chipping away at the House’s razor-thin GOP majority. 

He has been a vocal supporter of Israel in its fight against the militant Palestinian group Hamas following the group’s Oct. 7 attack on the country that killed 1,200 people. 

Suozzi and Pilip — who served in the Israeli military — even appeared side-by-side at a joint event focused on solidarity amid the conflict, the AP reported.

Israeli forces responded with a vow to eliminate Hamas — which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007. Israel’s military operation by air, land and sea has killed more than 28,000 people in the enclave, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. 

The rising death toll, coupled with debilitating conditions in the territory’s hospitals, refugee sites and neighborhoods, has prompted a growing chorus of calls for a cease-fire between the two sides.