White House Correspondents' Dinner overshadowed by protests against Israel-Hamas war

An election-year roast of President Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday butted up against growing public discord over the Israel-Hamas war, with protests outside the event condemning both Mr. Biden's handling of the conflict and the Western news' media coverage of it.

Mr. Biden, like most of his predecessors, used the glitzy annual White House Correspondents' Association banquet to jab at his rival, former President Donald Trump. He followed the jokes with solemn warnings about what he said would happen if Trump won the presidency again.

With hundreds of protesters rallying against the war in Gaza outside the event and concerns over the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the perils for journalists covering the conflict, the war hung over this year's event. But speakers inside made only passing mention of the conflict despite some having to run a gauntlet of demonstrators. Mr. Biden's speech, which lasted around 10 minutes, made no mention of the ongoing war or the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.