CHICAGO — This week’s protests, in which thousands of antiwar demonstrators took to the streets in and around the United Center (mobbed by dozens of Chicago police officers), pose a crucial question for the Harris/Waltz team: Can they bridge the yawning chasm that separates the streets and the establishment on the issue of Israel’s war on Palestine?
The answer is: probably not.
On Thursday night, as she formally accepted her party’s nomination in her own keynote speech, Harris appeared to be a vocal advocate for ending the Gaza war. Here are her full (brief) remarks on the subject:
“On the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to reach a hostage-taking and ceasefire agreement. … And let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right to self-defense, and I will always ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the Israeli people must never again face the war that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.
At the same time, the events in Gaza over the past ten months are devastating: so many innocent lives have been lost, desperate, hungry people continue to flee safety, the scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war so that Israel is safe, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.”
But are words more important than actions? And have the few words spoken on this issue this week convinced Democrats who actually want an end to the war and at least to the American contribution to it?
Until Thursday evening, Vermont’s multiple favorite in the presidential election Senator Bernie Sanders was the only other Democrat on the DNC stage to give the issue the attention protesters said it deserved (though he stopped short of calling for an arms embargo). Earlier in the week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a remark that Harris had “worked tirelessly to get a ceasefire in Gaza and bring the hostages home” and was immediately admonished for it, even by her own squad members. “Working tirelessly for a ceasefire is really not a thing and they should be ashamed of themselves,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) charged.
As an anti-war activist and author, Norman Solomon noticedHarris “has joined President Biden’s war line while at times expressing compassion for the victims of the Gaza war made possible by the policies she supports. Her compassionate words have so far failed to translate into opposition to supplying weapons and ammunition to the Israeli military, which continues to slaughter Palestinian civilians.”
Despite their best efforts, protesters have not been able to accomplish much this week. Proof of this is the fact that they were unable to bring even a Palestinian-American speaker to the stage because, as the Washington Post reported, “many Democratic leaders were concerned that such a speech from the podium could jeopardize the unity that was so clearly on display at the convention.”
Then there is the DNC Platformwhich recognizes America’s “ironclad” commitment to Israel. The Harris/Walz team, the election manifesto states, is committed to “Israel’s security, its qualitative military superiority and its right to defend itself.”
A press conference before the DNC on Wednesday morning with Representatives Omar, Cori Bush (D-Missouri) and two quite heroic members of Doctors Without Borders who had witnessed the horror in Gaza first hand was sparsely attended. The general mood among the anti-war activists outside the United Center was resigned.
Irene, who is traveling from Long Island, New York, with Jewish Voices for Peace, told Responsible Statecraft (she declined to give her last name) that she believes they must do everything in their power to end the war, but Biden is making that impossible given the billions of American money and weapons flowing to Israel today. “So am I optimistic? I’m not optimistic. But silence is complicity.”
Despite the slander directed against her (guests on Fox News call openly Protesters, terrorists, Hamas sympathizers and extremists) are not giving up. And why should they? Their position is popular. A recent CBS News / YouGov Opinion poll in June found that 61 percent of Americans oppose the delivery of “arms and supplies to Israel.”
Asked about the Accusation In response to the claim by Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence, that Iran is supporting the protests, a Chicago union organizer responded to RS: “The Pioneer of the drone attack Avril Haines? She speaks out against protesters demanding an end to the slaughter of innocent civilians? At least she’s consistent.”
Ann, another member of Jewish Voices for Peace, told RS that Harris’ argument won’t work against the party’s antiwar faction, basically “it’s either me or Donald Trump.” “I think that’s a false argument and it’s intentional. It’s being used to stoke fear and uncertainty and make progressives and people of conscience feel guilty about putting Trump in office,” she said.
The contrast with the mood among the delegates could not be greater. Democrats in the convention hall were ebullient this week. At a DNC event on Tuesday night, it seemed as though the election had already been won. Among rank-and-file delegates, Gaza is an afterthought. They may applaud the idea of a “ceasefire” and even support the policy, but they are quick to move on to the next topic, and surely had no patience for singing or acting outside or inside.
Numerous delegates expressed the following attitude to RS during the week: First win, then clarify the details.
But in the meantime, the bloodbath in the Gaza Strip continues.
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