While the die-hard supporters of the American Democrats were in a party mood at their party convention this week, enjoying encouraging speeches and pop music, a smaller panel discussion on the sidelines struck a completely different tone.
The first speaker, Hala Hijazi, was in tears before she had even introduced herself to the room.
“I am here because over 100 of my family members were killed in Gaza,” Hijazi said.
“Last week only two.”
For years, Hijazi has been involved in supporting the Democratic Party and its causes in San Francisco, raising money, canvassing for candidates door-to-door, and serving on the board of a group that prepares Democratic women for political office.
But despite her public engagement, she said she feels like she has abandoned her family in Gaza.
“I feel guilty because I lived my American dream for 25 years while they were occupied, fighting and dying,” she said.
“I’m a fraud because I haven’t spoken for them for the last 25 years. But that has changed.”
As an organizer for the Democrats in California, Hala Hijazi has known Kamala Harris for a long time. (Gabrielle Lurie/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images, file)
Hijazi is part of a growing democratic movement that is pressuring the party from within to limit its military support for Israel, but she faces powerful forces that want to maintain the status quo.
“Dark money” is a big issue, said Jewish former Congressman Andy Levin at the panel discussion.
The pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC spent millions to help another Democrat oust Levin in 2022 after he spoke out in favor of Palestinian rights.
The same thing happened recently with two other Democratic politicians in Congress. (AIPAC says the success of the candidates it supports shows that “standing on the side of the Jewish state is good politics and a good concept.”)
But Levin is optimistic about the party’s new presidential candidate, citing her passionate calls for a ceasefire in March and her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington last month.
“She refused to attend his absurd speech to a joint session of Congress,” Levin said. “Then when she met him, she told him the truth. I don’t think it’s that simple.”
Hijazi also has hope. As a long-time organizer for the Democrats in Harris’ home state of California, she has known the vice president for more than 25 years.
“She is trying hard,” Hijazi told the panel. “We need to hold her accountable, but we also need to give her a chance.”
First “Genocide Joe”, now “Killer Kamala”
While the panel was taking place in a packed conference room, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in a park closer to the venue. “Genocide Joe” has long been a popular slogan at these protests. This time, the slogan was “Killer Kamala.”
The United States provides Israel with billions of dollars worth of military assistance each year, and President Joe Biden approved a $14.1 billion increase in April.
Protesters who spoke to ABC had little confidence that Harris would take a different stance than Biden if she is elected president in November.
Nima Homami traveled more than six hours from Ohio to protest outside the Democratic National Convention. (ABC News: Brad Ryan)
“If you follow her political career, you can see that she has received strong support from many of the same Zionist donors who support Joe Biden,” said Nima Homami, who traveled from Ohio for the protest.
“I honestly don’t know if the Democrats will ever listen. It feels like there’s just too much money at stake.”
But within the Democratic Party, lobbying efforts continue.
Most delegates who attended the convention on behalf of their state parties wanted to support Harris.
But about 30 of them were there to represent the Democrats who had voted “undecided” in choosing their presidential candidate in this year’s primaries.
“We saw 101,000 undecided voters in Michigan,” said Jonathan Simonds, an undecided delegate from Hawaii.
“In the primaries, there were nearly 800,000 undecided voters across the country, and they are Democrats.
Jonathan Simonds was present at the convention as a representative of the “undecided” voters from Hawaii. (ABC News: Brad Ryan)
“I think some of them will vote for Harris either way, and I wanted to make a statement.
“But I think there’s a certain percentage of those voters who may not vote for Trump but don’t feel inspired enough to vote for Harris.”
The call that angered undecided delegates
The main demand of the Uncommitted National Movement is an arms embargo. It points to a series of polls that show declining support among Democrats for American military aid to Israel.
In a YouGov/Economist poll this month, 49 percent of likely Harris voters favored reducing American military aid to Israel, compared with 29 percent who favored maintaining it and 8 percent who favored increasing it.
The movement also demanded that a Palestinian American be allowed to speak at the convention. It presented the DNC with a shortlist of elected Democrats.
Asma Mohammed and Jeremiah Ellison were part of the unaffiliated delegation from Minnesota. (ABC News: Brad Ryan)
“The DNC kept telling us that they would get back to us and that they were working on it and that we should be patient,” Asma Mohammed, an unaffiliated delegate from Minnesota, told ABC.
“And finally (on Wednesday) at 8 p.m. they told us the answer was no.”
Some undecided delegates responded by staging a 24-hour sit-in next to the convention arena and sleeping on the concrete outside the stadium.
One of the shortlisted speakers was Democrat Ruwa Romman of Georgia, who prepared a speech about her family’s Palestinian roots and their recent pain, but did not directly criticize the Biden administration.
“Let us commit to each other to elect Vice President Harris and defeat Donald Trump, who uses my identity as a Palestinian as a dirty word,” she said in the speech, which she instead delivered at a press conference outside the stadium.
A “stupid mistake”
When Harris’ campaign spokesman Michael Tyler was asked why the movement’s request for a speaker was denied, he did not answer directly. But he said, “We are proud and happy that they are here. We have tried to engage them throughout the convention. We are proud that we have had panels with the members.”
James Zogby, founder of the Arab America Institute and former board member of the Democratic National Committee, said the decision was “an unnecessary mistake, it was stupid and it will cost support.”
“The idea of not having a Palestinian speaker was the biggest mistake I’ve seen in politics in a long time,” said Zogby, a longtime supporter of Palestinian rights. “They could lose a lot of votes because they didn’t have one.”
But Harris is also facing pressure from within her own ranks. Some Democrats want the party leadership to show more support for Israel.
“They handled it quite well – although not as decisively as I would like,” said Richard Levik, a congressional volunteer who also attended a small pro-Israel rally outside.
Richard Levik of Palm Springs wore a Harris T-shirt and an anti-Trump badge at the pro-Israel rally. (ABC News: Brad Ryan)
“If the October 7 attack happened to us, we would do more than Israel. And we are supporting them in waging a war that Hamas started.”
Last month, Netanyahu told Congress that more American weapons could help end the war. “Give us the tools faster, and we will get the job done faster,” he said.
Polls have repeatedly shown that the war between Israel and Gaza is not a priority for most American voters.
But experts say Michigan could prove crucial, in part because of its large Arab-American and Muslim populations. And that state could prove crucial to the outcome of the election.
“The most important element of a rapprochement between Harris-Walz and Arab Americans in Michigan would be at least a ceasefire,” said Michael Traugott, a political scientist at the University of Michigan.
“It would probably affect two, three or four percentage points of the vote in Michigan, but it could make a difference in the actual outcome.”
Some undecided delegates staged a sit-in at the party convention. (ABC News: Brad Ryan)
What’s next for the undecided?
On the final night of the convention, the unaffiliated delegates ended their sit-in and entered the arena with their arms folded, just in time to hear Harris’ speech.
They had not expected to support an arms embargo, but some in the movement hoped Harris would at least use her speech at the convention to commit to upholding American and international laws regarding gun regulations.
Her comments fell short of her expectations.
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“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again be subjected to the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas inflicted on October 7,” she said.
As shouts of “freedom for Palestine” could be heard from the crowd, Harris described the extent of suffering in Gaza as “devastating” and “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 realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
The unaffiliated movement is now demanding that Harris meet with their leaders and the affected Palestinian families by September 15, but they have not made clear what they will do if she refuses.
“We’re not going anywhere,” said unaffiliated delegate Jeremiah Ellison, who sits on the Minneapolis City Council.
“We will not accept rejection. We are long-time party activists. We are long-time community organizers. We know how to mobilize.”
– with Phoebe Hosier in Washington DC
