Addressing the United Center crowd on Monday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that Vice-President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was working “tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Immediate questions arise.
What efforts has Harris taken to secure the ceasefire? Are the efforts AOC referenced somehow different than Biden’s previous efforts? Does the campaign plan on articulating these efforts in any way?
The answers remain unclear, but in recent weeks we have heard rumors, speculation, and asides that some seem to be hanging their hats on.
During a recent interview with Politico‘s Jonathan Martin Michigan Senator Gary Peters said he thought Harris should go public with her differences from Biden on the issue.
“If she has those views, she has to be clear about whatever those views are,” said Peters, who also said that he would encourage her to make such a move.
AOC’s line about the ceasefire got loud applause, which shouldn’t be a surprise.
Every time a progressive candidate is defeated with help from pro-Israel lobbying groups, organizations like AIPAC and DMFI publicly insist that being anti-Palestine is good politics. However, the numbers are the numbers. A Data for Progress poll from May found that 7 in 10 likely voters support the U.S. calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. That includes majorities of Democrats (83%), Independents (65%), and Republicans (56%). The survey represented a 3-point increase in support for a ceasefire since the group asked the same question in February, and a 9-point increase from when they asked it last November.
A recent YouGov/IMEU Policy Project poll found that a third of voters in pivotal swing states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia are more likely to vote for Harris if she pledges to withhold weapons to Israel.
All this information, and the rhetoric about Harris pursuing a ceasefire, seems completely disconnected from what is actually happening in reality.
The day before the convention Axios Barak Ravid published a story claiming that a recent ceasefire deal had fallen apart thanks to Hamas.
Ravid’s entire job is seemingly regurgitating talking points that are handed to him by the U.S. and Israeli governments. If you only read his headlines you might believe major diplomatic developments are afoot, but you don’t have to digest too much of the text to realize what’s going on.
The aforementioned story is one such example. “Hamas rejects new U.S. proposal for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal,” blares the headline. However, you only need to make it through seven short paragraphs before learning that Hamas rejected the deal because it, “doesn’t include a permanent ceasefire or comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”
Feels like an actual ceasefire would be central to any kind of ceasefire deal, but I digress. Ravid lists the other reasons why Hamas rejected the framework. It wouldn’t have allowed the the free movement of civilians from southern Gaza to the north. It would have also given Netanyahu control of the Rafah Crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border.
It would be ridiculous for Hamas to accept these terms and Israel knows this. Nonetheless, this bad faith offer serves an obvious function in that allows supporters of Israel to claim that Hamas has turned down another deal.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has referred to this fresh round of nonsense as “probably the best, possibly the last opportunity” at a ceasefire.
Does Harris believe this too? No one knows and no one seems bothered to ask.
AOC’s adverb choice is also interesting. Tirelessly implies that such efforts are continuous and full of energy, but how much work does it take to tell Netanyahu that you’re cutting off weapons?
Palestinian Speaker Denied
The ongoing ceasefire farce is necessary context when we take a look at what happened yesterday.
Voters have continually been told that Democrats want an end to the bloodshed and feel bad about dead Palestinians, but on Wednesday the Uncommitted National Movement was told they wouldn’t be granted a speaking slot at the convention.
Co-founder and Uncommitted delegate Abbas Alawieh started an impromptu sit-in outside of the United Center and was joined by a number of activists, Democratic delegates, and House members like Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Alawieh told spectators about enduring Israeli bombs in Lebanon as a teenager. “Our government’s policy is to kill people like me,” he told the crowd, while being overtaken with emotion.
Shortly before the DNC made the decision Alawieh and fellow co-founder Layla Elabed put out a statement urging party leadership to allow a speaker.
“Excluding a Palestinian speaker betrays the party’s commitment in our platform to valuing Israelis and Palestinian lives equally,” it read. “Vice President Harris must unite this party with a vision that fights for everyone, including Palestinians.”
“The difficulty in approving even a single Palestinian American speaker among the dozens of speakers on the convention stage sends a troubling message to our anti-war voters, suggesting they aren’t truly included in this party,” it continues. “The pain and loss of an Israeli or a Palestinian are no different, but there is an added sting in our communities when we know that it is our tax dollars funding the killing of our loved ones.”
On Twitter, Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman, who is the first Palestinian ever elected to any public office in the state, revealed that she was put forward as one possible speaker. Responding to a predictably cretinous tweet from Matt Yglesias, Romman wrote, “My speech urged us to unite behind Harris, criticized Trump, and spoke about the promise of this moment. The only reason we’re doing this is to save the soul of our party and prevent bad actors from using our pain in an ongoing voter suppression campaign.”
So, this was a vetted speech from a Harris-supporting swing-state politician and it was still too much for the DNC to bear.
Consider some of the people that have graced the DNC stage this week: Republican lawmakers, the former CEO of American Express, Trump’s former press secretary, and the other sex pest former president.
Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, parents of one of the Israeli hostages, were also allowed to give a speech and it ended up being the only one that called for the “suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza” to end.
So, why did the Uncommitted speaker get denied?
The first reason is that Democrats didn’t want to remind everyone that Biden has supported an ongoing genocide.
As media critic Adam Johnson points out, the only other reason is simple, straightforward racism: “Palestinians—even those loyal/vetted—are fundamentally duplicitous. Thats it.”
The Democratic establishment has once again made a decision that is not only morally vacuous, but also tactically stupid. Their denial of a Palestinian speaker is a major news story across mainstream media this morning and they’ve undoubtedly alienated a number of potential voters.
“Democrats recognize the worth of every Israeli and every Palestinian,”recognize the worth of every Israeli and every Palestinian,” declares the DNC’s 2024 Party Platform.
What’s the source for this claim?
Odds & Ends
✊ Unburdened by Palestine: Shedding Black liberalism for anti-imperialism
🇺🇸 The DNC hits Chicago amid protest over Gaza
📰 ‘Words like Slaughter:’ A comparative study of The New York Times reporting in Ukraine and Gaza
🗳️ Biden out, Harris in, Palestine still in the crosshairs: Why our movement must push forward
🇺🇸 DNC ‘Delegates Against Genocide’ urge a ‘no’ vote on Democratic Party platform
🏫 Inside Higher Ed: Columbia President Minouche Shafik Resigns Unexpectedly
🗳️ In These Times: “And Now They Want Our Votes”
🗳️ Politico: Ilhan Omar fends off challengers to win primary after AIPAC stays out of the race
🇺🇸 Common Dreams: On Eve of DNC, ‘Not Another Bomb’ Rallies Demand US Arms Embargo on Israel
🗳️ Jacobin: The Death of the Squad Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
🇺🇸 Responsible Statecraft: Have Americans held by Hamas become an afterthought?
🇮🇱 Counterpunch: The Mirage of Ceasefire in Gaza
💸 The Guardian: Five things we learned from our reporting on the US’s pro-Israel lobby
🇺🇸 In These Times: 4 Talking Points Used to Smear DNC Protesters—And Why They’re Bogus
🇮🇱 The Times of Israel: Harris won’t cut or condition aid to Israel, former aide says
🇺🇸 BBC: Biden says Gaza protesters ‘have a point’ after thousands gather at DNC
🇺🇸 n+1: Hollow Man: Biden, the Democrats, and Gaza
🗳️ The Guardian: Biden’s Gaza policy is a liability for Kamala Harris. She must break with Biden now
🏫 The GW Hatchet: Pro-Palestinian community members push GW, federal attorneys to drop alleged student stay-away orders
🇵🇸 The Guardian: Uncommitted holds sit-in outside Democratic convention after Palestinians denied a speaker
🇵🇸 Huff Post: Critics Of The Biden Admin’s Gaza Policy Do Not Intend To Stay Quiet At The DNC
🇺🇸 Al Jazeera: Democratic Convention protesters to Harris: Israel arms embargo or no vote
⚕️ The Nation: As Democrats Party, Doctors Beg the World to Listen to Gaza
🇺🇸 Electronic Intifada: US weapon used in Gaza City school massacre that killed 100
🇺🇸 The Intercept: Democratic Party Unites Under Banner of Silence on Gaza Genocide
🏫 New York Times: Most Columbia Students Arrested During Protests Will Return to Campus
🇺🇸 Truthout: As DNC Kicks Off, Palestine Solidarity Activists Look to 1964 for Inspiration
📺 Common Dreams: Fired by MSNBC for Giving Voice to Iraq War Opposition, Phil Donahue (1935-2024) Was Courage Personified
Denial to let a Palestinian speech at the DNC is erasure of Palestinians.
The Zionist Project of a Jewish state in historic Palestine at the expense of Palestinians requires the (displacement and) erasure of Palestinians. That’s why the Zionist project is a racist project.
The DNC’s complicity in this erasure is racist too
Apartheid in action at the DNC.
“Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, parents of one of the Israeli hostages, were also allowed to give a speech and it ended up being the only one that called for the “suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza” to end.”
See it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PleW3qZSxQ
Internal Democratic Party actions have not been typically democratic since the nomination of Joe Biden in 2020, and the exclusion of Palestinian spokespeople at the DNC stage is a further reflection of this tendency.
Palestinians have no place at the DNC. This is the United States, not Palestine. On the other hand, Arab-AMERICANS, including Palestinian-AMERICANS, should have had their concerns heard at the DNC.