by Michael Arria, published on Mondoweiss, August 20, 2024
The Democratic National Convention has hit Chicago amid Israel’s unrelenting genocide on Gaza.
Protests rage outside the convention, with activists demanding that the Biden-Harris administration end its military support for Israel.
“We have accomplished something already. There will be thousands of Black, Asian, Latino and Native people saying the central issue of the day is to stop the war, stop the genocide,” said U.S. Palestinian Community Network national chair Hatem Abudayyeh before yesterday’s massive march. “That’s a powerful message all the Democrats in that building will have to hear.”
Israel was not a central theme of the United Center proceedings, but there were occasional reminders of the carnage.
Activists turned their backs toward President Biden while he addressed the crowd. Some DNC members held up a banner that said, “Stop Arming Israel”, while others tried to block the message with their “We Love Joe” signs. A male attendee hit a Muslim woman wearing a hijab over the head with a Biden sign.
Sana Saeed on Twitter: “The white male delegate hitting the veiled head of a Muslim woman who is holding up a protest sign about Biden’s funding of a genocide during Biden’s speech is a work of political art – awful, hideous but a perfect encapsulation of the liberal ideology & politic.”
There were a few mentions of the issue from the stage.
“Those protesters out in the streets, they have a point — a lot of people innocent people are being killed on both sides,” Biden told the crowd.
According to the latest figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health 1,139 Israelis have been killed. 40,139 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. This doesn’t include the 635 who have been killed in the occupied West Bank. The actual death toll is undoubtedly much, much higher as more than 10,000 people are missing.
Biden’s given Netanyahu everything he’s wanted since last October, but the mere suggestion that the killing should stop rankled pro-Israel voices.
“Biden’s midnight speech so caved to the anti-Israel lobby that he did not even use the word ‘Israel’ and spoke only of ceasefires and hostages adding that there are good people on both sides,” reads a particularly farcical tweet from former Clinton strategist Mark Penn. “No talk of the 1200 raped and murdered on October 7th. No condemnation of Hamas or Iran. No mention of the right of Israel to defend itself from attacks on 3 fronts. This is how far this almost former president will go to bow down even in disgrace to the anti-Israel left rather than be a true leader.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) referenced the shared humanity of Palestinian and Israeli children in his remarks.
Warnock used to consistently defend Palestinians as a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, before running for Congress. Once the right began attacking him on the issue, he immediately folded and has gone to bat for Israel ever since. He’s received $900,000 from pro-Israel lobbying groups since heading to the Senate in 2020.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that VP Kamala Harris is working “tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza.”
This assertion was met with thunderous applause and why wouldn’t it be? The vast majority of Democratic voters support a permanent ceasefire for Gaza.
However, it’s unclear exactly what AOC was referring to. If Harris has a different position than Biden on Israel, she certainly hasn’t articulated it yet.
“This is an opportunity for Kamala Harris to not only lay the foundation for a U.S. policy in the Middle East that is sensible and in the interests of all concerned, but also for her to show the kind of leadership we haven’t seen in the United States in my lifetime,” writes Mitchell Plitnick in a recent piece at Mondoweiss. “It’s the right call, and it will help her win. And it will give advocates for Palestinian rights—and, yes, also those who want a better future for Israeli citizens as well—something concrete to work with for the first time. The struggle for Palestinian rights would have made not just a gain but would open up possibilities for real justice, which these suggestions certainly do not bring.”
Democratic Party Platform
The 2024 Democratic Party Platform begins with a land acknowledgment and goes onto celebrate the U.S. unfettered support for Israel’s ongoing campaign of genocide.
“President Biden traveled to Israel – the first U.S. president to do so at a time of war – in the days after October 7 to demonstrate that the United States stands with Israel in its quest for peace and security,” it explains. “He has also defended Israel at the U.N. against one-sided efforts to condemn Israel. The Administration worked with Congressional leaders to pass a historic aid package worth $14 billion to help Israel defend itself and to provide more than $1 billion for additional humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
The platform also features a condemnation of sexual violence allegedly carried out by Hamas but does not acknowledge the reported sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners. “President Biden and Vice President Harris have unequivocally denounced Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel on October 7, condemned the gruesome violence – including conflict-related sexual violence – demonstrated by Hamas and made clear that the United States wants to see Hamas defeated,” it reads.
Drop Site News Reporter Ryan Grim on Twitter: “Pretty incredible — though totally believable — that the final DNC platform has a one-side condemnation of sexual violence, and it’s aimed at Hamas, even as the Knesset engages in a full-throated debate as to whether the acknowledged rape of Palestinian detainees is ok or not.”
The platform also takes an extremely hawkish position on Iran, criticizing Donald Trump for being weak on the country while president.
“In 2018, when Iranian-backed militias repeatedly attacked the U.S. consulate in Basra, Iraq Trump’s only response was to close our diplomatic facility,” reads the platform. “In June 2019, when Iran shot down a U.S. surveillance aircraft operating in international airspace above the Straits of Hormuz, Trump responded by tweet and then abruptly called off any actual retaliation, causing confusion and concern among his own national security team.”
“In September 2019, when Iranian-backed groups threatened global energy markets by attacking Saudi oil infrastructure, Trump failed to respond against Iran or its proxies,” it continues. “In January 2020, when Iran, for the first and only time in its history, directly launched ballistic missiles against U.S. troops in western Iraq, Trump mocked the resulting Traumatic Brain Injuries suffered by dozens of American servicemembers as mere ‘headaches’ – and again, took no action.”
In actuality, Trump imposed new sanctions on Iran, illegally assassinated the IRGC’s Qasem Soleimani, recklessly threatened the country’s government over Twitter, and nearly launched a war more than once.
*Featured Image: Thousands marched through Chicago on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, on August 19, 2024. (Photo: Twitter/@MarchOnDNC2024)