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Pro-Palestine activists were encouraged on the first night of the Democratic National Convention when speakers mentioned Gaza, but say they want to see concrete policy changes.
During her speech in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York listed off the priorities where Harris agreed with progressives such as herself. “She is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bring hostages home,” Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd in Chicago on Monday evening.
Likewise, Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia spoke about his desire to see Israelis and Palestinians live freely.
“I need all of my neighbors’ children to be okay,” he said. “Poor inner-city children in Atlanta and poor children of Appalachia. I need the poor children of Israel and I need the poor children of Gaza, I need Israelis and Palestinians, I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine, I need American children on both sides of the track to be okay.”
The closing part of Warnock’s address drove everyone, including the vice president and her running mate Governor Tim Walz, to their feet.
President Biden has received plenty of criticism because of his steadfast support for Israel during a war in Gaza that has killed more than 40,000 people, by most estimates. Indeed, a slice of Democratic voters in states like Michigan, North Carolina and Minnesota used their states’ primaries to vote “uncommitted” in protest — and a number of uncommitted delegates have shown up, hoping to voice their ongoing concerns about US foreign policy.
Pro-Palestine activists at the DNC, many of whom could be spotted at the convention wearing keffiyehs, said they were pleased with developments so far. At the same time, they underlined their desire for concrete policy changes under a potential Harris presidency.
“We are seeing millions of people around the world protesting about one issue, and that one issue is the indiscriminate bombing of innocent civilians funded by our tax dollars,” Sabrene Odeh, an uncommitted delegate, told The Independent. “This is supposedly a progressive party that is supposed to stand for what the people want.”
Odeh said that she has mostly received a positive reception from people.
“Folks are walking up to us [uncommitted delegates] and thanking us without us even approaching them when they see our keffiyehs or when they see some pins, thanking us for our work, telling us they stand with us, signing on to our letter,” she said, in reference to activists’ open letter that calls for an arms embargo on Israel and an immediate ceasefire.
“I think we're a moment of real opportunity where Vice President Harris can turn the page on what has been a disastrous chapter in President Biden's administration,” Margaret DeReus, the executive director for the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, told The Independent.
DeReus’s organization hosted a meet-and-greet and panel about Israel and Gaza on Tuesday morning. During that panel, she said that the encouraging words must also reflect deeds from Harris — and Biden.
“I think [Biden] should realize that if he wants Vice President Harris to win in November, there are things that he could do as president now to make that more likely,” she said. “And I think she can indicate, and should indicate, how her administration would be different” in terms of its policies on Gaza.
Tariq Habash, who was the first political appointee in the Biden administration to resign over the Gaza war, told The Independent that Harris’s speaking out on the number of Palestinian civilians who have died has made him hopeful for change.
“I think her tone has shown that she is very interested and open to approaching the issue a little bit differently,” Habash said. “She just hasn't communicated with voters, with the Democratic Party people, about what those policy changes are going to be.”
Despite this positive talk, there are also a number of activists who remain unmoved about Harris and who believe she will fail to meaningfully change policy. As attendees filed into the United Center on Tuesday, some pro-Palestine protesters held up signs saying “Abandon Harris.”
