A Palestinian American’s Place Under the Democrats’ Big Tent?

The host city for the DNC is Chicago, whose metro area is home to more Palestinian Americans than anywhere else in the country. But you would not know this looking at that stage. Despite the appeals of Palestinian American delegates and activists, no Palestinian American is scheduled to address the convention from the main stage. I suspect this is because of what such a speaker might feel compelled to say. In response to the massacre perpetrated by Hamas last October, the state of Israel has killed some 40,000 Palestinian people. The intention behind this carnage has been declared openly. “We are fighting human animals,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said. “And we are acting accordingly.” Acting accordingly has meant the erasing of roughly two percent of the entire population of the Gaza Strip, a fact not to be mourned since, according to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, “There are no innocent civilians in Gaza.”

The most destructive bombs that have actualized this rhetoric of extermination are being furnished by America, and more specifically, by the head of the Democratic Party. In February, as President Joe Biden sought to seal the nomination from that party, activists in Michigan rallied registering voters in the state to check “uncommitted” as a protest against the Biden administration’s backing of the war. The campaign garnered 13 percent of the vote and quickly spread to other states. By Democratic Party rules, this entitled the Uncommitted movement to 29 delegates, who are here in Chicago to press their case against what has been labeled, convincingly I might add, a genocide.

On Tuesday, the Uncommitted co-founders Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed hosted a group of doctors who’d been to Gaza to speak to a group of reporters on what they saw. Alawieh opened on an optimistic note. “Vice President Harris is engaging with us on this issue,” he told assembled press. “We do view that as a step in the right direction.” But he noted that their request for a “Palestinian voice” to take the stage had not yet received a “yes.” As important as this request was, it was also secondary to the group’s ultimate aim: “Stop sending bombs,” Alawieh said.

“President Biden, you are lying to us,” Abbas said. “You are lying when you say you are working for a ceasefire, but you are sending more and more bombs that are killing babies…The question is to president Biden, do you want your final act to be sending more bombs to blow more children up? Is that what you want your final act to be?”

Ta-Nehisi Coates

A Palestinian American’s Place Under the Democrats’ Big Tent? Though the Uncommitted movement is lobbying to get a Palestinian American on the main stage, the Harris campaign has not yet approved one. Will there be a change before Thursday—and does the Democratic Party want that? by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 8/21/2024

Biden’s chance to end the war

Although Biden seems keenly attuned to his legacy, his foreign policy — like that of Lyndon B. Johnson before him — could forever haunt his record in history books and stain his standing among generations of Americans. Like America’s wars in Indochina, the bloody, nearly yearlong assault on Gaza has unleashed a level of carnage that has horrified the world. It has stoked resistance and division in America. And, like the wars of 50 years ago, it’s contributed to a one-term Democratic president who has, to date, been ineffectual at halting spiraling violence and brutality abroad.

With at least 40,000 Gazans killed by Israel’s offensive so far, seemingly constant reports of fresh bombardments of civilians with U.S. arms have made a mockery of the administration’s claims of concern for human rights. Preventable diseases such as polio as well as famine now threaten the blockaded enclave. Two million people remain trapped and denied adequate food and medical attention.

But it’s not too late for Biden, in the final months of his term, to act boldly. Freed from some political considerations because he is not running for reelection, he could use the necessary political capital to finally pressure Netanyahu into accepting a permanent cease-fire deal. If Biden acts swiftly and decisively, he could preserve his legacy as a statesman by ending the months of cruelty in Gaza, calming regional tensions and protecting the possibility of a two-state solution.

Mark Ruffalo

Opinion: This is Biden’s chance to end the war in Gaza. Just threaten to cut off weapons for Israel by Mark Ruffalo, Los Angeles Times, 8/23/2024