Even though the Democratic Party convention in Chicago this week will be dominated by welcome expressions of joy and optimism, there is one painful issue that profoundly divides the Democratic establishment from its left wing: Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
Fears of protests that could upend the convention that loomed over a gathering hosted by President Biden have receded somewhat with the rise of new candidate Kamala Harris, who is seen as more sympathetic to Palestinian human rights activists. But tens of thousands of protesters are still expected to gather just outside the event’s security perimeter, and the potential for high-profile disruption remains real.
By emphasizing the unity theme, the convention’s planners sought to appease both Muslim and Jewish Americans.
The families of American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have been assigned speaking engagements. One of the most prominent Muslims in US politics, Keith Ellison, the progressive attorney general of Minnesota, will take the stage. Doug Emhoff, Mrs Harris’ husband, is expected to speak proudly about his Judaism. And the Democratic platform underscores America’s commitment to Israel’s security.
At the same time, Ms Harris’ campaign manager, Julie Chavez-Rodriguez, held a series of meetings last week to listen to the concerns of Arab Americans and some delegates representing Democratic primary voters who cast “non-binding” votes in the Democratic primary in protest against Biden’s Israel policy.
Despite these efforts, the convention will be overshadowed by major protests against the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of a war that has claimed more than 40,000 Palestinian lives since the October 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel, according to Gaza health authorities.
The key question for Democrats this week is whether the protesters represent a significant constituency that could influence the November election campaign, or whether they are outsiders on the left who should be countered in an appeal to the center.
Whatever the case, the issue of war will certainly be a central theme of the entire party convention, said Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey.
“This is a reality and cannot be ignored,” he said. “There are too many tragedies, too many innocent lives have been lost and, incidentally, there is still too much – at a very high level – geopolitical risk and unfortunately that is not going to go away anytime soon.”
Anti-war protests led by Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and young progressives have roiled universities and cities across the country this spring and marred Biden’s campaign appearances. Protesters have also made their presence clear at some of Ms Harris’s appearances since she became the de facto candidate, albeit on a smaller scale.
Jewish voters and some moderate politicians, for their part, called on Ms Harris to send a clearer signal that she is committed to the US-Israel alliance and to standing up to the political left.
“There’s just something about Kamala Harris that I find very troubling,” said Ezra Katz, 76, a real estate developer and political independent in South Florida whose skeptical letters to a massive email list reach thousands of American Jews. For Mr. Katz, Ms. Harris has tried to be everything to both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide.
“Sooner or later you have to take a position, and sooner or later you have to be sure what you mean,” he said of Ms Harris’s stance on Israel.
The political implications of Harris’ efforts to appease both groups of voters are far less clear. Along with inflation, housing costs and abortion, the war in Gaza is not a big issue for most Democratic voters, even young voters. New polling data to be released Monday by the University of Chicago and GenForward show mixed feelings among voters under 40: 36 percent of them disapproved of military aid to Israel, while 33 percent approved and 29 percent had no opinion.
More importantly, the poll found that the Gaza war ranks low on young voters’ list of concerns, far behind immigration, economic growth and income inequality.
The Harris campaign team, new as it is, has tried to build some unity among Democrats on the issue. On Thursday, Ms. Chavez-Rodriguez, Harris’s campaign manager, flew to Detroit to meet privately with Abbas Alawieh, a Michigan delegate representing the “undecided” voters from the primary at the convention. She also met with Arab-American and Jewish leaders.
Senior Democratic National Committee officials met with other “unaffiliated” delegates in Chicago on Thursday and plan to hold panel discussions with Palestinian Americans, including “unaffiliated” delegates, as well as Jewish Americans during the day of the convention.
Still, there are signs of unrest in the coming week. Convention delegates representing “undecided” voters plan to hold morning press conferences in the Fulton Market District, a short walk from the United Center, where convention speeches are given during prime time. In the arena, those delegates plan to hold a vigil for those killed since Oct. 7, Israelis and Palestinians alike. “Undecided” delegates and some Harris supporters will be given pins identifying “ceasefire delegates,” organizers of the undecided movement said.
Large-scale protests are planned for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in front of the Israeli consulate in downtown Chicago and in the streets and parks near Congress.
In the meantime, pro-Israel groups such as the Democratic Majority for Israel, the Jewish Democratic Council of America and the liberal pro-Israel organization J Street will organize events to address the concerns of their constituents.
Some Jewish Democrats say it is imperative for Ms. Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, to show voters that they will not be intimidated by those on their left and that the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security is sacrosanct. Much was made of a brief meeting as part of a photo shoot between Ms. Harris and Mr. Alawieh and Layla Elabed, a Palestinian-American from Michigan who are both founders of a protest group called the Uncommitted National Movement.
When Elabed suggested that Harris was receptive to the group’s call for an immediate arms embargo against Israel, the vice president’s national security adviser, Phil Gordon, was quick to respond that this was not the case.
Some Jewish Democrats say they need reassurance from the front woman herself.
“With hostages still being held captive and Iran and Hezbollah threatening further war, the pro-Israel community needs some reassurance,” said Mark Mellman, chairman of the Democratic Majority for Israel. “Vice President Harris has an extraordinary record, but she does not have the 50-year relationship with the community that President Biden has.”
He added, however, that the congress did not need to spend much time on the conflict. The war in Gaza may be the main issue among protesters, he said, but not among most voters.
Pro-Israel groups fear Palestinian human rights activists will not be appeased. Israel supporters point out that demands such as an arms embargo are unlikely to be met. They say that by carefully skirting such groups, Harris risks alienating the pro-Israel community without winning over skeptical Arab-American and Muslim voters.
But pro-Palestinian voters have a critical advantage: They are concentrated in Michigan, a key swing state. The state Democratic Party, led by Chairwoman Lavora Barnes, has been working for more than a year to alleviate the concerns of Michigan’s large Arab-American and Muslim populations, and last month hired three people to step up those efforts.
A separate initiative is being led by the Harris-Walz campaign, said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and a Palestinian human rights activist in Michigan.
Organizers of Palestinian human rights organizations say requests from “unaffiliated” delegates to speak at the convention during prime time have been rebuffed, as have their demands for accreditation to bring activists to the United Center.
The protest group Abandon Biden plans to hold a news conference in Chicago on Monday with two outsider candidates for president, Jill Stein of the Green Party and independent Cornel West, to announce its plans for the fall, said Hudhayfah Ahmad, a spokesman for the group.
However, he said he did not have great hopes for conciliatory gestures from the Democrats.
“I think they assume they can win without us,” he said, “so they’re ignoring us now.”
Katie Luck contributed to the reporting.
