Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s acceptance address on the final night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday tread a fine line between her steadfast support for Israel and her clear concern for Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. Her main message was: The time for a Gaza deal is now.
It is noteworthy that Harris’s speech took place after the DNC rejected a request from the Uncommitted National Movement to give a pro-Palestinian politician – Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian American and a Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives – a speaking slot at the convention.
In response, the delegates who had encouraged voters to choose “uncommitted” to express their opposition to President Joe Biden’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza staged a sit-in outside the United Center convention hall in Chicago.
On the other hand, the DNC showcased a speech by the parents of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Jon and Rachel, on Wednesday night, and they were received with a standing ovation and calls of “bring them home” from the audience.
Harris introduced what The New York Times’ David Sanger called “the Democrats’ most divisive issue” at the end of her comments on foreign policy with the words, “With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock, because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done.”
Anti-Israel protests
Acutely aware of the anti-Israel protests outside the convention hall, she started off by unabashedly voicing her pro-Israel stance. “Let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,” she declared, evoking a standing ovation from the packed hall. “Because the people of Israel must never again face the war that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7, unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.”
Then she quickly shifted to Gaza, saying that what has happened there over the past 10 months is devastating. “So many innocent lives lost, desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety. Over and over again, the scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”
Harris reiterated that she and Biden are working to end the Israel-Gaza war so that “Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.” According to commentators, that comment elicited the loudest applause in the foreign policy section of her speech.
Her Republican opponent, former president Donald Trump, responded to her speech in real time on Truth Social. Harris, he charged, stands for “incompetence and Weakness,” adding that “Our Country is being laughed at all over the World!” With regard to her comments on Israel, Trump added: “SHE HATES ISRAEL – Wouldn’t even show up to Congress for [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s session!” referring to his speech to the joint session last month.
Some commentators such as the NYT’s Sanger said the speech signaled that Harris planned to continue Biden’s policy if she wins the presidential race on November 6.
“Acutely aware that the Gaza issue and the protests it spurred on college campuses had left the administration caught between two powerful constituencies – pro-Israel Democrats and younger progressives – she was looking for a way to quiet the issue for the next three months,” Sanger wrote. “In the end, Ms. Harris relied on a forceful tone to address the protesters in the party, rather than a change in policy.”
On the other hand, Vox analyst Zach Beauchamp argued that Harris “displayed empathy for both sides [Israel and the Palestinians] while also implicitly distancing herself from Biden’s unbalanced pro-Israel approach.”
Too often, he wrote, “people discussing this topic feel the need to only recognize one of these narratives – and in American politics, that’s most often the Israeli one. Yet Harris placed them on truly equal footing.”
While it remains to be seen if Harris follows or strays from Biden’s approach, we urge her not to draw a moral equivalency between the Israeli and Palestinian narratives, especially while Hamas is still holding Israelis hostage in Gaza.