Harris makes a forceful case for Israel’s security — and Palestinian self-determination — in DNC address
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024. Photo by Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
By Jodi Rudoren, Jacob KornbluhAugust 23, 2024
CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris made a forceful, full-throated case for Israel’s right to defend itself — with financial backing from the United States — as she accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Wednesday night, and was rewarded with one of the most rousing responses of the night from the crowd in the United Center.
Hers were the longest and strongest comments about the war in Gaza over the Democrats’s four-day festival of joy and unity, making clear that Harris does not intend to yield Israel — or the moderate voters who support it — to her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. Signaling that she would also try to shore up the party’s left flank, Harris mentioned in almost the same breath the “heartbreaking” suffering in Gaza and Palestinian human and national rights, earning an equally enthusiastic ovation from the crowd.
“The people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on Oct. 7,” Harris declared near the end of her 36-minute address. “Including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.
“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating,” she added. “So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again.”
She said that she and President Joe Biden were “working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and ceasefire done.” A few sentences later, she said again that they were trying “to end this war such 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.”
The extensive remarks came as a surprise after a convention in which Israel and Gaza were hardly discussed by the parade of politicians who graced the mainstage.
They followed a stirring speech on Wednesday night by the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of 100-plus Israeli hostages still in Hamas captivity. And they came after a 22-hour vigil by the 30 “Uncommitted” delegates in protest of the DNC’s refusal to allow a Palestinian American elected official to address the convention.
How Jewish Democrats reacted to Harris’ speech
Jewish Democrats exulted in the speech. Abraham Foxman, the former head of the Anti-Defamation League, said Harris’s “unequivocal support for Israel” should “put to rest questions as to where she stands.” Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, said “her remarks were spot on.” And Amy Spitalnick, head of the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, said the “section on Israel and Gaza was perfect.
“Unequivocal support for Israeli security,” Spitalnick noted. “Focus on hostage deal and ceasefire. And commitment to peace that ensures both Israeli and Palestinian safety, humanity and self determination.”
Halie Soifer, chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said Harris demonstrated “yet again her abiding commitment to standing with Israel. Kamala Harris is aligned with the vast majority of Jewish voters on every key issue, and the vast majority of Jewish voters enthusiastically support her.”
Reaction from the Trump campaign was harsh, if somewhat off-point. “The Harris-Biden reversal of President Trump’s decision to cut Palestinian aid — which often flows right into the hands of terrorists — enabled the worst attack on Israel in decades,” a spokesperson said. “Now, Kamala has sacrificed America’s greatest ally simply to maintain support from the antisemitic base.”
Matt Brooks, the head of the Republican Jewish Coalition, had promised to “plant 1,800 trees in Israel” if any Democrat made a case for Israel’s security from the convention stage. Asked Thursday night how many trees Harris had earned and when they’d be planted, Brooks texted, “No scoop for your snark.”
In a follow-up, Brooks maintained that Harris failed the test because “she didn’t praise Israel, she equivocated and demanded Israel accept a ceasefire before Hamas is eliminated.” In a statement Friday morning, the RJC said that they will still donate to plant 1,189 trees in Israel in memory of the 1,189 victims killed on Oct. 7th.
How the DNC tackled the debate over the war in Gaza
After months of worry about how the war has divided the Democratic Party, pro-Palestinian protests around the convention fell far short of expectations this week. Mass marches on Monday afternoon and Thursday evening drew a few thousand people at most, perhaps a 10th of those promised.
One convention-goer managed to unfurl a banner reading “Stop Arming Israel” during President Biden’s speech on Monday night, but was quickly blocked and removed from the arena. Demonstrations near the Israeli consulate included flag burnings and led to arrests, making the movement seem fringe and radical.
“The anti-Israel left has little to be happy about in how this played out,” Nathan Diamant of the Orthodox Union said.
The most potent protest was that of the “uncommitted” delegates, who represent 700,000 Democratic primary votes cast as a statement against the Biden-Harris support of Israel since Oct. 7.
The delegates are, after all, activists within the party, and they kept their news conferences and sit-in civil and constructive. They were supported by 300 delegates pledged to Harris who announced themselves as “ceasefire delegates” — still a small portion of the 4,700 overall. They started their sit-in outside the United Center after the Goldberg-Polins’ speech Wednesday and stayed there all night and most of Thursday, only entering the arena about an hour before Harris’s speech.
“I was glad to hear some of the loudest applause from Democrats came when Harris mentioned Palestinian freedom,” said Waleed Shahid, a spokesperson for the Uncommitted movement. “I just wish a Palestinian American could have been free to tell their own story.”
Joel Rubin, a national security expert who did Jewish outreach for Bernie Sanders during his 2020 presidential run, echoed other Jewish leaders’ praise of the balance that Harris struck, and said the loud cheers for her defense of Israel was “an exciting outcome.”
“It was a pitch-perfect combination of strength, strategy and empathy,” Rubin said, “all in the service of our national security and values.”
This post was updated.
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