Ahead of the Democratic Party’s coronation of Vice President Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee at their convention in Chicago this week, “Not Another Bomb” advocates in more than 80 cities, including Seattle, gathered Sunday to call on Harris to publicly support a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel. As many Jewish, Palestinian, and allied speakers argued at Cal Anderson Park on Sunday, the threat of former President Donald Trump’s victory over Harris does not constitute a platform. Harris must earn their votes.
“We want to work with Harris, we want to support Harris,” said Palestinian-American and Seattle resident David McBale. “But not for nothing.”
Harris has inherited the same ire from pro-Palestine advocates as her predecessor, President Joe Biden, who some activists refer to as “Genocide Joe.” Biden, with Harris by his side, has vocally supported the largest aggression from Israel on Palestine since the Nakba in 1948. Israel Defense Forces (IDF), bolstered with US tax dollars, have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since Hamas’ deadly Oct 7 attack on Israel, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Critics of Biden’s support for Israel’s genocide have marched in cities across the nation, pitched tents on university lawns, blocked highways, interrupted political fundraisers, and withheld their votes in the Democratic primary to pressure Biden into brokering a permanent ceasefire. More than 700,000 people across the country voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic Presidential Primary, earning the movement 30 delegates at the DNC out of the available 4,000. Almost 90,000 voters in Washington joined the protest vote in the March primary, securing 9.8% of the vote and two of the state’s 111 delegates for “uncommitted.”
The Biden-Harris administration finally unveiled and endorsed a three-stage ceasefire proposal at the end of May, but the administration has failed to institute an arms embargo to actually stifle the carnage in Gaza.
Now that Harris will take over as the presidential nominee, the meme-able, wine-aunt gloss on her seems to have distracted some voters from her culpability in the ongoing, US-funded genocide. But for those at the Not Another Bomb rally, the demands remain the same.
Jewish educator Whitney Kahn said they are happy that Biden stepped down and that Harris seems to have a better chance of beating Trump, but the movement must keep the pressure up.
“Genocide cannot be the lesser of two evils,” Kahn said. “We cannot defeat fascism here by supporting it abroad.”
Harris has called for a ceasefire and spoken much more sympathetically of the victims in Palestine than Biden, but her national security adviser said she will not support an arms embargo, which advocates say is key to stopping the genocide.
At the rally Sunday, Palestinian-American poet and writer Tariq Ra’ouf said Harris’s call for a ceasefire is not enough. They have lost almost a dozen family members in Israel’s genocide—a cousin shot and killed by the IDF for collecting rainwater, another cousin shot and killed as he tried to return home to his severely injured brother, and another cousin, just 12 years old, sniped in the head by the IDF, Ra’ouf recounted Sunday.
“So, forgive me if I don’t take your promises of a ceasefire seriously,” Ra’ouf said at the rally. “For nearly a year, almost every single day has been filled with a sharp pain in my heart, and my face has gone blue from holding my breath so much every time a message I send to my cousin doesn’t get delivered, fearing I’ll lose her.”
Ra’ouf said, “No campaign promise will give me my family members back, but an arms embargo might let me keep the ones I still have.”
According to polling from Data for Progress, about 83% of Democratic voters support a ceasefire in Gaza. A plurality of voters, 37%, also want the US to decrease funding to Israel’s military, according to the same poll. If Democrats want to save our Democracy from Trump, as they’ve said, MacBale suggests Harris take up these popular positions.
Some critics of the pro-Palestine pressure campaign on Harris argue that Gaza is not the only issue on the ballot. They argue Harris should already have their support because she will advance a far more progressive domestic agenda than Trump, who represents a threat to reproductive health, trans rights, and the democratic institution as a whole.
But speakers at the Sunday rally argue that the genocide in Gaza is intrinsically linked to domestic policy. Every dollar the US spends on weapons for Israel could go toward education, health care, housing, or any number of domestic issues.
Anti-zionist Jewish educator Whitney sings a list of things the US could pay for instead of bombs. pic.twitter.com/mxMPJoBhbX
— Hannah Krieg (@hannahkrieg) August 18, 2024
Pro-Palestine advocates expect more actions across the country to pressure Harris during the four-day DNC. Thousands of protesters gathered in Chicago this morning to demand Harris break from Biden on Israel policies. While an embargo did not make it on the Democratic platform unveiled last night, MacBale said there’s still time for Harris to do the moral thing to win the election.
