Pro-Palestinian advocates attempted stronger tone on Gaza for Harris DNC speech

Democratic nominee's Israel-Gaza war remarks receive mild praise and mixed criticism

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. AP

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US Vice President Kamala Harris referred to Israel's war in Gaza during her closing speech at the Democratic National Convention without demonstrating a meaningful change from the policy status quo, disappointing many pro-Palestinian groups who had been in talks over including more significant language.

As she spoke in front of thousands of delegates and supporters in Chicago, the Democratic nominee for president repeated the urgency of reaching a hostage deal and a ceasefire in the 10-month-old war, while voicing support for Israel's right to defend itself.

She also affirmed the US long-time stance of Palestinians' right to self-determination.

Sources told The National that, in the lead-up to the speech, several pro-Palestinian groups made “massive efforts” to engage with the Harris team to urge her to differentiate herself from President Joe Biden, who has been a steadfast supporter of Israel since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel.

A person involved in the negotiations said the groups had set a “low bar” of trying to include a line in the speech that focused on committing to applying US law to all cases when it comes to the use of American-made weapons.

“They didn't use that language,” the source said. “When I heard the speech, I thought, what a disaster.”

The Leahy Law, or Leahy Amendments, prohibit continued US assistance to a country when there is credible evidence of human rights abuses. The sponsor of the original legislation, Patrick Leahy, has himself suggested that the law has been violated in Gaza.

Imposing an arms embargo on Israel is a central demand of Arab-American and other allied groups, who argue that there is ample evidence that Israel is deliberately attacking Palestinian civilians and infrastructure in Gaza.

“A lot of people wanted to see that language even outside the Arab-American community,” the source added.

But the Biden administration has rejected pressure from activists, although it did withhold the transfer of one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs in May, saying the weapons should not be used in densely populated areas.

Israel has been bombarding the Gaza Strip with those and other US-made weapons since militants launched the October 7 attack, which killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.

More than 40,200 Palestinians have been killed in the months since, the majority of them women and children, according to local authorities.

Most of the coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble and for months, aid groups have been warning of a looming famine amid continued Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid.

The effort to lobby Ms Harris and her speechwriters followed a DNC refusal to allow a Palestinian-American speaker on the main stage – a decision that has received much criticism.

“Especially after the decision to not have an Arab-American speaker, we thought it was important that she at least compensate by speaking powerfully about Palestinian needs,” another source told The National.

The source added that including the Palestinian right to security, in addition to self-determination, is a nuanced change from the Biden administration.

“The Israel language was over the top, I thought it was too much,” the source said.

“But that's the language that always gets used. But I was not displeased with what she said about Palestine.”

During the speech, the Vice President's mention of Palestinian self-determination drew some of the loudest applause during her speech.

“There was no appetite in that room to leave Israel defenceless,” Monica Marks, professor of Middle East politics at New York University-Abu Dhabi, argued in a social media post.

“But there was considerable appetite to do better by the Palestinians.”

Experts said the convention is not a policy-setting moment, but rather an opportunity to “signal” to voters.

“At the end of the day, it's way more nuanced and substantive,” the first source said to The National.

Several polls carried out since December have shown that a majority of Democrats support a ceasefire.

Many argue that Ms Harris, unlike her boss, Mr Biden, has shown more sympathy towards the suffering of people in Gaza.

“Kamala Harris makes remarks on the war in Gaza that Biden should have given months ago: support for Israel but holding in her head and heart the trauma and suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians and pressing for rights and self-determination for the latter,” Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment said in a social media post.

Others suggested that there was an absence of accountability in her remarks.

“Abrupt switch from active voice when condemning Hamas violence against Israelis to passive voice when mentioning devastation in Gaza,” Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, said in a post on X.

Eli Clifton, a senior adviser at Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, echoed this sentiment in his own social media post: “Kamala Harris deplores 'what has happened in Gaza.' What happened? Who killed 40,000 people?”

Mr Konyndyk added in another post that he is “glad the VP acknowledged Palestinian suffering … but Gaza's devastation is not due to a natural disaster”.

“It is due to a US ally dropping US bombs indiscriminately on civilians and routinely obstructing US provided aid, all in violation of US law. Passive voice elides all that.”