CHICAGO — After a monthlong family fight over President Joe Biden and his electoral prospects against former President Donald Trump , Vice President Kamala Harris 's acceptance of the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination capped a weeklong demonstration of party unity.
But outside of the Democratic National Convention perimeters set up around the United Center and McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago , protests over the Israel - Hamas war in Gaza disrupted that message.
Harris's loudest applause line during her 40-minute address on Thursday night was when she said she and Biden were working to end the war so that Israel is secure, the hostages taken last year by Hamas are released, and the Palestinian people can realize their "right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination."
Cheers from the crowd drowned out Harris saying the word "self-determination."
Shortly afterward, pro-Palestinian and pro-Gaza protesters shouted down convention attendees as they departed the arena, with others doing the same to delegates arriving at an afterparty at Ramova Theatre, a live music venue downtown. Earlier, demonstrators had run-ins with the police at nearby Union Park, their city-permitted site, after several arrests this week.
Tensions had increased on Wednesday when it became clear the Democratic National Committee and convention organizers were not going to cede to demands from the party's 30 uncommitted delegates for a pro-Palestinian, pro-Gaza speaker to address the gathering. The development prompted a sit-in off the floor.
"Why are you saying that Israeli children are more valuable than Palestinian children? Where is our shared humanity? Stop erasing Palestinians. We exist. We deserve to be heard," Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) wrote on X.
Tlaib, the country's first Palestinian American congresswoman who represents Dearborn, Michigan , home to one of the largest communities of Arab and Muslim Americans nationwide, was among those the uncommitted delegates sought to have address the convention.
“I know that our party is fractured right now because I'm talking to Democratic voters," Tlaib's sister Layla Elabed, the co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, told the Washington Examiner earlier this week. "We pushed a movement around the presidential primary, and although we have a shift in who the candidate is, Vice President Harris is still the vice president of this administration that uncommitted voters disagree with right now over their Gaza policy. We know the core base of Vice President Harris's voters, Democratic voters, want a permanent ceasefire."
But on the sidelines of a Michigan delegation breakfast this week, Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, remained adamant that the party is united, regardless of the protests.
"I think what we're seeing right now is that this is a big tent party," Moore told the Washington Examiner. "This is a party that wants to hear all perspectives because the future that we have as a country going forward is one that we have to make sure that everybody's heard."
Michigan's 12th Congressional District Democratic Party Chairman Kevin Tolbert, who, like Tlaib, represents Dearborn, underscored that "no one likes to see babies dying and mothers crying, nobody on either side."
"You heard President Biden [on Monday] speak and take time to point out those protesters have a point, and nobody's denying that at all," Tolbert told the Washington Examiner. "I think that what we need to understand though to bring them back in is that, as terrible as what's going on is, and even if you don't agree with this situation and how you believe President Biden is handling it, you've seen him make progression towards your position. You've seen the other side make no progression."
"I'm concerned when I see these same groups protest the people who they're closest aligned with and ignore the people who said eliminate them altogether, who don't want a two-state solution, who think that the right approach is for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to have unilateral power to do whatever he likes," he said.
Despite Biden's appeal, the president's address was interrupted by protesters, with an attempt by demonstrators to unfold a "Stop Arming Israel" banner covered up by "We love, Joe!" signs and dimmed lights. Before Harris uttered the word "self-determination" on Thursday, a person in the audience had yelled, "Free Palestine!"
The politics of the war not only has repercussions for Harris in battleground Michigan, particularly because the 2024 election is poised to be determined at the margins in states such as Georgia .
"There are a large number of Muslim voters in Georgia that the campaign is not talking about or reaching out to as far as I can tell," state Sen. Sheikh Rahman told the Washington Examiner. "Historically, Muslim voter participation in Georgia has been very low, but since 2016, that number has moved significantly."
"I don’t think the campaign is taking it very seriously," Rahman said. "I am the first Muslim legislator in Georgia, and now we have a total of four Muslim legislators in Georgia, including a Palestinian American. I don’t think anyone from the campaign higher up [has reached] out to us, certainly not to me."
After a Georgia delegation breakfast, Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), another possible 2028 presidential contender, downplayed Rahman's concerns and amplified Moore's confidence regarding Democratic unity.
"I think you see more, more unity and enthusiasm in this convention than I have ever seen," Beshear told the Washington Examiner as he walked to a North Carolina breakfast. "I believe that [Harris is] going to come out of it with great momentum and ultimately win this election."
Irrespective of the protesters, the Democratic convention did provide a platform for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Simultaneously, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a hostage taken during the Re'im music festival massacre on Oct. 7, were also given the stage.
“This is a political convention, but needing our only son and all of the hostages home is not a political issue," Polin said during his and Goldberg's emotional address. "It is a humanitarian issue."
After Polin and Goldberg's address, and a New York breakfast, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) cited their remarks as evidence of Democratic unity at the same time that he criticized the sit-in.
"So many people were crying listening to Rachel and Jon talk about the heartache that has befallen them for the last 320 days as their son, an American son, remains a hostage in Gaza, and the Democratic Party, firmly in support of Israel, is firmly against antisemitism," Goldman told the Washington Examiner. "There is an extreme fringe that does not represent the party that may have different beliefs, but there's a reason that the sit-in was outside — because they're not a part of this convention and this party and this ticket."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
A day before Polin and Goldberg's appearance, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), whose possible vice presidential candidacy was complicated for Harris, in part, because of his Jewish faith and decades-old comments about the Middle East amid the war, was more receptive to the protesters than Goldman, another example of Democratic disunity.
"I want them to follow the rules and have their voice be heard," Shapiro told reporters outside a DNC Labor Council meeting of the demonstrators. "I think it is important that people show up and lift their voices, make sure that they are heard, and that folks who have the power to make decisions on whatever the issues are, hear from them. I think that their perspective is important to be heard."
Local News
Comments / 0