Did AOC and Bernie Turn Their Back On Palestinians?

The two loudest progressive voices fail to stand up for Palestinian liberation in the face of a completely apathetic Democratic Party.

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the entire party united, consolidating their support with Kamala Harris, but there was an elephant in the room. A bloody, cruel, dangerous, greedy, inhumane one at that. Outside each day of the convention were tens of thousands of protestors draped in keffiyehs, waving Palestinian flags in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Inside the convention were more than thirty uncommitted delegates who were sent by their constituents to represent the democrat voters who refuse to vote for a candidate that will support genocide⁺. The Uncommitted Movement was created to force the democratic party to acknowledge their terrible policies; unconditionally supporting Israel’s far-right genocidal regime, and sending billions of tax dollars in weapons to help another country fight an illegal war. The majority of them came from Minnesota, with 11 delegates where 18.2% of the vote was uncommitted, and Hawaii with 7 delegates where 29.1% of the vote was uncommitted. Due to the archaic primary rules, the Michigan uncommitted vote only received 2 delegates, which is 1.7% of the total despite getting 13.2% of the vote. In my state of New York like in most states, there was no uncommitted option on the ballot, and despite 41,113 ballots accounting for 11.5% of the total vote being cast as blank, there was no representation at the DNC.

After the last tumultuous month, the establishment democrats have pulled all attention away from the lame-duck and focused on the Harris campaign. The Biden administration meanwhile, has been making utterly zero progress in securing a ceasefire with Israel over their ongoing war where there never seems to be too many civilians killed. Biden’s only responsibility for the Harris campaign is just to not make any catastrophic mistakes until the election and doesn’t have to respond to any demands. All of the pressure on Biden to secure a ceasefire and an arms embargo has shifted to Harris who hasn’t made any change in messaging, the only difference being that she can actually articulate a sentence. It seems that Kamala, in no way supports an arms embargo or an end to military support for Israel which is being used to carry out horrific war crimes. This has been the party’s message all along and they think it's enough; ‘Israel has the right to defend itself, secure a ceasefire, and bring the hostages home’. But how do you accomplish that? They won’t say– they can’t say, because it means breaking ties with Israel which is unwilling to negotiate a ceasefire and unwilling to stop fighting even if the US withdraws aid. While we can acknowledge that there will be political consequences for Harris making this break, there are arguably even larger consequences if democrats do nothing. First, the increasing threat that Israel will try to drag America into an ongoing conflict. As it stands, Iran is expressing immense constraint in not retaliating. Under international law, Iran has the right to defend itself but knowing how the West exerts its immense power over the world, it has refrained from retaliating, knowing that it will lead to a rapid escalation. This strategy of abandoning the millions of Muslim voters across the rust belt is a dangerous decision. While there is immense pressure for Harris to tow the party line concerning Israel, there is a way out if she has the courage. 

The pressure originates with AIPAC, the organization that funds American political campaigns with millions of dollars on behalf of Israel’s interests. They have flexed their power to buy house seats, but those races only involved just $35 million, a far cry from the over $540 million that Harris raised in just over one month. With her incredible ability to fundraise grassroots dollars, she shouldn’t owe any allegiance to AIPAC even though they are funding her campaign with at least $5 million. Then, there is the media which has an overwhelming pro-Israel tilt. Arguably, this is the media reinforcing the current administration rather than having a grounded moral position that it upholds for the public. We see this with immigration policy; Trump’s inhumane border policy was rightly criticized but then when the Biden administration implemented the same policy, the media defended it and thus, public opinion reversed. So, while the media currently fails to be critical, reports with a rhetorical bias, and always portrays Israel as the victim, there’s reason to believe the media will follow Harris if she changes course. The Israeli government and associated corporations also spend immense sums amounts of money to sway politicians  and influence social media to affect public opinion. It doesn’t help that zionism is deeply embedded in American politics, but the protests have been effective in at least making the establishment think twice. While Harris’ speech signaled more sympathy for Palestinians than Biden, it didn’t display any effectual change in policy. With a serious threat of Israel dragging America into a wider conflict and Netanyahu posturing alongside Trump, she has an opportunity to get out of this.

If Harris is serious about winning this election, she would be smart to take the tens of thousands of Muslim voters seriously. They aren’t ignorant of the democratic party’s lies, they know that ‘working for a ceasefire’ means they are ignoring the issue. Michigan, a state with a large Muslim population, is heavily divided and often comes down to just a few percentage points, it’s not a state she can afford to lose. On realistic terms, her best decision would be to meet with Biden and get through to him that an arms embargo would put pressure on Netanyahu, forcing him to agree to a ceasefire. It needs to be clear to Biden how disastrous it would be to pass on this mess to Harris in January. A real ceasefire announcement would be incredible for her campaign. But that can’t happen if America keeps sending bombs. As for what needs to happen, even if it's unrealistic; Harris should be leveraging her power, as far as threatening Biden to make a firm split with Netanyahu. In this way, she would be siding with international law, opposing a far-right regime that is committing countless war crimes. The liberal press will support her and she should completely abandon AIPAC if democrats are willing to reverse Citizens United with legislation. If Biden continues being subservient to Israel, there’s a serious risk of Netanyahu deliberately trying to damage her campaign. Remember that Netanyahu is clinging to power, and he can only stay in power if there are boots on the ground and rockets firing. At this point, Harris calling for an arms embargo is not only necessary for peace but is also a pragmatic decision to make sure she wins the election.

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Alexandrea Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders are two of the most prominent members of the progressive caucus and together have raised a new generation of social-democrats. Their prominence has reached a point where it was virtually impossible to snub them from the main stage at the DNC. This past year, both have been criticized for their weak rhetoric on the issue of Palestine, especially as their colleagues Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush lost their seats while speaking up on the issue. In contrast, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders are at no political risk for speaking truth to the matter, making the situation all the more frustrating. And so, between the two loudest progressive voices, both of them utterly failed to articulate the demands of protestors and speak to the immense tragedy in Gaza on the main stage. While they both had strong speeches regarding labor, corruption, and corporate greed, neither had the courage to call what is happening in Gaza genocidal, collective punishment, or condemn Israel for their war crimes. The sterilization of Sanders’ message has been obvious for many years now, as he fell in line behind Biden and the party that sold him short in 2020. Though his speeches still have plenty of vigor, it's not a surprise he would lack brevity on the issue of Gaza, especially since he has always exclusively paid attention to domestic policy. Ocasio-Cortez on the other hand, represents the new face of the progressive caucus and will likely be senator or governor of New York one day, making her failure even more frustrating. This could’ve been a turning point for her, she just lost the endorsement of the DSA and it could’ve been a chance to earn that respect back. As the convention week went on, it only got worse as she blew that opportunity. She was never once seen at the protest outside the DNC, never spoke outside the convention with the Not Another Bomb organization, and never attended any of the panels hosted by the Uncommitted Movement. On the second day of the convention, a picture circulated with her smiling next to the father of an IDF soldier; something which in and of itself is harmless if not for her ignoring the protest. Despite her post on Twitter affirming her stance that a Palestinian-American speaker should be able to speak on the main stage, she did nothing to protest or demand the DNC schedule a speaker. The night before the final day, Uncommitted leader Abbas Alawieh organized an overnight sit-in outside to demand they get a speaking slot. Needless to say, Ocasio-Cortez didn’t attend but FaceTime called instead. While I’m sure this small gesture was welcome, it’s another slap in the face to the protestors who traveled from all over the country to demand an arms embargo and an end to the slaughter just to have their loudest ally fail to advocate for them.

This is the core of why so many people are sick of reform politics; even decent progressive politicians have such an incentive to abandon the people who need them most. Ocasio-Cortez’s political calculation is one where she can gain prominence within the party by blunting her message and towing the party line. She very well could take a senate seat from Chuck Schumer when he retires or beat the profoundly unpopular Kathy Hochel in the next primary. While Ocasio-Cortez would be a massive upgrade in either case, at what cost? Can we count on her to be vocal on necessary issues when she does gain that power? The answer, for now, is no. We are history’s witnesses. We will remember her silence. 

Contrast that with Ilhan Omar; she just survived her primary beating her opponent by 13 points a week prior, gave a passionate speech for Not Another Bomb, and joined the Uncommitted sit-in. Omar in her speech, expounded on the inhumane conditions in Gaza, demanded an arms embargo, explained the hypocrisy of our government which doesn’t abide by international law, and placed shame on her colleagues who did not stand up for this issue. Omar understands that this situation is dire and that the democratic leadership’s statement that they are “working around the clock for a ceasefire” is a lie. She understands that a convention that lasts over 20 hours without a single person able to represent Palestine is unacceptable. Ilhan Omar doesn’t have as loud a voice as Ocasio-Cortez, but she understands that, in the words of Dr. King, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal”. That’s what Ocasio-Cortez has done– betrayal. She has betrayed the people of Palestine along with the tens of thousands who came to fight for them. And this is no test of purity; understand that AOC is not the enemy, but she is a bad ally.

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