On the third day of the Democratic National Convention, the parents of an Israeli-American hostage in Gaza appealed for the release of the hostages. The Convention crowd chanted, “Bring them home!” But the hostage’s father said, “There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East. In a competition of pain there are no winners. In our Jewish tradition we say…every person is an entire universe. We must save all these universes.”
A group of convention delegates who refused to commit themselves to Biden or Harris because of their support of the Israeli war on Gaza had asked the convention organizers for time to speak on the program. But the leadership of the Democratic Party refused to let them. So, when the hostage’s parents spoke, the uncommitted delegates walked out and staged a sit-down just outside the hall. One of these protesters pointed out that the hostage’s father had at least acknowledged that there is pain on all sides.
Harris has called for a ceasefire in a way to try to distance herself slightly from Biden’s policy of unconditional support for Israel. But this is just political maneuvering. The refusal of the Democratic Party leadership – including Harris and the Obamas and Clintons – to acknowledge the Zionist genocide of Palestinians is outrageous. She has refused to consider withdrawing a single armament from the U.S.’s support. The Israeli assault on Gaza, with its tens of thousands of civilian victims, is just the latest episode in a 77-year-long war to throw the Palestinians out of their homeland and erase them as a people. The U.S. government funds the Israeli military more than any other in the world in order to use it as a U.S. outpost in the Middle East, no matter the suffering of the Palestinians.
The Democratic Party cares nothing for the Palestinians or other oppressed people around the world—unless there’s a political advantage to be gained. This convention shows that.
