Washington delegates at DNC press Harris to change policy toward Israel and Gaza

CHICAGO – In the first month of her campaign for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris has emphasized broad principles more than specific policies, capitalizing on enthusiasm among Democrats without making it clear how she would govern differently from President Joe Biden.

In a race defined by the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency, that has been enough for many Democrats. But at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, delegates from Washington and other states called on Harris to differentiate herself from Biden on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

“We’re here to lift up the voices of those voters who specifically voted ‘uncommitted’ because they need to see a change in the Gaza policy,” Abbas Alawieh, a delegate from Michigan, told reporters. “Because what’s happening now is not only unsustainable; it’s immoral and it’s terrible campaign strategy.”

More than 700,000 voters marked their ballots “uncommitted” in this year’s Democratic primaries – including more than 100,000 in the swing state of Michigan – withholding votes from President Joe Biden in opposition to his administration’s support for Israel’s military campaign. The invasion and bombardment came in response to the terror attack of Oct. 7, when members of Hamas and other Palestinian groups killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 hostages.

Yaz Kader of Seattle, a Palestinian American and one of the three “uncommitted” members of Washington’s 119-person delegation, told reporters before Tuesday’s roll call vote to formally nominate Harris that more than 200 delegates and alternates from across the country had become “cease-fire delegates,” backing a call for the U.S. government to stop sending arms to Israel until a cease-fire ends the war that has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza and displaced nearly the entire population of the territory.

“Vice President Harris, when we are in there doing the roll call for her, I hope that she remembers that she needs to include everyone in this party,” Kader said. “We are bringing this party together. We are pushing a message that this party agrees with, which is a cease-fire and an arms embargo now.”

Before Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his vice president on July 21, Harris broke with the president when she called for a cease-fire in March, about two months before Biden did the same. Soon after announcing her candidacy, Harris said she would “not be silent” on the suffering of civilians in Gaza, but Kader said he wants the Democratic nominee to articulate a clear policy toward Israel.

The cease-fire delegates have called for the United States to stop sending weapons to Israel until it accepts a cease-fire proposal – a position that 70% of Democrats support, according to a recent Data for Progress poll cited by the group.

They support plans for the family members of Israeli hostages held in Gaza to speak at the convention, Alawieh said, and have asked the DNC to also let a Palestinian American speak on stage. DNC spokespeople did not immediately respond when asked Tuesday if that request would be granted.

The latest round of internationally mediated talks to end the fighting in Gaza appeared to be at an impasse as the convention began. After meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel had accepted a limited U.S. proposal to bridge a gap between the two sides, but officials from Israel and Hamas said the deal hadn’t resolved significant differences between them.

Tamara Erickson, a cease-fire delegate from Lake Forest Park, Washington, whose vote is committed to Harris, said she believes a cease-fire won’t happen until the U.S. government puts more pressure on Netanyahu, who is unpopular among Israelis, according to polls, has been indicted on bribery charges and could face prosecution if he is defeated in an election that won’t happen until the war ends.

“The only way to get a cease-fire is for us to stop sending bombs to Netanyahu’s government, because he is going to prolong the war as long as he can in order to stay in power,” said Erickson, who is Jewish. “He is more interested in his own political survival than the 9 million Jewish and Palestinian lives there.”

At their state convention in June, Washington Democrats approved resolutions calling for an end to military aid to Israel until Netanyahu’s government agrees to a cease-fire. Shasti Conrad, chair of the Washington State Democratic Party, said Tuesday that she believes cease-fire delegates are “on the right side of history,” but she wants to keep the focus on building enthusiasm for Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the party’s vice presidential nominee.

On Monday, pro-Palestinian protests outside the convention were mostly peaceful, but some demonstrators were arrested after they broke through a metal barricade surrounding the United Center.