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Get in line or lose

Posted on by Venarayua
Get in line or lose

CHICAGO – Anti-Israel activists gathered at an official panel of the Democratic National Convention on Monday and delivered a message to presidential candidate Kamala Harris: Hear our demands or lose in November. As they made these threats, their allies protesting the Biden-Harris administration’s Israel policy faced police as they marched through the streets of Chicago.

The panel also included Uncommitted National Movement co-chair Layla Elabed, sister of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). The panel was moderated by Minnesota’s Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison, a close ally of Harris’ running mate Tim Walz. Ellison is notorious for his relationship with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Anti-Semitic activist Linda Sarsour, who denounced President Joe Biden before he welcomed her to the White House, was in the audience.

In front of a Harris aide, Elabed called on Harris to unite the Democratic Party by supporting an arms embargo against Israel.

“If we stand up and demand action — an arms embargo, a ceasefire, an end to the war — we may have a chance to restore the soul of the Democratic Party and unite under one big tent,” Elabed said. “Listen to Michigan and the undecided movement.”

Elabed’s presence at the United Center underscores the extent to which anti-Israel forces have gained a foothold in the Democratic Party and the intense pressure from the left Harris will face to turn against the Jewish state.

In fact, Elabed even urged Democratic delegates to deviate from the Harris-Walz list. “To those of you who are delegates, join us, the unaffiliated movement, in demanding political change that saves Palestinian lives.”

Just a few miles away, outside the security fence surrounding the convention center, thousands of anti-Israel protesters marched through the streets of Chicago. They began chanting and rattling a Secret Service security fence before dozens poured through, leading to a standoff with police. They were stopped before they broke through the final barrier keeping them out of the United Center.

Police arrested at least three protesters, while others carried away sections of the security fence to prevent police from re-erecting them. Police in riot gear gathered in large numbers to fill the gaps.

Panelists might have participated in the protest march if they were not inside Congress. Elabed asked audience members to stand if they had “attended a protest or rally for Palestinian human rights.” Almost all of the panelists stood, including Sarsour.

Addressed by the Washington Free Beacon When asked after the panel whether she would vote for Harris, Sarsour declined to comment.

The panel was organized by Elabed’s Uncommitted National Movement. Participants were asked to visit the Not Another Bomb group’s website and sign a petition titled “Kamala Harris, commit to an arms embargo.”

Elabed recently urged Harris to support such a policy at a rally in Detroit, saying Harris responded positively, even though her national security adviser Phil Gordon issued a statement the following day saying the vice president “does not support an arms embargo on Israel.”

The panel also included anti-Israel activists Hala Hijazi and Jim Zogby, as well as former Democratic Michigan state Rep. Andy Levin, who argued that Harris could not win Michigan – and the White House – without winning over “undecided” voters.

“We have a lot of students in Michigan who are traumatized by this,” Levin said. “We need to elect Kamala Harris, but I don’t see a way to win the Electoral College without winning Michigan. Both because we need justice for the Palestinians in Gaza … and for political reasons, we need the vice president to continue to push the boundaries.”

Earlier, protest leaders had made their own demands to Harris, including an arms embargo on Israel. Others in the crowd held signs calling for violence against Israel.

“Kamala = terrorist, Hamas = anti-terrorist,” read one. “Armed resistance is the only answer,” read another. “End Israel. Stand with Hamas.” As the march began, a demonstrator at the front held a Hamas flag with a picture of a militant. Another wore camouflage clothing and a Hezbollah badge.

Meanwhile, a representative of the student organization “Students for Justice in Palestine” announced further protests on university campuses in the fall and promised a continuation of the “student intifada.”

“The student intifada lives on. We are coming back stronger than ever as we enter the fall semester,” the congressman said. “As long as our administration continues to profit from the genocide of our people, the Palestinians, we will continue to oppose them, just as we oppose the complicit Democratic Party today.”

Other speakers made similar demands. “We will not vote for anyone who oversees genocide, the indiscriminate murder of Palestinian children, families and futures,” one said before the afternoon march. The United States must “allow all humanitarian aid to Gaza, stop arming Israel and stop all aid to the racist, settler-colonial terrorist state of Israel,” another said.

“We will continue to march and show up and show ourselves until we have made all our demands clear and until we have ended the genocide and achieved the complete liberation of Palestine and all colonized Arab countries,” the speaker continued. She then sang “From the River to the Sea.”

Socialist forces were also strongly represented, including a hammer and sickle flag and a stand from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization that bore a banner reading “Victory to the Palestinian Resistance.” The organization set up hundreds of picket lines with the same message.

The protests against the party congress are far from over: another official march is planned for Thursday, and smaller protests are planned throughout the week.

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