Kamala Harris’s balancing act: Navigating Biden's pro-Israel legacy amid Democratic discontent

During the Democratic party’s convention in Chicago, candidate Kamala Harris did not budge from the Biden line on Israel/Palestine. She had little choice. As vice president, she had to adhere to her boss Joe Biden's approach to the Gaza war, stick with the US "ironclad" commitment to Israel and its defence by arming Israel. This week, the US made its 500th delivery of weapons and munitions to Israel which depends on the flow to keep the nearly 11-month war going.

However. Harris is not Biden who has a life-long history of regarding himself as a Zionist and who has politically and militarily supported Israel's Gaza war which has killed more than 40,500 and wounded 93,000 Palestinians. While reiterating his hollow commitment to the two-state solution, Biden has shown indifference to Palestinians slain and maimed by Israel and has even questioned the fatality count by the Gaza health authorities although it is accepted by the UN as accurate and likely to be too low. When addressing the war, Harris spoke of the "innocent lives lost" and the "desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again". She said, "The scale of the suffering is heartbreaking."

Harris said she was cooperating with Biden on his ceasefire deal that would free Israeli captives held by Hamas in Gaza and lead to Palestinians realising "their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination".

Her statement did not reassure the 30 Arab-origin delegates among the 4,700 at the convention centre and the thousands of others protesting Biden-Harris administration policies in Chicago's streets and squares. They demanded but did not receive an invitation for a US citizen of Palestinian background to address the convention and were angered when the parents of a US-Israeli captive spoke about their son who is held by Hamas.

This was a mistake by Harris advisers. According to David Faris writing on Slate, there has been a major transformation of opinion within the Democratic party. In 2004 during the second intifada, Gallup pollsters found only 16 of Democrats sympathised with Palestinians. In 2016, the number had risen to 23 per cent while today it stands at 49 per cent. The Gaza war has created a spike in this process with 75 per cent of Democrats and 63 per cent of independents opposing Israel's offensive in Gaza. Omitting a Palestinian voice was risky as Harris currently leads Trump 49 to 47 per cent in opinion polls and in just three of the seven swing states which determine the winner in the Electoral College.

Threatened by a boycott by the pro-Palestinian and progressive camps, Harris snapped that it is better to vote for her than Republican Donald Trump who is as opportunistically committed to Israel as is Biden emotionally and politically. She is right, unfortunately, as Trump was more destructive than Biden who has earned the nickname "Genocide Joe" for his unwavering support for Israel's brutal and devastating Gaza offensive.

While in the White House from 2017-2021, Trump gave the Israelis everything they wanted. He recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moved the US embassy there from Tel Aviv although the fate of Occupied East and Israel-illegally occupied West Jerusalem was meant to be negotiated by Palestinians and Israelis. Trump dismissed the Palestinian demand for self-determination and statehood by promising economic and financial benefits to raise Palestinians' standard of living. He ended UN funding for UNRWA, the agency caring for 5.7 million Palestinian refugees, and tor Palestinian institutions. Trump closed the US consulate serving Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the Palestinian mission to the US in Washington. Trump appointed a dedicated Zionist and Israeli settlement supporter as US ambassador to Israel and recognised Israel’s annexation of Syria's occupied Golan, which violates international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention. Trump's millionaire investor son-in-law Jared Kushner urged Israel to "finish the job" in Gaza by driving Palestinians into Egypt or the Negev Desert so the strip's valuable water-front property could be developed.

While Biden has not backed his outrageous suggestion, Biden did not use his presidential powers to reverse most of Trump's actions. This would be all more difficult for Harris to do if she wins the election. To win, she will have to appeal to pro-Palestinian voters who remain committed to the "Uncommitted National" movement established to punish Biden in Michigan and other party primary elections by casting "uncommitted" ballots. Some Uncommitted followers, including co-founder Abbas Alawieh, plan to vote for Harris, others have yet to decide.

Detroit Islamic Centre imam Imran Salha opposes casting ballots for her. "We need to invest in a long-term strategy that breaks away from choosing the lesser of two evils every four years." Spokesman for the "Abandon Harris Campaign" Hudhayfah Ahmad told notus.org, that the Uncommitted line on Harri is "humiliating" and "futile. “They're learning what we at Abandon Biden have always known. That's why we launched Abandon Harris. Every single day this [Democratic] Party vindicates us."