The political pretence of the US Democrats and the Palestinians

The fact that a Democrat US president currently occupies the White House has done little to ruffle the bloody and gore-filled equation in the Middle East, notably regarding the fate of the Palestinians. The ongoing ruthless Israeli offensive against the unfortunates in Gaza is certainly a worry for some Democratic strategists, but only because certain voters are finally expressing an opinion on the subject. Israel, right or wrong, is no longer an entirely plausible proposition for the party, but it’s still the default position.

In swing states such as Michigan, the potential influence of Arab American voters is not negligible, and many are disgruntled with the Biden administration’s approach to the Palestinians. In May, an Arab American Institute (AAI) poll revealed that support for President Joe Biden among Arab Americans had collapsed to a mere 20 per cent. This was important, given that Biden had won 60 per cent of the same voting bloc in 2020.

The potential consequence of that shift has not gone unnoticed among pro-Israel voices keen to arrest any potential loss of support. On the electoral battleground, Representative Jamaal Bowman can count himself as one of the first Democratic figures to lose a primary for his stance against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. It should be said, though, that Bowman’s stance on Israel has not always been consistent. He had previously defeated the hawkish Eliot Engel in New York’s 16th congressional district in the Bronx and southern Westchester County, the latter being known for his cosy relationship, not only with Israel but also with arms manufacturers.

Last month, it was Bowman’s turn to taste defeat, a fate more or less assured by the muscular support offered by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to his centrist opponent George Latimer, which amounted to a stunning $14 million. The scandalously hefty spending in that primary made it the most expensive in the history of the US House of Representatives.

At the highest levels, the scene is thus set for mawkish insincerity.

The presumptive Democratic nominee for the White House is offering this in spades. Kamala Harris’s comments on the slaughter in Gaza and Israel’s overall policy towards Palestinians suggest political moulding and shifting, a ploy intended to stave off electoral threats. Votes are in question here, and Israel’s brutality is not going down well in certain parts of the constituency. However, the usual acknowledgments and obsequious doffing of the Democrat cap in support of the occupation state will always follow.

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Vice President Harris persists in reasserting her “unwavering commitment” to Israel’s apparently sacrosanct right to defend itself and act with total impunity. This is then coupled with the concern – as she expressed to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu – about “the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians”. Harris-speak suggests that innocent civilians will always die in the cause.

Cheap, calculated words then follow. “The images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety – sometimes displaced for a second, third, or fourth time – we cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.”

Eman Abdelhadi of the University of Chicago finds such sentiments from Harris lacking in real meaning, and argues that a lack of “an actual commitment to stop killing the children of Gaza” invalidates any claims to empathy. “To be empathetic to someone that you’re shooting in the head is not exactly laudable,” he pointed out. “We don’t need empathy from these people. We need to stop providing the weapons and the money that is actively killing the people that they’re supposedly empathising with.”

Within the Democratic Party there is some movement of disgruntlement, although this is the sort that rarely rises above the gravitas of paper ceremony and gesture.

Thomas Kennedy, a figure who co-founded the Miami-Dade Democratic Progressive Caucus in early 2017, wrote for The Intercept earlier this year explaining why he had left the Democratic campaign in disgust. “I am submitting my resignation in large part because of the Biden administration’s inexcusable support of Israeli war crimes and the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.” He added another reason: “The [Democratic National Committee’s] role in protecting President Joe Biden from a democratic process that could check that complicity.”

A survey available from the Brookings Institution suggests that electoral tremors among Democratic voters regarding support for Israel’s ongoing campaign will be manageable. Bowman’s remarks that Israel is responsible for genocide tend to figure among a mere seven per cent of Democratic candidates. The survey revealed that 18 per cent of the candidates took what was described as “a more moderate position, saying that the US should make support for Israel conditional and call for a ceasefire.”

It noted “a divide in the Democratic party, but the anti-Israel candidates compose only two per cent of the primary winners. Outside the most extreme position, the party is split fairly evenly, with most candidates displaying sympathy for Israel, but hesitancy to voice full-throated unconditional support.”

In this show of performative grief for the plight of Palestinians, the Democrats can feign concern while still continuing the military and political support to which Israel has become so accustomed. The result is theatrical and does little to change the catastrophe taking place in Gaza, leaving the political furniture virtually untouched and unmoved. It’s a political pretence that shames those engaged in it.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.