Unity in Chicago

For most of their convention week, the Democrats did a commendable job of keeping the Gaza war out of the conversation. Most of the speakers who did mention the conflict limited their remarks to calling for a ceasefire, a lowest-common-denominator point of agreement that unites most of the party (if not most of the world, with the possible exception of the Israelis and the Palestinians).

But on the convention’s closing night, two candidates did address the delegates in much more forceful language, putting a spotlight on this critically important but highly contentious issue. The first took a decidedly pro-Israeli tack, saying “And let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.”

The other political leader who addressed the convention on this topic struck a much more sympathetic and supportive tone toward the Palestinians, making this commitment:

“[W]hat has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. [We] are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

Both of these candidates were Kamala Harris. Both of these statements truly reflect her beliefs and those of many others. They are not contradictory or mutually exclusive: What’s different is the emphasis that allowed her to offer her support to two completely different audiences who happen to be sworn enemies.

Ever since announcing her candidacy, Harris has walked a tightrope on this issue, not straying one millimeter from the substance of the Biden Administration’s approach to the conflict but placing a much greater emphasis on the conditions that the residents of Gaza have faced since the war began. Her gamble is that using more compassionate language will calm the angry progressives who have made this such a political challenge for Biden. While many of them made it clear through the convention that they also expect a marked policy change in a Harris White House, they remained remarkably subdued during the week. The result was a much more peaceable and unified convention than many observers had expected – myself included.

This domestic political version of a ceasefire did not happen by accident. Harris campaign officials have met regularly with the most rabid anti-Israel voices in the party and spent a great deal of time with the three dozen uncommitted delegates who had won their seats as strong critics of Biden’s Gaza policy and could have been hugely disruptive from the floor of the convention. When angry critics within the United Center tried to heard, they were quickly surrounded and drowned out by supportive delegates. The pro-Hamas activists who promised tens of thousands of protesters on the streets of Chicago produced only a scant fraction of those numbers. The ghosts of the 1968 convention did not return.

Convention organizers engaged in a careful balancing act, allowing a panel discussion on Palestinian rights to take place while scheduling a pro-Israel program miles away from the convention facilities. But the parents of an Israeli American hostage addressed the entire convention from the podium while a Palestinian speaker was not provided a similar opportunity. The end result was a precarious détente that appeared close to collapse several times throughout the week but ultimately prevailed.

Such is the Democrats’ disdain for Trump and revitalized enthusiasm for their own prospects under Harris that their party unity was able to override the deep divisions that exist among their members not just over the Gaza conflict but on more fundamental questions regarding Israel’s future.

Such is the Democrats’ disdain for Trump and revitalized enthusiasm for their own prospects under Harris that their party unity was able to override the deep divisions that exist among their members not just over the Gaza conflict but on more fundamental questions regarding Israel’s future. For the moment at least, give Harris and her team credit for pulling off the seemingly impossible.

Dan Schnur is the U.S. Politics Editor for the Jewish Journal. He teaches courses in politics, communications, and leadership at UC Berkeley, USC and Pepperdine. He hosts the monthly webinar “The Dan Schnur Political Report” for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall. Follow Dan’s work at www.danschnurpolitics.com.