While Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, take hits from both right and left for their stances on Israel, the Democratic National Convention will feature a number of events tied to the American Jewish community.
The convention, which runs from Monday through Thursday in Chicago, is expected to highlight divisions within the party on the issues of Israel and antisemitism.
Some analysts suggest as many as 100,000 protesters—many of whom support Hamas and have links to terrorist groups—will descend on the Windy City to disrupt the event in an effort to push Harris towards forcing a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas and to threaten to withhold their votes in November’s election if she doesn’t back an arms embargo on Jerusalem.
The so-called Uncommitted movement, which lodged protest votes in droves for no candidate in the Democratic presidential primaries in Palestinian, Arab and Muslim-heavy states such as Michigan and Walz’s domain of Minnesota, garnered 30 delegates. Various media reports state that Democratic insiders are fearful of a show of dissent to Harris’s Israel policies on the convention floor itself.
Harris reportedly told leaders of the Uncommitted movement recently that she was open to discussing an arms embargo, though her office and her campaign rejected that interpretation.
Walz, meanwhile, is coming under increasing fire for exposed close ties to radical anti-Israel figures, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Imam Asad Zaman, also from Minnesota, who praised Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) led by Halie Soifer, Harris’s former national security adviser, will hold a series of events on the DNC sidelines throughout the week. Several members of Congress are scheduled to participate in panel discussions, including Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides will also participate, as will Wesley Bell, a St. Louis prosecutor who upended anti-Israel progressive “Squad” member Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri in this month’s Democratic congressional primary.
The American Jewish Committee, headed by former Rep. Ted Deutch, will also sponsor several events in Chicago. Those include a panel discussion featuring Nides and another talk by a pair of Biden administration officials.
The Israeli-American Council, which has yet to be approved for a counter-protest permit by the city of Chicago, will host a “Hostages Square” display on Tuesday to draw attention to the condition of the remaining captives held in Gaza.
Pieced together by a half-dozen Israeli artists, it is being held on a private lot in the shadow of the United Center—the convention’s host arena—and therefore does not require a permit.
Emphasis on Israel
In contrast to last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which highlighted the party’s relationship with Israel and featured a number of speakers discussing the state of antisemitism, the Democrats have not announced any focus on Israel for Chicago.
Doug Emhoff, Harris’s husband, who is Jewish and has spoken publically about the rise in antisemitism, is set to keynote on Tuesday. Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, recently denigrated Emhoff’s religious ties, calling him a “crappy Jew,” while critiquing American Jews who vote Democratic.
The Republican Jewish Coalition has issued a “Praise Israel” challenge, saying it would donate 1,800 trees to the Jewish state in honor of each person who addresses the Democratic convention from the main stage and asks the crowd to cheer for Israel.
