Anti-Israel organizations stood in opposition to US President Joe Biden during his abandoned bid for reelection, and while he has dropped out and Vice President Kamala Harris has replaced him as likely Democratic Party presidential party candidate, Pro-Palestinian groups are unlikely to reverse their position and throw their support behind her, seeing her as a continuation of the Biden administration.
Biden was seen as complicit in a supposed genocide in Gaza by far Left progressives and extreme Islamists, who have also refused to vote for him in the November general election. Labeling him “Genocide Joe,” groups like Within Our Lifetime (WOL) and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) protested and disrupted a star-studded March 28 New York City fundraiser for the incumbent.
A June 8 White House protest saw a demonstrators criticizing Biden for not enforcing a “red line” against Israeli military action against Hamas in the Gazan city of Rafah. Organizations such as US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) resolved themselves to take part in a “March on the Democratic National Convention 2024” in mid-August to protest against the Democrat positions on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
As vice president, Harris was and is part of the same Biden administration vilified by anti-Israel groups, and thereby complicit in the same supposed crimes. USPCN called her “Killer Kamala” in June when they disrupted her speech at the June 8 Michigan Democratic Party Legacy Dinner.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) San Francisco Bay Area organized a protest against Harris in San Jose demanding that the “Biden-Harris” administration call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Even after Biden taking a step back in favor of his vice president, CAIR National addressed both the president and Harris on social media on Sunday, demanding they cease any military aid to the IDF.
As Harris attempts to reinvent and establish herself as her own political force, anti-Israel groups are not ready to forget Harris’s prominent role in the administration they despise and see as genocidal.
“Over the past weeks, we’ve seen Vice President Kamala Harris’s image being portrayed as more sympathetic to Palestinians in comparison to Joe Biden,” Code Pink said on its website. “But in reality she repeats so many of the same anti-Palestinian talking points and hasn’t done anything to move us towards a ceasefire.”
IN A letter campaign organized by Code Pink, the organization stated that it had no reason to believe that Harris would not follow Biden’s Israel policies, and condemned her criticism of some of the more extreme post-October 7 rallies.
The only way that she could salvage her credibility with such far-Left groups was to advocate for a Gaza ceasefire, end US arms sales to Israel, and explicitly distance herself from Biden’s positions on the Israel-Hamas War. In a July 25 Instagram post with a picture of the candidate and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the organization attacked Harris’s credentials as a feminist because “feminists don’t support genocide.”
“You have strategically presented yourself as distinct from President Biden, especially with regard to Israel’s genocide campaign in Gaza, though you are part of the same administration. We have not been fooled, and we know you are not powerless,” Code Pink charged in its letter campaign. “We know you can take significant action to stop Israel’s genocide, and you haven’t.”
New nickname for Harris
WOL leader Nerdeen Kiswani responded on X to Biden’s July 21 candidacy withdrawal and endorsement of Harris by saying that she also “excused and allowed” the “Gaza genocide” and that campaigns not to vote should be expanded to “Killer Kamala.”
“Now it’s killer Kamala who’s got to go too,” said Kiswani.
For the most extreme activists like Kiswani, the entire Democrat Party has “blood on their hands,” and even progressive politicians such as representatives Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were deplorable for aligning themselves with Biden.
March on the DNC 2024 organizers issued a statement on July 22 assuring that the political change would not change their plans to disrupt the event on August 19, explaining that the switching of nominees did not wash Palestinian blood of the party’s hands.
“When it comes to the genocide in Gaza there is no difference between Biden, Harris, or any of the likely candidates for the nomination,” said the march organizers. “They are all complicit. This is why the coalition will still be marching on the DNC in the tens of thousands.”
Speculation about Harris’s potential running mate pick being Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was only an additional issue of contempt against her. While there were campaigns attacking Jewish Shapiro for past comments about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his relationship with the Jewish state, the party should be under no illusion that choosing Walz would sway the anti-Israel vote. His positions on Israel will also come under scrutiny by far-Left progressives, and will never be enough.
There is no winning the vote of these radical groups. They will not forgive Harris for her association with Biden, and since October 7 they have worked themselves up into an extremist and anti-American mindset that will not accept any policy portfolios save for the most fringe and unrealistic political positions.
The same groups that chanted “genocide Joe” because the Biden administration’s concessions to the pro-Palestinian camp were never enough will chant “killer Kamala” regardless of what she says and does during her campaign. The Harris team should not tailor a campaign hoping to win them back.
Comments are closed.