Democrats Must Confront an Inconvenient Genocide

President Joe Biden and his party need to use their power to stop Israel's war crimes.

This article was published today in The Progressive Magazine.

Once upon a time in America, an inconvenient genocide threatened to ruin the joyful vibes of the Democratic Party ahead of the 2024 election.

President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek re-election briefly prompted hope that the Administration might pivot from its disastrous policy in Gaza, which has armed, funded, and otherwise supported Israel’s brutal war.

There were some encouraging signs of this. More than 100 Democratic lawmakers, for example, refused to attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s shameless address in July to a fawning and sycophantic Congress. Although Netanyahu stood accused of war crimes and spent the past year crossing every single one of Biden’s alleged “red lines” in Gaza, our elected officials still gave him a rapturous standing ovation—even as he falsely claimed that peaceful anti-war protesters in the United States had been funded by Iran.

Thankfully, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both skipped this propaganda speech. When Harris did meet with Bibi, she didn’t embrace him with Biden’s “bear hug,” but instead exchanged a terse, professional handshake. Afterward, Harris told reporters, “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating—the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the 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.”

This brief display of empathy was considered progress, because the bar was set so low that it was in hell.

Although Harris vowed not to be silent, she conveniently forgot to mention that the Democratic establishment would have no problem silencing the Palestinian people, which was evident at the raucous Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, in August. There, the lineup of speakers reflected the diverse, big-tent coalition that Democrats vowed to represent in a Harris-Walz Administration. Democrats welcomed everyone—except Palestinians.

One of the most powerful and sobering moments of the DNC happened when Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, parents of Hamas hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, shared their son’s story and preached a message of compassion and humanity. Goldberg-Polin has since been killed by Hamas.

“There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East. In a competition of pain, there are no winners,” Jon Polin told a tear-filled crowd. Wouldn’t it have been more powerful and inspiring if a Palestinian American family had stood next to them, side by side, and echoed a similar message while sharing the story of their pain and heartbreak?

Alas, we’ll never know.

Palestinians have long been denied the space, the microphone, and the permission to narrate their own stories. Their narratives might have forced the audience and the Democratic establishment to confront the inconvenient truth of an ongoing genocide in Gaza that has caused a human-made famine, a humanitarian crisis, and the return of polio in children. Perhaps a Palestinian speaker might have mentioned Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, the expansion of illegal settlements, and the rise of extremist Israeli settler violence in the West Bank. Perhaps Americans would finally realize that the current Israeli government has no desire or appetite for a two-state solution.

The Uncommitted National Movement, which represents tens of thousands of uncommitted Democratic voters from critical swing states, was aware of this reality and came with legitimate and pragmatic demands. In addition to a speaking slot, they urged Democrats to commit to a ceasefire and an arms embargo against Israel—popular positions with Democratic voters. They even submitted a three-minute speech by state Representative Ruwa Romman, the first Palestinian elected to public office in Georgia, who could have been the first Palestinian to speak at the DNC. Yet over four days, they couldn’t manage to find three minutes to fit in Romman’s speech.

Before he rides off into the sunset, Biden can correct the course on Gaza, which will be the most enduring stain on his legacy. He can pick up the phone, threaten to halt arms shipments, apply U.S. and international law, and force Israel to accept a ceasefire. Using his immense power to end Israel’s war crimes might be the most powerful—and moral—thing for Biden to do to help Democrats ahead of the 2024 election.