Critics Of The Biden Admin’s Gaza Policy Do Not Intend To Stay Quiet At The DNC

Anti-war activists told HuffPost what they want to see from Democrats gathering for their 2024 convention in Chicago.

The Democratic National Convention opens on Monday on what is also Day 318 of the U.S.-backed Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip — with at least 40,000 Palestinians dead, and hopes fading for a cease-fire and the release of the eight Americans and more than 100 Israelis held hostage by Gaza-based militants.

For most of this time, President Joe Biden has cast American support for Israel’s campaign as a righteous response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, the chief Palestinian armed group in Gaza, which began the current fighting and killed hundreds of civilians. But the administration’s policy of supporting Israel’s devastating operations while saying it seeks Israeli restraint and a truce-hostage release deal has become increasingly controversial, fueling months of activism by critics of the war.

For many of those skeptics, the convention is a unique moment to pressure both Biden and the candidate seeking to succeed him, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Opponents of the Biden administration’s Gaza policy, in which Harris is playing a growing role, say a course correction is crucial for Democrats. The party, they argue, needs to acknowledge dissatisfaction with the policy among registered Democrats and independent voters, pointing to intense outrage among blocs like young voters and Arab Americans. (They also cite moral, strategic and legal reasons for a shift.)

Specifically, many critics want Washington to end American military backing for the Israeli operation. Biden has approved billions of dollars’ worth of additional U.S. weaponry for the Israeli military, despite repeated allegations that it has used American munitions to commit war crimes, while declining to sanction Israeli forces found guilty of human rights violations or heed calls from dozens of Democratic lawmakers to cut off particular equipment for the country over their use and Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid for Palestinians.