Hours after Kamala Harris gave her acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, the president of the \u201cpro-Israel, pro-peace\u201d organization J Street took a victory lap in an effusive e-mail to supporters. \u201cWow,\u201d Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote. \u201cWhat a week! As J Streeters leave the Democratic National Convention fired up and ready to go, it\u2019s clear we\u2019re having a greater impact than ever.\u201d He added that \u201cthe vice president\u2019s remarks on Israel-Palestine were perhaps the clearest articulation of J Street\u2019s values from a presidential nominee.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what are those \u201cvalues\u201d and how do they apply to what\u2019s happening in Gaza?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Discussing Gaza, Harris\u2019 DNC acceptance speech<\/a> began with the anodyne evocation of \u201cworking on a cease-fire\u201d of Gaza\u2019s pounding that America is funding: \u201cPresident Biden and I are working around the clock, because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a cease-fire deal done.\u201d<\/p>\n Then came the \u201cironclad\u201d pledge of eternal support for Israel, justified in this case by the October 7 Hamas raid: \u201cAnd let me be clear. And let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel\u2019s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Key to Harris\u2019 brief discussion of Gaza in her acceptance speech was the customary refusal in American political discourse to attribute the slaughter to the U.S. or its Israeli partner. Instead, there was a reference to \u201cwhat has happened\u201d \u2013 evoking victims without victimizers \u2013 in this way: \u201cWhat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n After pledging unconditional support for Israel\u2019s military, Harris expressed sorrow \u2013 as if the horrors are being inflicted by a force of nature, not a military force that the U.S. government supplies with fundamental and essential support.<\/p>\n Style aside, what Harris articulated about Israel-Palestine<\/a> in her speech was no different than what President Biden has been saying and doing since last fall while enabling the slaughter of Palestinian civilians. The vehement enthusiasm from J Street, perhaps the USA\u2019s leading liberal Zionist organization, is illuminating.<\/p>\n Harris carefully omitted<\/a> any mention of the only way that the U.S. government could actually put an end to the suffering in Gaza that she called \u201cheartbreaking\u201d \u2013 an arms embargo to stop the huge shipments from the United States that provide the Israeli military with the weapons and ammunition it\u2019s using to continue to massacre Palestinian people of all ages.<\/p>\n The Harris speech was consistent with the national party\u2019s new platform<\/a> \u2013 which \u201cJ Street helped shape,\u201d Ben-Ami proudly wrote. But full affirmation of Biden\u2019s policies toward the Gaza carnage should not have been any cause for celebration.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a Palestinian American who is an elected Democrat to the Colorado State House, it has been disheartening to witness Biden facilitate and abet Israel\u2019s brutal war on Gaza with billions of dollars in U.S. weapons,\u201d Iman Jodeh wrote<\/a> during the convention. Harris \u201chas said that an arms embargo \u2013 which human rights organizations have been calling for \u2013 is off the table, but that she supports a ceasefire.\u201d However, \u201cto truly reach a ceasefire and prevent a regional conflict, the U.S. must halt the arms shipments that fuel the conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n The British medical journal The Lancet<\/em> estimates<\/a> that well over 100,000 residents of Gaza will die because of the Israeli bombardment and siege since Oct. 7, as hunger and disease are endemic, and housing and infrastructure have been systematically destroyed. Polio is appearing<\/a> in the devastated population of more than 2 million. Israel\u2019s assault on the enclave, populated substantially by refugees from the 1948 creation of the Israeli state, remains unchecked \u2013 and is literally made possible by the continuous arms pipeline from the United States.<\/p>\n For J Street\u2019s leadership, the current U.S. policy hits the spot. \u201cCould not be prouder of VP Harris for her remarks on Israel\/Palestine \u2013 and of Democrats\u2019 reaction,\u201d Ben-Ami tweeted<\/a> after the convention adjourned. \u201cThis is what it means in 2024 to be pro-Israel, pro-peace and pro-democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n At the convention, the parents of a hostage held by Hamas since Oct. 7 spoke. But no Palestinian American was allowed to say anything. In effect, the convention\u2019s podium was a place of apartheid, mirroring the reality<\/a> of Israel\u2019s apartheid system<\/a>. (In his email, Ben-Ami wistfully noted the missed opportunity: \u201cHosting the first ever Palestinian speaker at a national convention would have been a powerful way to underscore the shared goal of an immediate ceasefire and hostage deal, and the compassion the party feels for Palestinians and Israelis alike.\u201d)<\/p>\n J Street is determined to help ensure that liberal Zionism does not question the \u201cironclad\u201d U.S. commitment to Jewish nationalist control in Palestine, as discussed in articles I co-wrote that were published 10 years ago<\/a> and last spring<\/a>. The organization is eager to define the limits of acceptable criticism of Israeli government policies from the Democratic Party establishment \u2013 setting aside human rights considerations as secondary to the mantra of Israel\u2019s \u201cright to exist.\u201d (Whether apartheid South Africa had a \u201cright to exist\u201d is not a topic open for discussion.)<\/p>\n J Street represents untenable liberal American Zionism that clings to the fantasy of a democratic and humane \u201cJewish state.\u201d Washington office-holders pledge continued weapons resupply for that fantasy Jewish state \u2013 with no connection to the actual Israel that is now engaged in remorseless genocide.<\/p>\n Abba A. Solomon is the author of <\/em>The Miasma of Unity: Jews and Israel<\/a> and <\/em>The Speech, and Its Context: Jacob Blaustein\u2019s Speech \u2018The Meaning of Palestine Partition to American Jews,\u2019 Given to the Baltimore Chapter, American Jewish Committee, February 15, 1948<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hours after Kamala Harris gave her acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, the president of the \u201cpro-Israel, pro-peace\u201d organization J Street took a victory lap in an effusive e-mail to supporters. \u201cWow,\u201d Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote. \u201cWhat a week! As J Streeters leave the Democratic National Convention fired up and ready to go, it\u2019s clear we\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":635,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-49076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49076"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49082,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49076\/revisions\/49082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49076"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=49076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}