Palestine Solidarity Activists Fear Harris Will Not Change Course on Gaza

Part of the Series

Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation

Kamala Harris’s replacement of Joe Biden as Democratic presidential candidate has been widely seen as a welcome development — in particular by mainstream Democrats as well as members of the capitalist class, who see her candidacy as a potential return to “normalcy” as well as a vastly increased likelihood of beating Donald Trump and his far right political project. But the Palestine solidarity movement has a more complicated perspective around Harris’s candidacy after organizing for the past 10 months against the Biden administration’s complicity in the genocide in Palestine. Movement activists, both in the U.S. and in Palestine, are wary that a Harris presidency will bring no real change in policy when it comes to Gaza, and will only continue to oversee Israel’s genocide.

Many Palestine solidarity activists have emphasized the centrality of Palestine and the solidarity movement to Biden’s stepping down. As Khalid Khalidi from Dissenters — a movement organization largely made up of youth activists organizing against militarism and war, and involved in Palestine solidarity work in particular — told Truthout, “Biden stepped down because he was going to lose. Biden was going to lose not because of his debate performance or because of his age. He was going to lose because he is a war criminal enabling the genocide in Gaza, and millions of people in solidarity with Palestine refuse to vote for a war criminal enabling genocide in Gaza.” This was reflected in the “uncommitted” campaign, as well as in polling well before Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump, which often saw him neck-and-neck with the former president, and as having lost support from youth and numerous minorities of color — but seemed to be forgotten by much of the mainstream media after the debate.

Khalidi, however, cautions against the idea that Harris can much more easily win against Trump. He contends that, in order to win the election, Harris will have to break with “Biden’s unwavering support for Israel.” Khalidi also emphasized that no matter who is in office, the struggle in solidarity with Palestine will continue, as both parties have a long legacy of unconditional support for Israel. “Whether Democrats win or lose in this election, our fight continues until the United States ends all military and diplomatic aid to Israel,” Khalidi concluded.

Palestinian writer and journalist Mariam Barghouti, who is based in the West Bank, agrees that Biden is hardly exceptional when it comes to U.S. politicians and Palestine. “The Biden administration is not exclusive of the sinister ways in which American policy functions, and only a mirror of it,” she told Truthout. “This is especially in regards to American foreign policy underpinned by exploitative and supremacist practices as exemplified by Biden’s letter of withdrawal [in which he essentially said] ‘there is nothing America can’t do.’”

Like many other activists in the movement for Palestine, Barghouti is skeptical about whether Harris will provide a break from Biden’s policies, expecting that she could well continue with Biden’s program. As she explains, “Harris has been operating and making decisions already under Biden’s term…. She, and the entire team under Biden, including Barbara Leaf and others, helped facilitate the continued annexation of Palestinian lands and the taking of their lives by the rogue Israeli regime with absolute impunity.” Both Harris and Barbara Leaf (assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs) have pushed for inserting a puppet government in Gaza under the Palestinian Authority, and championed the Abraham Accords, which have strengthened Israel’s position in the region and its ability to act with impunity. Prior to the current war, Harris had already built up a staunchly pro-Israel record: In 2017, for example, she co-sponsored a measure condemning a UN resolution urging an end to Israel’s expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Over the past week, Harris has put forward contradictory messaging: She declined to attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at Congress, but then met with Netanyahu privately. Harris condemned Palestine solidarity activists protesting against Netanyahu’s visit and his congressional speech in Washington, D.C., and later claimed that she “will not be silent” on the suffering in Gaza, and that she is working toward a ceasefire.

Members of the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) steering committee expressed their doubt about Harris’s comments expressing concern for Gaza. “Harris’s ‘refusal to be silent’ is not a step forward,” explained an NSJP activist leader, who is a member of the steering committee that organizes across campus chapters nationally, and which played a key role in the encampment movement. Rather, he added, Harris’s “refusal to be silent” comes across as “in line with her Democratic predecessors — lip service to the Palestinian people with no intention or desire to advance their just demand for liberation and self-determination on their homeland.”

The NSJP activist, who asked to remain anonymous due to increased repression, also emphasized to Truthout the challenges that he imagines the movement would likely continue to face under a Harris presidency, as well as the need to continue with the movement’s core demands for ceasefire and an end to U.S. aid to Israel. “After nearly 10 months of the U.S.-Israeli genocide on Gaza, a genocide whose daily massacres have likely murdered over 186,000 Palestinians and forced millions into starvation, mass torture and exile, nothing short of an end to all U.S. military aid to Israel and an immediate, permanent ceasefire will be accepted.”

Meanwhile however, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has signaled even more brazen support for Israel’s genocidal policies. Trump has echoed the words of Netanyahu, asserting that he would provide even more military aid to Israel to help him “get the job done” in Gaza.

Trump’s record also provides a frightening blueprint for what his second term could look like for Palestine. During his 2017-2021 presidential term, Trump recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He celebrated the move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem at the same time as Israeli soldiers gunned down peaceful protestors in Gaza’s nonviolent Great March of Return.

Trump also exacerbated the climate of repression and fear on U.S. college campuses, forcing many Students for Justice in Palestine chapters to go underground or face banning and silencing during his presidency. This spring, Trump promised to crush pro-Palestine campus protests, deport student protestors who are not citizens, and “set that movement [the Palestine solidarity movement] back 25 or 30 years.” While repression of Palestine solidarity activism is likely to continue no matter which candidate takes office, a Trump presidency would ensure a stifling of dissent and organizing, on college campuses and beyond.

In the face of Trump’s unabashed support for Israel’s genocidal policies, and Biden’s legacy of overseeing the current genocide, Harris has not yet offered convincing evidence that she will make a significant change. In order to persuade Palestine solidarity activists that she is doing more than posturing, Harris would need to cease sending military aid to Israel and demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire. As the NSJP activist insisted: “The movement for Palestinian freedom is composed of the true source of power in this country: labor unions, students, community institutions, religious sites, and more. Together, we have made our line clear: end all U.S. aid to Israel, and ceasefire now. We will not accept anything less, and our movement will only continue to grow and strengthen until these demands are met.”