who is listening over at the DNC? To acknowledge the hostages and NOT acknowledge the people of Palestine seems WORSE than ignoring the issue altogether. I think the Dems are damaging their credibility with younger voters. including politically aware JEWISH voters. AIPAC will only become less important as time passes.
The only thing that would damage the credibility of the Democratic party is any hint of being associated with terror groups. That’s not what Democrats need or want.
First, Israel is NOT committing genocide. No matter how many times you say it, it’s still a false statement. Remember 10/7/2023 ? It didn’t make Islamic Palestinians look so good, Mr. Abu-Odeh.
Hamas does all it can to steal humanitarian supplies and use its people as human shields.
Rwanda was a genocide; the Holocaust was a genocide.
That’s bad publicity for the Democratic party. I’m sorry this is happening to Gazans. It’s tragic and it didn’t need to happen.
I am sure you are deeply sorry for the massacre of 40,000 people, as you are undoubtedly sorry, deeply sorry for Israel's harsh occupation and displacement of millions of Palestinians. Somehow your statement just doesn't show us your sorrow.
This is reminiscent of how CNN, NBC, and other news outlets provided live coverage of Israel's arguments at the ICJ hearings in The Hague but not the Palestinian's side of the argument. The DNC's behavior of last night was emblematic of the past 10 months and the widespread indifference exhibited by the *left* towards Muslim suffering.
This level of DNC hypocrisy isn’t at all surprising. Political expediency (and political pain avoidance) always win vs matters of principle and the preservation of human life.
Anyone who thinks US policy is going to change under Harris, where Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank are concerned, needs to step away from their opioid supply and rejoin the real world.
Harris will tut tut a bit more than the sad sack Biden did but American taxpayers should expect to continue to provide endless charity to Israel and uninterrupted supplies of American killing machines.
We are complicit in the genocide and this will continue.
Peter, thank you for this video, so badly needed at this time. It is appalling that the DNC and the Harris campaign have refused to allow a Palestinian to address the convention from the main stage and speak their truth to America. For the many Americans, of all ages, who are horrified and outraged by the US support and enablement of the genocide in Gaza, this is an enormous red flag telling us that the Democratic Party is not democratic, is not a party of equality, and is not a party with any sense of morality or the rule of law. The Democratic Party is at a major crossroads regarding Israel and Palestine. If it is to survive as a reputable party, it will have to make fundamental changes about its unconditional allegiance to Israel, and those changes must be made soon.
The United States government is a Zionist nation. Israel is our closest ally. This is not going to change anytime soon. These are people who make contributions to humanity through advances in technology, scientific research, and medicine. Israel is a thriving democracy under tremendous stress caused by the events on 10/7/2023. It is an obscenity that the hostages have not been returned to their families.
Would someone care to explain why Palestinian Americans believe they are entitled to a ceasefire while Hamas is simultaneously holding hostages, including Israeli hostages.
Why do American Palestinians believe they had a right to kidnap and hold these people hostage to begin with? Crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed on 10/7/2023 by Hamas and five other Islamic terrorist groups against the state of Israel.
No sensible person condones the attack of October 7. We all want to bring the hostages home. Why does Israel feel justified in bombing and killing 40,000 people over the past 10 months just because they are governed by Hamas? If bombing alone could free the hostages they would surely be free by now. This military strategy only creates more converts to Hamas and makes Israel look terrible in the eyes of the world.
These statements of unqualified equivalence are cynical abused of social power and goodwill. "The United States government is a Zionist nation." NO - The United States government is the government for many nations of people. "Israel is our closest ally." NO - Our closest allies are those states that do not perpetuate plausible genocides but instead do the hard work of maintaining a Liberal tension between freedom and equality. The successive governments of Israeli Nationalists are instantiated by BB.Net, who has collapsed that tension for the sake of political supremacy over a weaker nation. Israel and the elements of the USA that support such a collapse do not warrant respect.
The US government has many different policies. They come and go. As do definitions of Zionism. I have never met a Palestinian who hates Jews. All Palestinians I have met, however, express a whole range of heartbreak and at times rage, against Israeli Nationalists who in large enough numbers support their plausible genocide. If you value getting invited to parties, it is not in your long term interest to not speak out against mass murder and slaughter and dehumanization of an entire nation of people.
The official policy of the US government is largely bought and paid for by AIPAC and Zionist billionaires like Hiam Saban and Miriam Adelson. Polls show the American people feel quite differently.
I Couldn't agree More Peter. I feel like I am on the Outskirts of what has been going on for
years and has come down to where we are "Openly Supporting the Gross Horrific Genocide (another Holocaust) of Palestinian People, and not allowing one Palestinian to speaker.at the DNC. The DNC is busy aligning themselves with Corporate Billionaires , like weapons manufactures such as Lockheed and Martin making the bombs. Their stock has sky rocketed since October 7th. . Capitalistic Profits based on "Exterminating people" paid for by tax payers. ! I guess the whole country has to eventually Collapse!
I fully agree with your point Peter. I would add that surely, in a most basic way, the DNC has already vitally damaged their prospects in November - up and down the ballot? Three quarters of all Democrats and Independents disapprove of Israel's "war" (carnage, genocide) in Gaza. Meanwhile two thirds of Republicans still support Israel. So the DNC looks more in tune with Republican voter opinion than their own supporters on this now crucial issue. This is a huge turn-off for Democrats and Independents, who are surely the only ones likely to vote for Democrat candidates in November?
This can only therefore be a quick ticket to electoral oblivion in November.
Moreover, after seeing the videos - on Democracy Now! - of the heightened anger and betrayal felt by Palestinian American and Jewish American current and former Congressional staff and elected officials not just on the substance but on the insulting dismissive way this entire matter has been handled by the DNC, one can only be yet more dismayed. Beyond even Gaza, do I want to vote for these "tin ear" folks?
Let's keep up the pressure on all the "Centrists" - regardless of what they say. I will hold my nose and vote for Kamala. I am genuinely excited to vote for her and Walz for all the other obvious reasons. But I will NOT allow anyone to shame the Uncommitted or any single Palestinian or other person in ally-ship for wanting to choose otherwise. We must continue to SHAME all the people who would defend mass murder and the slaughter of babies and children, not to mention the total devastation of an urban civilian infrastructure, or the decades upon decades of denial of basic human rights to the Palestinian people with our tax dollars, while so many fellow Americans suffer. The DNC leadership are DISGUSTING. But this is not a situation Kamala or Tim Walz created. We can recognize Nancy Pelosi for being smart and savvy, while simultaneously condemning her for being callously uncaring toward Palestinian suffering.
Thanks, Peter. I am in total agreement with you. This was a tragic mistake on their part. It may cost them the election, in fact. As much as I fear Trump, they will not get my vote. And calling for a ceasefire without also calling for an end to military aid is just talk - not action.
Spot on as always. I wish you were advising them. The snubbing of the Palestinian voice while highlighting the Israeli voice is such a shameful slap in the face.
A contrary view. As frustrated and horrified as this community is (and I'm firmly in that group) there is, sadly, realpolitik. THE most important thing is that Kamala wins. As if it couldn't get worse, Trump will make it worse. This is certainly open for different interpretation: the DNC calculated that a speaker addressing the plight of Palestinians could factor into a lost election. Again a sad state of affairs and this does not ignore that many Dems are on the wrong side of this issue. I think Kamala did the best that could be done with her statement last night. Maybe that was some consolation. I realize it won't go far enough for many. Ultimately it boils down to whether meaningful progress is made. We must continue to build political support for that. We need to be much better at that. (why is another topic). In this instance, taking a "back seat" temporarily and getting Kamala elected is most important. (Disclaimer: It's impossible to discuss such a complicated subject in a few lines. Also, I essentially agree with Peter on everything I've read/heard, and this is the first time I have a different take - but agree it's so sad that neither party is standing up for basic human rights).
I hope everyone keeps in mind that this problem of an overly militaristic approach to Zionism is not Kamala Harris' making but the making of generations of Democrats over the years. While I was incredibly pissed off by her mentioning "sexual violence" alleged against Hamas (which has been debunked) and not against the IDF, I was impressed that she even put Palestinian Self-Determination on the podium, when it has been dismissed for decades. It's like gay marriage - the anxieties over when to say it from the Bill Clinton years throughout the Obama years - always "now is not the right time" - but we finally got a candidate who said that much. I am not excusing the 40k officially dead and the likely 100k more probably also dead, let alone the torture, the devastation...everything else the rest of us acknowledge. We have suffered through generations of BAD LEADERSHIP from all sides, all ethnicities - Black, White, Asian, Hispanic - ALL are culpable in allowing this madness of mass murder to take place. Why should we expect the DNC to be better? It's a breakthrough moment that Kamala had the courage to put it up on the board. Now it's up to the rest of us to keep it there. Very impressed with the young Howard U students profiled in The Guardian who dared to say they're watching over Gaza...
Peter: your comments over the past months have made me not feel crazy, so thank you. Agree on the Dems not seeming to be in touch with reality . . . I would go so far as to say they are a bankrupt political institution whose sole purpose to exist at this point is to serve as a holding pen for votes AGAINST the Republicans, and more importantly as a bulwark against any kind of real progressive agenda in the United States. And as long as progressives decide to stay within Dem Party, I fear the nation will drift ever-rightward. Whether Trump wins or loses, we will continue to get worse candidates without a strong independent left to serve as an alternative voice.
You make an excellent point, but I think an acknowledgement in words is only a teeny tiny bit better than nothing. In other words, unfortunately, it's not enough.
who is listening over at the DNC? To acknowledge the hostages and NOT acknowledge the people of Palestine seems WORSE than ignoring the issue altogether. I think the Dems are damaging their credibility with younger voters. including politically aware JEWISH voters. AIPAC will only become less important as time passes.
Hear Hear!
The only thing that would damage the credibility of the Democratic party is any hint of being associated with terror groups. That’s not what Democrats need or want.
How is preventing the continuation of a genocide associated with a terror group?
First, Israel is NOT committing genocide. No matter how many times you say it, it’s still a false statement. Remember 10/7/2023 ? It didn’t make Islamic Palestinians look so good, Mr. Abu-Odeh.
Hamas does all it can to steal humanitarian supplies and use its people as human shields.
Rwanda was a genocide; the Holocaust was a genocide.
That’s bad publicity for the Democratic party. I’m sorry this is happening to Gazans. It’s tragic and it didn’t need to happen.
Right. And Israel is NOT occupying Palestinian land and NOT an apartheid regime. Open your eyes Ms. Simmons , and your mind.
I am sure you are deeply sorry for the massacre of 40,000 people, as you are undoubtedly sorry, deeply sorry for Israel's harsh occupation and displacement of millions of Palestinians. Somehow your statement just doesn't show us your sorrow.
Your brief presentation was succinct and on target. " Humanizing equality" is a concept rarely heard.
Bravo!
A. Hebert - Florida
This is reminiscent of how CNN, NBC, and other news outlets provided live coverage of Israel's arguments at the ICJ hearings in The Hague but not the Palestinian's side of the argument. The DNC's behavior of last night was emblematic of the past 10 months and the widespread indifference exhibited by the *left* towards Muslim suffering.
This level of DNC hypocrisy isn’t at all surprising. Political expediency (and political pain avoidance) always win vs matters of principle and the preservation of human life.
Anyone who thinks US policy is going to change under Harris, where Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank are concerned, needs to step away from their opioid supply and rejoin the real world.
Harris will tut tut a bit more than the sad sack Biden did but American taxpayers should expect to continue to provide endless charity to Israel and uninterrupted supplies of American killing machines.
We are complicit in the genocide and this will continue.
Courage, Peter! Keep up being the voice of truth.
Peter, thank you for this video, so badly needed at this time. It is appalling that the DNC and the Harris campaign have refused to allow a Palestinian to address the convention from the main stage and speak their truth to America. For the many Americans, of all ages, who are horrified and outraged by the US support and enablement of the genocide in Gaza, this is an enormous red flag telling us that the Democratic Party is not democratic, is not a party of equality, and is not a party with any sense of morality or the rule of law. The Democratic Party is at a major crossroads regarding Israel and Palestine. If it is to survive as a reputable party, it will have to make fundamental changes about its unconditional allegiance to Israel, and those changes must be made soon.
The United States government is a Zionist nation. Israel is our closest ally. This is not going to change anytime soon. These are people who make contributions to humanity through advances in technology, scientific research, and medicine. Israel is a thriving democracy under tremendous stress caused by the events on 10/7/2023. It is an obscenity that the hostages have not been returned to their families.
Would someone care to explain why Palestinian Americans believe they are entitled to a ceasefire while Hamas is simultaneously holding hostages, including Israeli hostages.
Why do American Palestinians believe they had a right to kidnap and hold these people hostage to begin with? Crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed on 10/7/2023 by Hamas and five other Islamic terrorist groups against the state of Israel.
No sensible person condones the attack of October 7. We all want to bring the hostages home. Why does Israel feel justified in bombing and killing 40,000 people over the past 10 months just because they are governed by Hamas? If bombing alone could free the hostages they would surely be free by now. This military strategy only creates more converts to Hamas and makes Israel look terrible in the eyes of the world.
These statements of unqualified equivalence are cynical abused of social power and goodwill. "The United States government is a Zionist nation." NO - The United States government is the government for many nations of people. "Israel is our closest ally." NO - Our closest allies are those states that do not perpetuate plausible genocides but instead do the hard work of maintaining a Liberal tension between freedom and equality. The successive governments of Israeli Nationalists are instantiated by BB.Net, who has collapsed that tension for the sake of political supremacy over a weaker nation. Israel and the elements of the USA that support such a collapse do not warrant respect.
Chants of “Globalize the Intifada” and “Death to America” will not get you anywhere. Just ostracized.
Excuse me. It is the official policy of the US government to recognize and to fiercely defend Israel’s right to exist.
Is that not the very definition of Zionism ?
Furthermore, many Americans are well acquainted now with the casual and virulent hatred Palestinians exhibit toward Jews.
This is why they don’t get invited to parties.
The US government has many different policies. They come and go. As do definitions of Zionism. I have never met a Palestinian who hates Jews. All Palestinians I have met, however, express a whole range of heartbreak and at times rage, against Israeli Nationalists who in large enough numbers support their plausible genocide. If you value getting invited to parties, it is not in your long term interest to not speak out against mass murder and slaughter and dehumanization of an entire nation of people.
The official policy of the US government is largely bought and paid for by AIPAC and Zionist billionaires like Hiam Saban and Miriam Adelson. Polls show the American people feel quite differently.
I Couldn't agree More Peter. I feel like I am on the Outskirts of what has been going on for
years and has come down to where we are "Openly Supporting the Gross Horrific Genocide (another Holocaust) of Palestinian People, and not allowing one Palestinian to speaker.at the DNC. The DNC is busy aligning themselves with Corporate Billionaires , like weapons manufactures such as Lockheed and Martin making the bombs. Their stock has sky rocketed since October 7th. . Capitalistic Profits based on "Exterminating people" paid for by tax payers. ! I guess the whole country has to eventually Collapse!
I fully agree with your point Peter. I would add that surely, in a most basic way, the DNC has already vitally damaged their prospects in November - up and down the ballot? Three quarters of all Democrats and Independents disapprove of Israel's "war" (carnage, genocide) in Gaza. Meanwhile two thirds of Republicans still support Israel. So the DNC looks more in tune with Republican voter opinion than their own supporters on this now crucial issue. This is a huge turn-off for Democrats and Independents, who are surely the only ones likely to vote for Democrat candidates in November?
This can only therefore be a quick ticket to electoral oblivion in November.
Moreover, after seeing the videos - on Democracy Now! - of the heightened anger and betrayal felt by Palestinian American and Jewish American current and former Congressional staff and elected officials not just on the substance but on the insulting dismissive way this entire matter has been handled by the DNC, one can only be yet more dismayed. Beyond even Gaza, do I want to vote for these "tin ear" folks?
Let's keep up the pressure on all the "Centrists" - regardless of what they say. I will hold my nose and vote for Kamala. I am genuinely excited to vote for her and Walz for all the other obvious reasons. But I will NOT allow anyone to shame the Uncommitted or any single Palestinian or other person in ally-ship for wanting to choose otherwise. We must continue to SHAME all the people who would defend mass murder and the slaughter of babies and children, not to mention the total devastation of an urban civilian infrastructure, or the decades upon decades of denial of basic human rights to the Palestinian people with our tax dollars, while so many fellow Americans suffer. The DNC leadership are DISGUSTING. But this is not a situation Kamala or Tim Walz created. We can recognize Nancy Pelosi for being smart and savvy, while simultaneously condemning her for being callously uncaring toward Palestinian suffering.
Thanks, Peter. I am in total agreement with you. This was a tragic mistake on their part. It may cost them the election, in fact. As much as I fear Trump, they will not get my vote. And calling for a ceasefire without also calling for an end to military aid is just talk - not action.
Spot on as always. I wish you were advising them. The snubbing of the Palestinian voice while highlighting the Israeli voice is such a shameful slap in the face.
What a missed opportunity. How incredible would it have been to have BOTH the hostage family member and a Palestinian who lost family speak together.
Sigh, we ourselves should show those examples until it becomes the new ‘normal’ (like your talk by Profs. Raja Khouri and Jeffrey Wilkinson).
A contrary view. As frustrated and horrified as this community is (and I'm firmly in that group) there is, sadly, realpolitik. THE most important thing is that Kamala wins. As if it couldn't get worse, Trump will make it worse. This is certainly open for different interpretation: the DNC calculated that a speaker addressing the plight of Palestinians could factor into a lost election. Again a sad state of affairs and this does not ignore that many Dems are on the wrong side of this issue. I think Kamala did the best that could be done with her statement last night. Maybe that was some consolation. I realize it won't go far enough for many. Ultimately it boils down to whether meaningful progress is made. We must continue to build political support for that. We need to be much better at that. (why is another topic). In this instance, taking a "back seat" temporarily and getting Kamala elected is most important. (Disclaimer: It's impossible to discuss such a complicated subject in a few lines. Also, I essentially agree with Peter on everything I've read/heard, and this is the first time I have a different take - but agree it's so sad that neither party is standing up for basic human rights).
I hope everyone keeps in mind that this problem of an overly militaristic approach to Zionism is not Kamala Harris' making but the making of generations of Democrats over the years. While I was incredibly pissed off by her mentioning "sexual violence" alleged against Hamas (which has been debunked) and not against the IDF, I was impressed that she even put Palestinian Self-Determination on the podium, when it has been dismissed for decades. It's like gay marriage - the anxieties over when to say it from the Bill Clinton years throughout the Obama years - always "now is not the right time" - but we finally got a candidate who said that much. I am not excusing the 40k officially dead and the likely 100k more probably also dead, let alone the torture, the devastation...everything else the rest of us acknowledge. We have suffered through generations of BAD LEADERSHIP from all sides, all ethnicities - Black, White, Asian, Hispanic - ALL are culpable in allowing this madness of mass murder to take place. Why should we expect the DNC to be better? It's a breakthrough moment that Kamala had the courage to put it up on the board. Now it's up to the rest of us to keep it there. Very impressed with the young Howard U students profiled in The Guardian who dared to say they're watching over Gaza...
Peter: your comments over the past months have made me not feel crazy, so thank you. Agree on the Dems not seeming to be in touch with reality . . . I would go so far as to say they are a bankrupt political institution whose sole purpose to exist at this point is to serve as a holding pen for votes AGAINST the Republicans, and more importantly as a bulwark against any kind of real progressive agenda in the United States. And as long as progressives decide to stay within Dem Party, I fear the nation will drift ever-rightward. Whether Trump wins or loses, we will continue to get worse candidates without a strong independent left to serve as an alternative voice.
Why can't James Zogby speak???
You make an excellent point, but I think an acknowledgement in words is only a teeny tiny bit better than nothing. In other words, unfortunately, it's not enough.
I really hope Nazrina Bargzie is listening to you...That's her job.