Anti-Israel activists set to pack Chicago streets for Democratic convention protest
Tens of thousands expected to join march Monday to push Biden and Harris to end support for Israel, organized by coalition of 200 groups that see new nominee as more of the same
When US Vice President Kamala Harris flies to Chicago next week to accept her party’s nomination for the presidency, she will be met head-on with voters protesting one of her thorniest electoral issues: the Biden administration’s aid to Israel.
A coalition of some 200 social justice organizations is going forward with their plan to march at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, despite a late decision by President Joe Biden — the main focus of their ire — to step down from the top of the ticket.
The activists resent Biden’s administration for helping fund Israel during its ongoing war against the Hamas terror group, which began on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza with the stated aims of destroying Hamas, returning the hostages and preventing the enclave from posing a security threat going forward.
The March on the DNC coalition, which celebrates the October 7 attack as “when Palestinians broke out of the Gaza prison walls,” said it is calling for an end to US aid to Israel. It referred to the Jewish state as “the USA’s landed aircraft carrier in the Middle East,” used “to control the region — with its huge oil reserves — for the profits of US corporations.”
Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesperson for the coalition, said dozens of the group’s leaders met after Biden ended his campaign and discussed if they should change tack if Harris became the nominee.
“There was absolute consensus,” he recalled. “She represents the policies of the administration and it’s full steam ahead.”
In a statement following Biden’s withdrawal from the race, the coalition declared, “Genocide Joe Biden has stepped down from running for President as the Democratic Party nominee. His decision doesn’t change the policies of Democratic Party leadership, specifically their support of the genocide in Palestine, so our movement must continue to apply pressure.”
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August, and another 1,000 Gazan terrorists were killed inside Israel on October 7.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in May, some 44 percent of registered Democrats disapproved of Biden’s handling of the war.
Abandon Biden, a pro-Palestinian campaign founded to mobilize voters against Biden, believes Harris bears responsibility for Gaza’s humanitarian crisis but is not yet launching an “Abandon Harris” campaign, spokesperson Hudhayfah Ahmad said. The group will be in Chicago and watching for changes to the Democratic party’s position.
“We’re going to give [Harris] a lot more grace than we gave Joe Biden,” Ahmad said. “However, I will emphasize, the clock is ticking and our patience is running out.”
Organizers have said the DNC march will be family-friendly. Still, some onlookers worry that the combination of a heavy police presence, throngs of protesters and potential ill-intentioned agitators could combust.
Some point to the wave of protests that swept college campuses in the spring, which included frequent expressions of support for Hamas and other terror groups, as well as clashes with law enforcement when police were sent in to clear protest encampments and other spaces occupied by protesters, including some that students had forcibly entered.
“It’s going to be a mess in Chicago starting Sunday,” said Emad Salem, a Harris delegate from Texas and part of a group called “Delegates Against Genocide” that is urging the DNC to call for a ceasefire and an arms embargo against Israel.
“This is not just Palestinians and Arabs and Muslims. We’re talking about tens of thousands of Gen Zers participating, African Americans, Latinos, anti-war protesters from all over the place.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said his organization was “deeply concerned” about the increased intensity of recent US protests and called on Chicago police to hold bad actors accountable.
Abudayyeh said the crowds are expected to peak in the tens of thousands on Monday and Thursday, coinciding respectively with the days Biden and Harris will speak, and most people would be coming from Palestinian and Arab communities in Illinois and neighboring states. The coalition includes groups advocating for a range of causes, including reproductive rights and racial justice.
Organizers have fought with city officials for months to get a permit for the rally and their desired route. After winning access to a rally site close to the United Center, where the DNC will be hosted, the coalition lost a bid this week for a longer march route, and the city barred them from using stages, portable toilets, tents or sound equipment.
Chicago police superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters that he did not want to “tie up additional resources” by lengthening the protest route, but police would ensure demonstrators could exercise their free speech rights and that they and the surrounding community would be safe.
A spokesperson for the nonprofit Israeli-American Council said it had struggled to get a permit from the city of Chicago to demonstrate outside the DNC, and was instead installing an art exhibit nearby to honor the hostages held by Hamas and support Israel.
