Kamala Harris & the Uncommitted Movement

Harris should break with Biden's Israel policy and instead vow to enforce the Leahy Laws on Israel while in office. Democrats need to simultaneously argue against the "Israel First" GOP agenda.

Biden’s election troubles did not start at the debate; he was already on track to lose the election to Trump before it happened. Biden’s debate performance may have been the nail in the coffin, but his campaign was already on its way to the grave. Biden had no remaining path to victory even before debating Trump because most democrats believe genocide is wrong and they accurately assess that Israel is committing genocide. As a direct result of Joe Biden’s complicity in Israeli war crimes,

“Hundreds of thousands of voters across the country cast their ballots for no candidate in Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday, instead selecting versions of "uncommitted," as a movement opposing President Biden's handling of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza grows across the country.

The results came just a week after the Michigan presidential primary, where the "uncommitted" choice on the ballot garnered over 100,000 votes.”

-NPR

A significant portion of Biden’s voters made it absolutely clear that they will not vote in support of genocide, but Biden responded by telling those voters that he would rather give Trump the White House than end his support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Biden sacrificed his re-election campaign in order to continue unwavering support for the apartheid government of Israel with absolutely no red lines whatsoever at a time when they commit war crimes and crimes against humanity on a daily basis. Biden’s re-election campaign became hopeless because he refused to change his immoral and illegal Israel policy. The debate performance enabled the Democrats to replace him as the nominee, but he was on track to lose the election if he stayed in. Kamala Harris still has to deal with Israel in her campaign, and the way she has been handling it is disappointing. Uncommitted Movement organizers explained that,

"Harris’s unwillingness to shift on unconditional weapons policy or to even make a clear campaign statement in support of upholding existing U.S. and international human rights law has made it impossible for us to endorse her" (NPR).

Following Biden’s path could cost Kamala Harris the election, but so could changing course. Kamala Harris would need to announce a legitimate break with the Biden administration's policy towards Israel. Coming out in favor of enforcing any sort of human rights conditions on the aid we send Israel will be portrayed by the pro-war fake news as betraying Israel and supporting terrorism. Even worse, it will result in the Israel Lobby spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure Democrats do not win in November. The Israel Lobby is America’s most powerful foreign election interference threat exclusively focused on funding politicians who will “continue America’s military and fiscal support of the Jewish nation-state” with absolutely no conditions. If Democrats set off the election interference behemoth of the Israel Lobby, that could unleash hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit the Republican Party. AIPAC spent $23 million on a Democratic primary race to oust a single Progressive who was critical of Israel. If Kamala were to trigger the whole Israel Lobby right before the election, that could also hand Trump the White House and the GOP both the House and Senate. This is a double-edged sword because without that break Kamala Harris will not earn back the support of the uncommitted movement which could cost her the election.

It is an extremely difficult situation, but it is manageable both financially and politically. Israel Lobby dollars don’t vote and American voters don’t support an unconditional flow of weapons to any foreign government engaged in genocidal war crimes. Kamala Harris is sitting on a campaign war chest of over 540 million dollars so she can afford to take a political stand in favor of a new strategy. The solution is for Democrats to acknowledge the reality of the situation and take a moral stand against war crimes and crimes against humanity even when Israel commits them. The International Court of Justice ruled that Israel is guilty of a 57 year illegal annexation of Palestinian territory and of enacting an apartheid occupation. The United Nations General Assembly “voted overwhelmingly to direct Israel to leave the occupied Palestinian territories within a year” and cease “its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as soon as possible and stop all settlement activity there immediately.” Israel is an apartheid state currently engaged in genocidal war crimes including collective punishment, indiscriminate bombing, and using starvation as a method of warfare. International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is requesting arrest warrants for Netanyahu claiming;

“On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for  the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023:

• Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare…

• Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health…

• Wilful killing…or Murder as a war crime…

• Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population…

• Extermination and/or murder…including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity”

Netanyahu’s guilt is undeniable. Israeli leaders officially announced their use of starvation as a method of warfare in October; “’We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza,’ Gallant said. ‘There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed.’” Netanyahu personally said “We provide minimal humanitarian aid...If we want to achieve our war goals, we give the minimal aid.” He then tweeted; “The minimal amount will be determined from time to time by the War Cabinet according to the morbidity situation and humanitarian situation in the Strip.” Periodically the Israeli Security Cabinet decides “to allow a minimal supplement of fuel – necessary to prevent a humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics – into the…Gaza Strip” demonstrating their total control over the flow of aid. Now months after the Israeli government officially announced a siege on Gaza, American members of Congress confirmed that children have been dying from starvation. World Food Program officials have been warning of a full-blown famine which the UN head confirmed while pointing out that famine is entirely “man-made.” The World Food Program director Cindy McCain revealed that children and adults are actively wasting into the size of skeletons before dying from prolonged hunger;

"Imagine a child wasting into the size of a skeleton - and of course passing from it - and an adult doing the same thing. That's what we're seeing on the ground…I'm having to make the decision...about taking food from the hungry and giving it to the starving" -Cindy McCain

There is a consensus that a famine is occurring in Gaza, and there are clear Israeli government statements and actions proving their intentional use of starvation as a method of warfare. In addition, Israeli religious fundamentalists have coordinated with the Israeli government to locate and destroy food aid meant to go to Palestinians.

And Israeli prison guards have systematically used rape as a weapon of war against Palestinian prisoners. That fact was exposed in a B'Tselem report called “Welcome to Hell” and was summarized in this report from Human Rights Watch and this Democracy Now video;

When Israeli prison guards were charged for the crime of inserting a metal rod into the anus of a Palestinian prisoner and gang raping him to death, Israeli Religious fundamentalists rioted in support of the prison guards.

Israeli media erupted in support of the IDF raping Palestinian prisoners and Israeli political leaders defended the practice claiming “Everything is legitimate to do! Everything!” (CBS). So Israel is an apartheid state engaged in innumerable war crimes with religious fundamentalists running rampant. The modern-day cultural of Israel is sick and depraved with widespread support of raping Palestinians, starving Palestinian civilians to death, bombing Gaza indiscriminately, and enacting an apartheid occupation. The United States should not continue to support Israel without a transformative cultural reckoning.

Israel must become a partner for peace for there to ever be a lasting peace. The Israeli Knesset voted overwhelmingly against US stated policy of a 2 state solution, proving that Israel is not a partner for peace. Israelis have made clear that they will not make the necessary changes they need to make while they receive the unconditional backing of the United States. And we can learn from our own history as well; the United States existed as a slave state until the Civil War then as an apartheid state until the Civil Rights Movement. We had to go through a cultural renaissance to move past the vile, depraved culture of Jim Crow America; now Israel needs to go through that same process with their own apartheid system. The Netanyahu legacy should be looked at with outrage and disgust by future generations of Israelis just like the Bull Conner and George Wallace legacy are viewed in America today. The United States, as an ally of Israel, needs to compel them to change. Friends don’t let friends commit genocide. Friends don’t let friends commit apartheid. As allies of Israel, it is our responsibility to help them see the reality of the situation and make the necessary changes to facilitate peaceful coexistence.

Telling that truth combined with offering reasonable and moral policy proposals would be enough to win back the uncommitted movement while not turning away normie voters in the general election. America has Leahy Laws which prohibit the US government from supporting any foreign government engaged in gross violations of human rights and Israel is engaged in gross violations of human right. The Biden administration is exempting Israel from enforcement of the Leahy laws and Trump would too. Kamala Harris the prosecutor should instead campaign on enforcing the Leahy Laws regarding US aid to Israel. She could confirm that she would bring Israel into compliance with current US laws or make them face consequences in accordance with those laws. She could argue to the American people that we should leverage our money, weapons, and diplomatic support for Israel on Israel ending their war crimes and crimes against humanity. Kamala should clarify a new approach different from Biden's by vowing to cut off offensive military weapons to Israel until they;

• Commit to a legitimate 2 state solution

• End their use of starvation as a method of war

• End their indiscriminate in bombing of Gaza

• End their aggression against other nations in the region

• Turn over Israeli war criminals to the ICC

• And end their apartheid occupation of illegally annexed Palestinian territory

Democrats simultaneously need to make a political case against foreign election interference from the Israel Lobby manipulating our elections. The reality is, the Israel Lobby corrupts our political system the same way Wall Street does. The same corruption that enables Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Billionaires to buy politicians is what empowers the Israel Lobby too. Citizens United and a few other Supreme Court cases have been decided poorly which allowed powerful interest groups to flood our elections with money that is used to buy policy positions from our politicians. And the solution to all of that corruption is Bernie Sanders’ Saving American Democracy Constitutional Amendment!

Ridding our elections of foreign interference and big money interference is a message that would appeal to any American who cares about our democracy. If Democrats made that argument, then every penny the Israel Lobby spends to support the GOP could be used as proof of their election interference.

Democrats would also need to accurately portray Trump and the GOP as “Israel First,” which they are. Trump wants to be even more pro-Israel than Biden without any of the finger-wagging over civilian causalities. The GOP has been openly heartless when it comes to Palestinian civilian casualties. When Democrats protested over seeing child after child pulled from rubble caused by Israeli airstrikes indiscriminately bombing civilian infrastructure in Gaza,

Tom Cotton said to “Bounce the Rubble”;

Instead of representing American citizens, members of the Israel First GOP have worn IDF uniforms into Congress,

The GOP advocated to extend US veteran benefits to members of the Israeli Defense Force,

The GOP tried to create legislation to define any criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism while criminally cracking down on the free speech of Americans who oppose the actions of Israel,

The GOP tried to legally codify an Israel exemption into US law to prevent human rights conditions from ever being enforced on Israel by any President ever while canceling the salary of any DoD or State Department official who dares to speak of applying the Leahy laws to Israel aid,

And the Israel First GOP exposed themselves and anti-Arab racists by telling an Arab woman to hide her head in a bag during a Congressional hearing about Hate Crimes. Senator Kennedy should be expelled from Congress in a sane world for this;

Democrats could campaign against the GOP’s Israel First agenda which has been created by the “AIPAC babysitters” nearly every Republican member of Congress has;

So basically;

• Kamala Harris should campaign on upholding the Leahy laws and bringing American foreign policy towards Israel into compliance with decisions from international organizations like the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and the United Nations General Assembly.

• Democrats should embrace the Leahy laws and advocate for a new law called “Ending the Israel Exemption” which makes clear that all US human rights conditions on foreign aid must be enforced on all foreign aid to every nation.

• Democrats should advocate to end the political manipulation of groups like the Israel Lobby by regulating campaign finance,

• And Democrats should offer the clear political choice between themselves supporting human rights & opposing genocide versus Republicans who oppose Palestinian human rights while supporting Israel's ongoing genocide.