The last time she gathered with fellow Democrats for a pre-election national convention, Georgia state representative Ruwa Romman got an unspoken message from the party establishment: on their biggest stage, she said, “There’s room for an anti-choice Republican but not for Palestinians”.
asserted
she → gather → Palestinians
Democratic officials gave speaking slots to an architect of Georgia’s strict abortion ban and other conservatives critical of Donald Trump, but they denied a speech from Romman or other Palestinian Americans.
asserted
they → give → Romman
In Democratic primaries this year, voters rejected many of the party establishment’s choices, including a 15-term congresswoman in Colorado and the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
asserted
voters → reject → Caucus
The unlikely winners in all those races emphasized empathy and accountability for Palestinian losses in Gaza; Abdul El-Sayed, who won Michigan’s Senate primary, made opposition to the ardently pro-Israel group Aipac central to his candidacy.
asserted
opposition → emphasize → candidacy
With 60% of potential Democratic voters in a May poll sympathizing more with Palestinians than Israelis and 48% saying the party has been too supportive of Israel, the base is eager for Democratic leaders to rethink unfettered US-Israel solidarity.
uncertain
leaders → sympathize → solidarity
When Democrats previously held power, they chose to fuel Israeli violence and collective punishment against Palestinians for 16 months, while never censuring Israel for thousands of apparent violations of international law and American standards for countries receiving military aid, in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied West Bank.
asserted
they → hold → Gaza
Israel denies wrongdoing.
asserted
Israel → deny → wrongdoing
Harris, for one, has spoken with some critics of the Biden-Harris administration’s Gaza policy as she has weighed another run.
asserted
she → speak → run
(Harris’s team declined to comment for this story and ignored my interview requests for nearly two years.)
Such an effort by Harris will have to account for her role in Biden’s bear-hug of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyah and the convention rollout.
asserted
effort → decline → Netanyah
Party insiders I spoke with are skeptical of her ability to repair the damage.
asserted
I → speak → damage
While some sympathetic to her say she was overpowered by Democratic party veterans and Biden aides, they note many of those figures still wield institutional power.
asserted
many → say → power
Meanwhile, Biden’s team is largely dodging responsibility for Gaza’s ongoing nightmare, blaming the ailing former president, Trump, Netanyahu or Hamas, and denying they could have done much differently.
uncertain
they → dodge → president
Even as public sentiment shifts, Romman, the first Muslim woman elected to Georgia’s house of representatives, worries that party leaders could repeat old patterns.
uncertain
leaders → shift → patterns
“Since the beginning of the genocide, there has been a hesitation to talk to Palestinians directly,” Romman said.
asserted
Romman → talk → Palestinians
“It’s been great to see some outreach to progressive leaders who’ve stood with us on this issue, but until there is actual dialogue with Palestinians, these efforts will continue to ring hollow.”
asserted
efforts → see → Palestinians
The previous convention battle, she recently told me, “represented a disregard to the real devastation our tax dollars were causing” and “launched a nationwide rebuke as we’ve seen this past election cycle”.
asserted
we → tell → cycle
In covering the Biden White House and 2024 election, and in reporting out my new book, Crossing the Red Line, through nearly 175 interviews, I encountered insular decision-making, dismissal of critics, and, above all, deference to US-Israel ties.
asserted
I → cover → ties
Those patterns helped both the administration and the Harris campaign fail at their stated goals, exacting a tremendous cost in Gaza and, eventually, in the US.
asserted
administration → help → US
Democrats now have a chance to adapt to a new playbook on Israel-Palestine.
asserted
Democrats → have → Palestine
When Harris became the party’s presidential candidate in 2024, she had a similar opportunity.
asserted
she → become → opportunity
Netanyahu was scheduled to visit Washington just three days after Harris replaced Biden.
asserted
Harris → schedule → Biden
It was by then clear that Netanyahu was consistently defying the administration’s calls to limit casualties among Palestinians and seek peace, and that there was already a widening gap between the administration’s embrace of Israel and views among Democrats, only 23 percent of whom by that point approved of the Israeli military campaign.
asserted
percent → defy → campaign
On July 22, the day Netanyahu embarked for the US, the Israeli military intensified its grip on Gaza, once again shrinking its so-called safe zone for Palestinians, this time by more than 15%.
asserted
military → embark → %
Harris had had little experience shaping Gaza policy, with one US official telling me her role in decision-making amounted to “no involvement whatsoever”.
asserted
role → have → involvement
Still, some suspected she would differentiate herself from Biden.
asserted
she → suspect → Biden
A Black and south Asian woman 22 years younger than the president, Harris spoke more extensively about Palestinian suffering, and her advisors, known to be skeptical of military-driven efforts to reshape the Middle East and of Netanyahu, would likely be empowered if she won.
asserted
she → speak → Netanyahu
One US official told me those around Harris saw information about Gaza “impacting her”, noting that she had listened to the recording of five-year-old Hind Rajab’s excruciating death.
asserted
she → tell → death
Additionally, Harris emphasized her career as a prosecutor – and legal probes kept demonstrating Israeli misconduct.
asserted
probes → emphasize → misconduct
Harris could be more sincere than Biden in applying international law to America’s Israel policy and signaling US government lawyers should let the facts, not politics, guide investigations of whether Tel Aviv broke international and American law, people close to her and some observers believed.
uncertain
people → apply → her
As Netanyahu’s visit neared, there were mounting signs she had political room to challenge him: Seven major unions – core Democratic supporters – called for ending military aid to Israel, and nearly half the Democrats in Congress said they would skip his speech.
asserted
they → near → speech
The Israeli leader’s visit was the first chance since October 7 for most in Washington to directly confront the person they were enabling: the unapologetic subject of corruption trials at home and international charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and enforced starvation, a figure who regularly made a mockery of US government pleas.
asserted
who → confront → pleas
Speaking in Congress to significant applause, Netanyahu got a show of his stature in America, helping stiffen his resistance to calls for moderation.
asserted
Netanyahu → speak → moderation
Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland senator, told me that the Biden administration enabled a key line in Netanyahu’s address: in smearing anti-war Americans as “useful idiots” manipulated by Iran, the Israeli leader cited a statement from Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, on July 9 that said Iran’s government was driving activism over Gaza.
asserted
government → tell → Gaza
Van Hollen received a classified briefing from intelligence officials afterward that provided “extremely limited examples” of Iranian involvement, contrary to Netanyahu’s depiction.
asserted
that → receive → depiction
Concerns among American officials about the administration’s handling of intelligence had grown throughout the war: a senior administration official told me that as analysis and briefings were developed, before they flowed up the chain to Haines, they were often shaped by Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, two Biden aides known for trusting Israeli narratives about Gaza.
asserted
they → grow → Gaza
(McGurk and Hochstein did not provide comment.)
asserted
McGurk → provide → comment
Some intelligence staff felt pressure to frame material to support the administration’s preference of staying close to Israel, two former US officials told me.
asserted
officials → feel → Israel
One described pervasive “self-censorship” among intelligence officials from junior analysts to those who were involved in assembling the president’s daily brief.
asserted
who → describe → brief
In addition, the office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI) indicated to other government bodies that any inquiries about Israeli compliance with international law would have to come from the cabinet level, a senior intelligence official and a senior state department official both told me – thereby adopting a higher standard for colleagues’ access to intelligence assessments than the ODNI had for other situations and partner countries.
asserted
ODNI → indicate → situations
The day after his congressional address, Netanyahu met with both the president and Harris, who said afterward, “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering.
asserted
ourselves → meet → suffering
…and 74 more, not listed.
The Aporia
