Not to necessarily defend Harris, but I don’t think it’s true that it “killed any hope.”
It was a speech. She said exactly what she needed to say, because if she hadn’t said that, AIPAC would’ve pulled out all the stops to get Trump elected. Look at what they already did to Bowman and Bush - if Harris had even hinted at sympathy for the Palestinians, they would do the same to her.
Now, it is entirely possible that what she said really does reflect her views and the direction her administration would take.
But it’s just as possible that her views are in fact the polar opposite, and that she’ll actually, if elected, bring genuine pressure to bear on Netanyahu and Israel and actually, sincerely work to end the genocide.
Or, of course her view could fall anywhere between those two extremes.
The point is that absolutely no matter what her actual view is, the only things she could’ve said in her speech were exactly the things she did say. Anything else, in this era of grotesquely corrupt American politics - this era in which high office is for all intents and purposes bought and sold on the open market, and AIPAC is one of the highest bidders out there - would’ve been political suicide
In front of an excitable crowd chanting “USA, USA, USA”, Harris deployed familiar language: “I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organisation called Hamas caused on October 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.”
The references to sexual violence and the festival massacre have long been deployed as a way to legitimise Israel’s war on the whole of Gaza, which has continued for nearly a year now.
Meanwhile, Palestinians are raped in Israeli prisons, and Israeli politicians openly say this is justified. Harris, like most US leaders, had nothing to say about it.
Yeah I scoffed hard at that part. Anyone still eating up Israeli propaganda about “defending themselves” when any Palestinian land that did exist is now flat, well, I got a nice beachfront property in Arizona to sell you.
You have to be truly fucking stupid to think Harris is going to be any different than Biden on ending genocide.
Go elect Trump and see what happens to Palestine…
That’s a false choice. The Democrats claimed to be the party that listens so we need to keep the pressure on them.
It’s not a false choice: you can vote Democratic in the general to prevent Trump and Co. from nuking Gaza into glass, and then vote in Democratic in primaries to kick out AIPAC-backed candidates.
The key, however, is voting. Vote, and vote often. Don’t just show up for the generals, show up for the primaries, for the down-ballot tickets, for off-year congressional elections. For mayors and councillors and dogcatchers and schoolboard trustees.
If there’s one thing you can learn from MAGA, it’s that you need to vote if you want to see change; just showing up for the general means that the party machine selects candidates for you, while voting everywhere and everytime lets you, the voter, set the agenda.
