A Palestinian American’s Place Under the Democrats’ Big Tent?
A Palestinian American’s Place Under the Democrats’ Big Tent?
Though the Uncommitted movement is lobbying to get a Palestinian American on the main stage, the Harris campaign has not yet approved one. Will there be a change before Thursday—and does the Democratic party want that?
Outside just being used for a vote most likely not. If you see that recent video DNC attendees cover their ears as the names of dead Palestinian children are read as they leave the convention. It shows you their real character.
As of the 2020 census, there were 174,887 Palestinian-Americans. That is around 0.05% of the population, and puts them between the populations of the Cherokee and Choctaw tribes.
Now I feel for the plight of the Palestinian people. But it'd be foolish to think Palestinian-Americans have a major role in the country. I'm fully supportive of divesting from Israel, but I am not supportive of catering to a tiny minority just because of the victimhood of their homeland. They deserve around as much voice as Sudanese-Americans, even if they complain 10x as loudly due to massive amplification from various anti-Israeli factions.
America is directly funding the genocide of Palestinians
American citizens' tax dollars are being used to kill tens of thousands of children
I'm sorry you consider solidarity with the Palestinian plight "catering to a tiny minority." If the Cherokee or Choctaw people were victims of an active genocide using US weapons would you say the same?
I don't support it, I've said several times now I support divesting from Israel. I'm just realistic enough to acknowledge that you need the support of the masses before you can convince leadership. Expecting a high degree of prominence without doing your legwork first is a recipe for failure, and more Palestinian deaths.
If you think the Palestinian-American community and the 3.7 million Arab Americans or the 7 million American Muslims don’t matter then fine, try to win against Trump without any of our help. We’ve been one of the most pro-Democrat communities in America and have been committed donors, only to be thrown under the bus by Biden and now Democrats. Know that Biden won Michigan by 100,000 votes and there’s 200,000 Arab-Americans in that state. Harris could lose Michigan if she endorses Biden’s approach of unconditional support for Israeli violence.
No, you haven't been one of the most pro-Democratic communities in America, not even close.
https://www.aaiusa.org/library/what-polls-can-teach-us-about-arab-american-voters-in-2024
Note that only 60% say that even a hard shift on Israeli policy would have made them more likely to support Biden. If you could say with confidence that we wouldn't lose more pro-Israeli votes from American moderates than what we could gain, then this calculus might become different.
Regarding genocides in your other reply, yes, unfortunately we have historically contributed to some, though admittedly none of those and none in recent history except for Gaza and the West Bank. Israel is not the first US ally to take an overly brutal and inhumane stance with local affairs though. Unfortunately our allies are our allies. We have dozens across the globe, and we do historically tend to support them even when we shouldn't, when war comes to their lands.
I'm fully in favor of pro-Palestinian voices being heard, but when you sometimes act like a moral high ground somehow gives you a unique license to have your issues be front and center ahead of others, you're more trouble than you're worth. Interrupting speeches with chants and commiting vandalism at what should be peace protests are examples of this.
The big tent party literally cannot contain all parties, it's just not possible, no party can do that. Each deserves as much voice as it has number of supporters it can bring, and that puts anti-genocide voices somewhere around climate activists and gun control supporters. You're not the only ones with children dying, you see. We have everyone's futures to worry about, and that even includes Israelis too, whether we like it or not since hamas spectacularly escalated this to open warfare.
Every single Palestinian American has either had their parents/grandparents displaced, or were displaced themselves, by the 75 year occupation since the Nakba. They are intimately connected to the genocide. That's like saying we shouldn't do anything about the Holocaust because Jewish Americans aren't a big voting bloc.
Note, I said I am supportive of divesting from Israel. Expecting a speaking position at the DNC just because your people are at war is itself not "doing anything" though.
I remember the genocides in Rawanda, Yugoslavia, SE Asia, Darfur which has resumed again. Uyghers. They didn't get speaking positions.
Stop the genocide, yes. Make Palestinians special, no.
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https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/dnc-2024-palestine-israel
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Can you show me an example of them getting a site's bias wrong? I've had misgivings about that site from the moment I discovered it, but I've yet to see any evidence of them being categorically wrong. -- ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants
I think it's more a matter of MediaBiasFactCheck having an implicit bias of its own - a tendency to center its political compass on the United States and a tendency to weigh editorial on the US heavy compared to international editorials. A perfect example is this: The Epoch Times is notoriously inaccurate with regard to reportage related to China. It's also pretty virulently right-wing. However, it's not run by actual fascists, which by US standards probably makes its bias right-center rather than extreme. Its' anti-China bias isn't that much more galling than that of Foreign Policy - which the website erroneously calls a least-biased source. As somebody who used to hate-read FP mainly to find out what American imperial actions to get angry about in any given month, until their pro-American bias became too sickening to handle, I find that a little bit questionable to say the least. But I have to measure everything through the terrifying funhouse mirror that is the American Overton Window.
-- Simonm223