Chicago:

Disappointed Pro-Palestinian activists said Kamala Harris’ speech to close the Democratic convention in Chicago failed to demonstrate any break from the status quo, after a week in which the most divisive issue facing the party was mostly ignored.

Under pressure to respond to critics of US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, the vice president used her Thursday night speech to repeat earlier calls for a ceasefire and a hostages deal. She said she supported Israel’s right to defend itself while also favouring the Palestinian right to self-determination.

Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement that mobilised more than 750,000 voters to protest US policy on Israel, said Harris missed an opportunity to win over those people, many of whom live in battleground states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

“What’s needed in this moment is courageous leadership that breaks from the current approach,” Alawieh told Reuters shortly after Harris formally accepted the party’s nomination.

Uncommitted delegates and their allies had pushed unsuccessfully for a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to address the latest bloodshed in the decades old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which began on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s assault on Hamas-governed Gaza, with the aid of US support, has since killed 40,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, along with displacing nearly its entire 2.3 million population, causing a hunger crisis and flattening almost the entire enclave.

Rima Mohammad, an Uncommitted delegate from Michigan, said the speech added to disappointment over the DNC’s refusal to let a Palestinian speak, and offered nothing to assuage the concerns of her progressive, diverse community in Ann Arbor.

“I’m actually more concerned now,” Mohammad said. “This is just a bad look. You’re going to lose Michigan.”

A campaign spokesperson declined to explain the decision not to schedule a speech by a Palestinian speaker at the DNC. The decision was made by DNC organisers in close consultation with the Harris campaign, sources familiar with the discussions said.

Party insiders fear the Gaza war could cost Harris needed votes in battleground states such as Michigan, which is home to large Muslim and Arab American populations and college campuses that have been the site of Gaza protests.

The convention was held in Chicago, home to the United States’ largest Palestinian community, according to the Arab American Institute.

The DNC faced pro-Palestinian protests each day in Chicago, including thousands of demonstrators on Thursday night ahead of Harris’ speech. Dozens of arrests were made during the week.

Protesters carried banners that read “No Embargo No Vote” and “No Ceasefire No Vote,” while thousands chanted “Ceasefire now,” and “Long live Palestine.”

“Leading with Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of 40,000 massacred Palestinians is absolutely tone deaf,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the DNC and National Chair of the US Palestinian Community Network, who said Harris simply repeated President Joe Biden’s positions.

“Harris said nothing new,” he said. “We continue to demand that the US and Harris implement an arms embargo and stop sending weapons and all other aid to Israel.”

Mohammad, Alawieh and other Uncommitted delegates spent the previous night on the sidewalk outside the convention to protest the DNC’s rejection of their request for a Palestinian speaker.

They welcomed a call for a ceasefire and the return of hostages by the parents of one US hostage held in Gaza – Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin – on Wednesday night, but said they should also have been given a chance to speak.

Pro-Palestinian protesters and delegates said they were heartened by messages of solidarity from the United Auto Workers union and the Movement for Black Lives, a network of over 150 leaders and organizations. Muslim Women for Harris-Walz said on X it would cease operations after the DNC decision.

Ruwa Romman, a Georgia state legislator and delegate who spent the night outside the DNC, said Uncommitted organizers had negotiated with the Harris campaign for weeks and provided a list of possible speakers, only to be rejected.

Prior to Harris’ remarks, only a handful of speakers even addressed the war, including Biden, Senators Bernie Sanders and Raphael Warnock, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

One major Harris campaign donor, who requested anonymity to be candid about their private conversations with the campaign, said they worried that without a near-term ceasefire deal and clear statements from Harris about ending the war and protecting civilians, campus protests could flare again when universities resume classes in coming days.

“We need every vote,” the donor said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Washington police cleared an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters at George Washington University on Wednesday, authorities said, making several pre-dawn arrests.

Just after 4:00 am (0800), hundreds of officers moved in on a university quad, making arrests and using pepper spray, the student-run GW Hatchet newspaper reported. CNN said around three dozen people were arrested.

Police remained on the scene around 10:00 am, an AFP reporter saw, as tents were being dragged toward a garbage truck and a student held a poster reading “Free Palestine” on the sidewalk.

The arrests came as the mayor and police chief from the nation’s capital were expected to testify in front of Congress later in the day about why the encampment — which had entered its second week — had taken so long to clear.

However, after the encampment was cleared, Republicans who control the House Oversight Committee said they were canceling the hearing.

“It was unfortunate the situation at GW forced the Oversight Committee to act; however it was apparent that the DC police force was not going to do their job,” Representative James Comer said in a statement.

The police department said in a statement that it had tried to “deescalate tensions” without arrests, but that based on “incidents and information, there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest.”

Campus protests have sprung up across the country in recent weeks, with students demonstrating against the war in Gaza and calling on universities to cut direct or indirect financial ties with US weapons manufacturers and Israeli institutions.

The at-times raucous rallies have rocked colleges. Some Jewish students have reported threats and anti-Semitism, while pro-Israel counter-protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles, physically attacked demonstrators at an encampment.

Both President Joe Biden and universities have tried to walk a fine line between free speech rights and concerns about intimidation.

On Tuesday, Biden condemned a “ferocious surge” in anti-Semitism in a speech at the Capitol, saying “there’s no place on any campus in America — any place in America — for anti-Semitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.”

Demonstrators — including some Jewish student organizers — have said they denounced acts of anti-Semitism, and accuse their detractors of conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.

They’ve also criticized what they say is a heavy handed police response — with more than 2,000 students arrested nationwide — and said harassment of Muslims, Palestinians and Jewish students opposed to the war are being ignored.

The unrest has continued into spring graduation ceremonies, where at the University of Michigan students unfurled Palestinian flags and launched into chants.

Columbia, the epicenter of the demonstrations, on Monday canceled its main graduation ceremony.

The Ivy League school in New York, where at least 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested last week, cited security concerns.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)