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The Democratic party’s policy on Palestine reflects how the United States has always dealt with Palestinians: by hoping they disappear.

����dz������ٴ���, many liberal pundits were shocked by the Democratic National Conferences' callousness in denying the Uncommitted Movement’s request to have a Palestinian American speaker on stage.

The movement was as courteous as one could be. They repeatedly stressed their support for Kamala Harris’s candidacy, offered a short list of potential speakers, such as Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman, and even a copy of����— one that unequivocally endorsed the party.��

The problem is that Palestinian identity will always be inherently disruptive when the goal is to eliminate it.

At the very least, it poses an inconvenience to a vibes-based campaign that has avoided releasing a full policy platform or responding to the most pressing issue of our time — genocide.��

Despite never taking the stage, the Uncommitted Movement successfully highlighted the contradiction between the party’s professed values of diversity and representation with their support for Israel’s policy of genocide and extermination.

Luckily for Democrats, resolving this isn’t some impossible catch-22, all they need to do is stop funding genocide — a deceptively simple policy required by��.����

The problem is that Democrats have misidentified a policy problem for a messaging one. There is an implicit assumption that if the Vice President claims she’s working towards a ceasefire the pressure will dissipate, even as her administration arms the perpetrator.

But when the policy is as nefarious as genocide, it’s impossible to hide behind messaging, hence how Democrats ended up in a conundrum of either platforming an anti-genocide Palestinian speaker or barring all Palestinian representation from the convention.��

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Since Harris’s statements in March, where she��, the VP has consistently chosen public relations over public policy and demonstrated a deeper concern for optics than oppression, at least as far as Palestinians are considered.����

This has not changed since she became the presidential candidate. She has consistently attempted to redefine the word “ceasefire,”����Palestinian protesters and reaffirmed����for Israel.

This is all while the legacy media writes fluff pieces about her “” being more sympathetic than President Biden’s.��

This is especially disappointing because the loudest cheers of the DNC came during Harris's alleged support for a ceasefire and even Palestinian self-determination — policy goals she claimed she is working “tirelessly toward,” a sentiment echoed earlier by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The problem is that both of these lines were a lie. As many have noted, one cannot work towards a ceasefire while arming the perpetrator.��

For Palestine allies, it is especially infuriating because the US is so obviously not a negotiator, or even solely a funder, but an active participant.

The US spent����to build a “humanitarian pier” that Israeli forces used to����during the Nuseirat Massacre, killing over 270 Palestinians. The US has repeatedly used its United Nations veto to block ceasefire resolutions and criticism of Israel.��

We know Harris and the Democratic party are not talking to Palestinians, Muslims or Arabs when they call for fake ceasefires or claim they are “working tirelessly” toward them, even if they ought to be.

Nor are they speaking to us when they occasionally condemn an anti-Palestinian hate crime.

They are using Palestinians as a prop to reaffirm their progressive bonafide when talking to non-Muslim, non-Arab and non-Palestinian audiences — who are concerned by images of torn limbs and limp bodies in Gaza, but need a justification to cast their ballot for the culprit to avoid a Trump presidency.����

Will the Democrats regret ignoring the Uncommitted Movement?

Unfortunately for the Democrats, a convention of like-minded party politicos excited to attend “liberal Coachella” is far more primed to believe this political doublespeak than swing state voters in Michigan who may decide this election.������

Nearly every month headlines claim the administration is having��” with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu behind closed doors or provide hints that the White House might finally hold Israel accountable.��

In May, the US suspended a single ammunition shipment to Israel, allegedly so that those weapons would not be used during the Rafah invasion, Biden’s apparent red line at the time. Obviously, Israel did launch a����into Rafah and Biden����only days later, but not before the news cycle filled with articles about Biden’s red line.����

In July, major news outlets reported that Harris did not attend Netanyahu’s address to Congress. Naturally, this led to speculation that Harris may be taking a different approach than the president. It turns out she was just��. Harris would meet with Netanyahu days later to assure him that the US supports Israel’s “right to defend itself.”����

These headlines offer a glimmer of hope for people desperate for a ray of optimism, but every time they have proven to be an illusion. And perhaps most significantly, they have provided the administration political cover only for the White House to continue arms shipments shortly after.

It cannot be denied that there are real shifts in the rank-and-file members of the Democratic party as well as Democratic voters. Over��of democrats��support a ceasefire and over����signed the Uncommitted Movement’s pledge to become “ceasefire delegates."��

The Uncommitted Movement has successfully garnered sympathy and an international following, contributing to this major cultural shift in the party, especially along��. The problem is that the death toll in Gaza is����and Palestinians simply cannot wait until the Democratic old guard either retires or grows a conscience.����

Kamala Harris knows voters are concerned about her administration’s role in funding genocide. If she didn’t, her campaign wouldn’t put so much effort into cheap communications strategies around avoiding the question.��

It is ultimately on Harris to authentically address these concerns and hold Israel accountable through an arms embargo. If she does not, she risks not just losing an election but alienating an entire generation of Arab and Muslim Americans who will be concentrated in swing states for decades to come.��

The Democratic party was perfectly comfortable excluding Palestinians from the stage at the DNC, so it should be no surprise when Palestinians, Arabs and Muslim Americans exclude themselves from the polls come November.��

Irfan��Kovankaya is a writer, storyteller and communications strategist. He previously organised with the Dream Defenders and the Tallahassee Bail Fund.

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