Pro-Palestinian groups to protest Harris campaign stops, Trump debate

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kamala Harris' strong support for Israel as it continues its war in Gaza is fueling calls for a fresh round of protests at campaign stops, universities and public events in the weeks ahead, activists told Reuters, describing what they said was her failure to listen to pro-Palestinian voices.

Arab Americans, Muslims and their allies, shut out of a Democratic National Convention speaking slot in Chicago, plan to show up in force during Harris' debate against Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Sept. 10 and in major cities and college campuses on the Oct. 7 anniversary of the Hamas attack.

On Thursday, they interrupted Harris' speech at a Savannah, Georgia rally.

Since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, Harris has made it clear she will not consider cutting arms sales to Israel, one of the main asks of pro-Palestinian groups. She reiterated the position in a Thursday interview with CNN, saying "No, we have to get a (ceasefire and hostage) deal done," when asked about limiting weapons.

Harris' firmly stated position threatens to open the same cracks in the Democratic coalition that faced Biden before he ended his campaign on July 21, despite a huge surge in enthusiasm from Democrats when she took over the ticket.

"That's right. War crimes and genocide will continue," Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat and the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress, said about Harris' CNN interview on her personal account on X.

Campaign officials say Harris and top campaign officials have met with pro-Palestinian advocates, and approved space for a panel on the issue during the DNC. Harris has hired two officials in recent weeks to reach out to the Arab American and Muslim communities, but declined to make them available for interviews.

Protests that roiled college campuses last spring are bubbling up in Michigan, Pennsylvania and other battleground states. Democratic party insiders fear Harris will lose needed votes in the Nov. 5 presidential election, which is expected to be decided by slim margins in a handful of states.

Harris has pulled ahead of Republican Donald Trump nationally in most recent polls, but trails in some polls of battleground states that will decide the 2024 winner. Until now, she has mostly avoided the same protests over Gaza that shadowed Biden events, as likely voters hoped she would craft a foreign policy more empathetic to Palestinians.

'EVERYBODY IS HURTING'

Ahmet Tekelioglu, executive director of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Philadelphia, said he expected thousands of protesters to show up on the day of the Harris-Trump debate.

Student protesters made a noisy return to Columbia University in recent days, the epicenter of the pro-Palestinian student movement.

Elena Nissan Thomas, 19, a student at Indiana University, who drove to Chicago to take part in a DNC protest, said she was ready to continue protesting as the school year begins.

"I don’t understand Vice President Harris saying she supports a ceasefire and doing nothing to do an arms embargo," she said.

Political strategists estimate nearly a million Muslims cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election, many of them concentrated in battleground states, with about 70% backing President Joe Biden.

The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's retaliatory strikes on Gaza, aided by U.S. support, have since killed 40,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, displacing nearly its entire 2.3 million population and creating a famine crisis.

Tanjina Islam, a delegate to the DNC from Georgia, said she wants to support Harris, but is devastated by the lack of concern for Palestinians.

"Everybody is hurting. A lot of people are leaning towards the third party - Jewish Voice for Peace, students, Black Muslims, the Muslims, the Arabs. Everybody is hurting. And these are majority Democrat voters," she said. "So if Harris loses Georgia, the only reason would be that people did not go out to vote, or people voted for the third party."

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons and Aurora Ellis)