WATCH: What delegates and protesters want from Harris on Gaza

Politics Aug 20, 2024 11:47 PM EDT

CHICAGO – During his keynote speech Monday night at the Democratic National Convention, President Joe Biden directly addressed a group of voters who have been vocal about their dissatisfaction with his administration.

“Those protesters out in the street, they have a point,” he said, referring to the thousands of people gathered in Chicago to protest his handling of the war in Gaza. “A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”

Among the fresh starts Democrats are seeking this week – with Vice President Kamala Harris now atop the ticket – is with voters who want more from the party on the Israel-Hamas war.

For Fatima Abed, an uncommitted delegate from Hawaii, the Democratic Party has not done enough to call for a permanent ceasefire in the war.

“It’s really important that, if Kamala Harris wants to win, she listens to her constituents, that she listens to those voters,” she said.

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“I think it’s really important that we’re addressing this, as a party and as a country,” delegate Ella Hogan of Massachusetts said.

The Democratic Party platform adopted this week says that Biden is working on a two-state solution “that ensures Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state with recognized borders and upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own.”

The platform goes on to read that the U.S. “strongly supports Israel in the fight against
Hamas” and that diplomacy has made progress “on a way forward that will free the hostages, establish a durable ceasefire, ease humanitarian suffering in Gaza, and make possible normalization between Israel and key Arab states, together with meaningful progress and a political horizon for the Palestinian people.”

Some delegates at the convention want to hear a different message.

“The section on Palestine-Israel is woefully inadequate for helping the people who are currently under siege in Gaza,” said Rory Strahan-Mauk, an uncommitted delegate from Hawaii .

Thirty delegates from a handful of states are at the convention to represent hundreds of thousands of “uncommitted” voters from across the country who cast primary ballots in protest of Biden’s stance on the war and support of Israel. They want a permanent cease-fire and an arms embargo on Israel.

As of Tuesday night, it’s unclear if any members of the uncommitted movement will be part of the official programming during the Democratic convention. Harris has signaled her support for a ceasefire in the war, but has not endorsed restrictions on arms shipments to Israel – something the movement has called for.

Other delegates appreciated the president’s message.

Biden “came up here and he recognized, and validated, the protesters that were out there,” said Parker Short, a Georgia delegate and recent University of Michigan graduate. “The other party will not validate people’s right to free speech. They will not validate people on college campuses, leading anti-war movements like we’ve done for decades and decades.”

Sahian Sotelo, one of the protestors demonstrating outside the convention, said she would vote for Harris if the vice president called for a ceasefire and for stopping the flow of aid to Israel.

“I’m happy for her that she’s running,” she said in an interview with PBS News’ Laura Barrón-López. “But I’m not happy with the things that she’s been doing.”