Why are Democratic Leaders Still Ignoring Voters on Israel?

Decisions at the latest Democratic National Committee meeting emphasized the disconnect between the party’s leadership and its base

By Norman Solomon, The Guardian

When the Democratic party’s governing body adjourned its meeting on Saturday in New Orleans, supporters of Palestine and an end of the genocide in Gaza had few reasons to celebrate. The Democratic National Committee had refused to give any ground to the large majority of the party’s voters with distinctly negative views of Israel.

Last summer, a Quinnipiac Poll found that 77% of Democrats agreed that “Israel is committing genocide”. Last month, an NBC poll found that 67% of Democrats felt more sympathetic to Palestinians than Israelis, compared with 17% who felt more sympathetic to Israelis.

But the DNC continues to operate as if fully sealed off from the party’s voters on such matters. When the national meeting got under way on Thursday, the party’s resolutions committee proceeded to quickly discard a pair of resolutions critical of Israel.

One urged “an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory” as well as “pausing or conditioning US weapons transfers to any military units credibly implicated in violations of international humanitarian law”. Another included opposition to “military actions that endanger civilians or exacerbate repression” in Iran.

Those resolutions vanished in a matter of minutes as opponents shunted them aside to a snail’s-pace Middle East working group. That panel has scarcely met since it was announced last August by the DNC chair, Ken Martin. Only a minority of the panel’s eight members has a record of support for Palestinian rights, while several are fervent Zionists. The oil-and-water mix seems destined for stalemate or compromising platitudes.