‘Uncommitted’ Movement Says Trump Will ‘Accelerate The Killing’ In Gaza

The “Uncommitted” movement seeking a change in the Democratic Party’s approach to the war in Gaza on Thursday announced it is not ready to support Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris — while urging voters not to back Republican nominee Donald Trump or third-party candidates who could help Trump win the November election.

During this spring’s Democratic primaries, the Uncommitted campaign rallied hundreds of thousands of voters to deny support to President Joe Biden unless he ends his near-total support for Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian region. After Biden passed the torch to Harris in July, Uncommitted leaders publicly and privately urged her team to endorse a different U.S. strategy in the conflict, including by stopping the flow of American weapons to Israel.

Nearly two months later, “Vice President Harris’s unwillingness to shift on unconditional weapons policy or to even make a clear campaign statement in support of upholding existing U.S. and international human rights law has made it impossible for us to endorse her,” leaders in Uncommitted said in a carefully worded statement.

Many national security experts, including current and former U.S. officials, and independent human rights groups say Israel is using American military support in violation of U.S. and global regulations meant to shield civilians and humanitarian work during wars. Israel’s military denies the charge. In a May report, the Biden administration acknowledged it is “reasonable to believe” Israel has violated international law and U.S. standards in its use of American weaponry — yet did not significantly alter the ongoing flow of U.S. military supplies to the country.

The Uncommitted group “opposes a Donald Trump presidency, whose agenda includes plans to accelerate the killing in Gaza while intensifying the suppression of anti-war organizing,” the statement continues. Additionally, the group is “not recommending a third-party vote in the Presidential election, especially as third party votes in key swing states could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency given our country’s broken electoral college system.”

“Our organizing around the presidential election was never about endorsing a specific candidate; it has always been about building a movement that saves lives,” the statement also notes.

In a press conference on Thursday morning after the message was released, Uncommitted leaders said they hoped to build on their voter mobilization to back Harris, but the Democratic Party and her campaign made that impossible.

They are not asking voters to avoid indicating their preference for president and are making different choices themselves, they added. One, Abbas Alawieh, said he will vote for Harris because he sees that as “not a love letter but a chess move” and he is alarmed by Republican plans to crack down on pro-Palestinian organizing. Two others, Layla Elabed and Lexis Zeidan, said they are not currently planning to vote for Harris.

The declaration came after a Sept. 15 deadline the Uncommitted organizers had set for Harris to meet with Americans whose loved ones have been killed in Gaza and to hold talks about halting arms for Israel. An end to the flow of U.S. weapons is, they say, both legally necessary and essential to pressuring the Israelis to reach a cease-fire deal. Harris describes such an agreement as her priority in the Middle East, saying it would end Palestinian suffering, bring home more than 100 hostages held by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas (including Americans) and enable lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Hamas began the current round of fighting with a gruesome Oct. 7, 2023, attack inside Israel that killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, per Israeli data. In pummeling Gaza since, Israel’s military has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to Gaza’s ministry of health. It has also destroyed most of the region’s housing and other infrastructure and displaced nearly all of its 2.2 million residents. As Gazans endure shortages of food and supplies like medicine, most of the aid being sent to them is not reaching those in need, in large part due to Israeli restrictions, humanitarian groups say.

The U.S. is widely seen as the most influential outside player in the conflict as Israel’s chief military and diplomatic ally. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly scuttled U.S.-led diplomacy seeking a cease-fire, though Biden administration officials say Hamas also deserves much of the blame.

Weeks away from the one-year anniversary of the war, Uncommitted conveyed both deep frustration with Harris and Biden and a commitment to keep demanding a change from Washington.

Harris’ team has only provided “canned responses” to private outreach, with campaign staffers indicating they understand that Uncommitted will not provide an endorsement or rally voters for the Democratic nominee, Alawieh said at the press conference.

The statement from Uncommitted noted the Democratic National Convention last month declined a request for a Palestinian American speaker to address delegates. “The Vice President’s campaign is courting Dick Cheney while sidelining disillusioned anti-war voices, pushing them to consider third-party options or to sit this important election out,” the statement continued.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has spent months pursuing support from student protesters, Muslim Americans and other communities who have been especially vocal in criticizing Biden’s Gaza policy. Meanwhile, an “Abandon Harris” coalition of war skeptics is pushing voters to consider supporting Stein and other candidates like Cornel West, claiming that would send a stronger rebuke than advocacy from within the Democratic Party.

Pro-third-party voices are especially ardent in attacking Democrats who are directly appealing to opponents of the war, including members of the Uncommitted movement and progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

In its statement, Uncommitted highlighted Trump saying third-party candidacies could strip away Democratic votes in key swing states.

“We urge Uncommitted voters to register anti-Trump votes and vote up and down the ballot,” the message reads.

The Uncommitted activists will continue talking to voters about the risks of a Trump presidency and, should he win, anticipate using their movement to ardently oppose his policies, the group’s leaders said. But for now, responsibility for the U.S. approach to Gaza rests with Biden, Alawieh noted, saying many in the movement have personal ties to people in Lebanon, Gaza and the occupied West Bank who have been affected by U.S.-backed Israeli military actions.

Democratic opponents of current U.S. Gaza policy have faced heavy opposition from hard-line pro-Israel forces like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which became a factor in the recent primary losses of Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.). Noting that influence, the statement continues: “Our focus remains on building a broad anti-war coalition both inside and outside the Democratic Party. Pro-war forces like AIPAC may want to drive us out of the Democratic Party, but we’re here to stay.”

The Harris campaign appears to be courting Gaza war opponents in at least one crucial state: Michigan, home to the country’s largest community of Arab Americans. On Wednesday night, University of Pennsylvania researcher Andrew Arenge spotted a digital ad targeted at particular Michigan districts featuring the vice president speaking about Palestinian pain. Advocates for a policy shift say Harris must translate her rhetoric into clear plans for a change.

A Harris campaign spokesperson told HuffPost via email: “The Vice President is committed to work to earn every vote, unite our country, and to be a President for all Americans. She will continue working to bring the war in Gaza to an end in a way where Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”