Barton Swain
WSJ, Aug. 23, 2024
“Apart from the slogans, speakers didn’t call straightforwardly for the destruction of Israel and the wiping out of Israeli Jews, but only a fool could miss the intensely antisemitic purpose of the event.”
Predictions were amiss that the 2024 Democratic National Convention would repeat the mayhem of its 1968 precursor, but at least one similarity held: Protesters who showed up to disrupt the proceedings mostly hadn’t bothered with the Republican conventions. At Chicago’s Union Park on Monday morning, I asked Hatem Abudayyeh, who leads the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, why this was. “Democrats are in power,” he said. “Biden, Harris, Pelosi, Schumer, they’re in power. If the Republicans were in power, we’d be going after them.” Maybe, but it also seems obvious that anti-Israel activists came to Chicago because they feel, not without reason, that a President Kamala Harris would more readily bend to their demands than would a President Donald Trump.
As I milled about the gathering crowd, masked young adults wearing ratty clothes and yellow vests helpfully laid out stacks of pre-made placards fitted with wooden handles. They read “Free Palestine! End U.S. Aid to Israel.” The kids wearing vests called themselves “safety marshals” and said they weren’t permitted to speak to the press.
The more interesting political signs were the homemade ones. “Dykes for Palestine.” “Cow Lives Matter.” Some were ugly: “Killer cops, KKK, Zionists, all the same.” One man wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words “F— Israel,” with a swastika in place of the “s” in the Jewish state’s name. A young Asian man wearing a kaffiyeh on his shoulders and a mask on his face held an all-caps cardboard sign bearing the words “This is not solely to defend Gaza but to liberate all of Palestine. —Martyr Haniyeh.” Ismail Haniyeh was the Hamas leader Israel killed in Iran on July 31. … [To read the full article, click here]
