Jewish NGOs to host sideline events at Democratic National Convention

The Israeli-American Council will host a Hostage Square display on Tuesday in an effort to draw attention to the condition of the remaining captives held in Gaza.

By Mike Wagenheim, JNS

While presidential nominee Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz take hits from both right and left for their stances on Israel, the Democratic National Convention will feature a number of events tied
to the American Jewish community.

The convention, which runs Monday through Thursday in Chicago, is expected to highlight divisions within the party on the issues of Israel and antisemitism.

Some analysts suggest as many as 100,000 protesters—many of whom support Hamas and have links to terrorist groups—will descend on the Windy City to disrupt the event in an effort to push Harris towards forcing a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas, and to threaten to withhold their votes in November’s election if she doesn’t back an arms embargo on Jerusalem.

The so-called Uncommitted movement, which lodged protest votes in droves for no candidate in the Democratic presidential primaries in Palestinian, Arab and Muslim-heavy states such as Michigan and Walz’s domain of Minnesota, garnered 30 delegates, and various media reports state that Democratic insiders are fearful of a show of dissent to Harris’s Israel policies on the convention floor itself.

Harris reportedly told leaders of the Uncommitted movement recently that she was open to discussing with them an arms embargo, though her office and campaign rejected that interpretation.

Walz, meanwhile, is coming under increasing fire for exposed close ties to radical anti-Israel figures, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Imam Asad Zaman, also from Minnesota, who praised Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), which is led by Halie Soifer, Harris’s former national security adviser, will hold a series of events on the DNC sidelines throughout the week.

Several members of Congress are scheduled to participate in panel discussions, including Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides will also participate, as will Wesley Bell, a St. Louis prosecutor who upended anti-Israel Squad member Rep. Cori Bush in this month’s Democratic congressional primary.

The American Jewish Committee, headed by former Rep. Ted Deutch, will also sponsor several events in Chicago. Those include a panel discussion featuring Nides, and another talk by a pair of Biden administration officials.

The Israeli-American Council, which has yet to be approved for a counter-protest permit by the city of Chicago, will host a Hostage Square display on Tuesday in an effort to draw attention to the condition of the remaining captives held in Gaza.

The public display, pieced together by a half-dozen Israeli artists, is being held on a private lot in the shadow of the United Center—the convention’s host arena—and therefore does not require a permit.

In contrast to last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which highlighted the party’s relationship with Israel and featured a number of speakers discussing the state of antisemitism, the Democrats have not announced any focus on Israel for Chicago.

Doug Emhoff, Harris’s Jewish husband, is set to keynote on Tuesday. Republican nominee Donald Trump recently denigrated Emhoff’s Jewishness, calling him a “crappy Jew,” while critiquing American Jews who vote Democratic.

The Republican Jewish Coalition has issued a “Praise Israel” challenge, saying it would donate 1,800 trees to the Jewish state in honor of anyone who would address the Democratic convention from the main stage and ask the crowd to cheer for Israel.