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Democratic Party Platform Takes Pro-Israel Stance Amid Rising Internal Opposition to Jewish State
US President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris react onstage at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, US, Aug. 19, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The 2024 US Democratic Party platform took a strong pro-Israel stance despite rising opposition to the Jewish state from the progressive wing of the party.
“President [Joe] Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is vital to the interests of the United States. Their commitment to Israel’s security, its qualitative military edge, its right to defend itself, and the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding is ironclad,” the platform reads.
The document’s tone and content was a striking change in comparison to the direction in which the Democratic Party has moved in recent months on the issue of support for Israel. During his speech on the first night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), for example, Biden said the anti-Israel protesters outside the convention falsely accusing the Jewish state of genocide “have a point.”
Over the past 10 months, since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October, anti-Israel protests have become routine across the US, with chants in favor of a violent “intifada,” demonstrators waving flags of of US-designated terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and pro-Hamas graffiti desecrating federal property.
Many progressive activists have supported, organized, and participated in such demonstrations, accusing Israel of committing war crimes during its ongoing military campaign in Hamas-ruled Gaza and demanding the US cease all support to its closest ally in the Middle East. Some left-wing groups have tried to persuade voters not to support Biden or Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, over the Biden administration’s support for the Jewish state.
Amid such pressure, a growing number of prominent, mainstream Democrats have in recent months made unprecedented statements against Israel, such as calling to condition Washington’s military aid to its democratic ally.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration, while rhetorically opposed to Hamas staying in power and supportive of Israel’s right to self-defense, has adopted a much tougher posture toward the Jewish state, even pausing certain arms shipments.
Nevertheless, the Democratic Party’s platform emphasized that “Biden traveled to Israel — the first US president to do so at a time of war — in the days after Oct. 7 [when Hamas invaded Israel and launched the war] to demonstrate that the United States stands with Israel in its quest for peace and security. He has also defended Israel at the UN against one-sided efforts to condemn Israel.”
Many members of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party were unhappy with the language in the platform. Ryan Grim, a co-host of the popular internet show “Counter Points,” lamented, “The platform released today reads as if AIPAC wrote it.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known by its acronym AIPAC, is the foremost pro-Israel lobbying organization in the US.
Grim also wrote, on X/Twitter, “Pretty incredible — though totally believable — that the final DNC platform has a one-side condemnation of sexual violence, and it’s aimed at Hamas, even as the Knesset [Israeli parliament] engages in a full-throated debate as to whether the acknowledged rape of Palestinian detainees is ok [sic] or not.”
The platform also discussed the importance of a ceasefire in Gaza and efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the war-torn enclave.
“President Biden has also been determined to broker an immediate and lasting ceasefire deal that once finalized secures the return of all hostages, including the remaining Americans held in Gaza; addresses the immense civilian pain and extreme suffering being caused by the conflict, including the displacement and death of so many innocent people in Gaza; results in a durable end to the war in Gaza; and sets the stage for a lasting regional peace,” the document said.
The platform highlighted the administration’s efforts “to surge and ensure the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.” It continued: “Many vulnerable civilians are suffering deadly consequences of the Israel-Hamas war. Residents of Gaza have been displaced, and food insecurity has been severe.”
Meanwhile, the platform opposed the annexation of territory in the West Bank and the expansion of Israeli settlements — for which some far-right members of Israel’s government are pushing. Additionally, it said the Democratic Party supports a diplomatic solution to the ongoing conflict in Israel’s north “that would ensure the return of both Israeli and Lebanese families to their homes.”
Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed terrorist group in Lebanon, has been bombarding northern Israel with drones, missiles, and rockets daily since October, forcing some 80,000 Israelis to evacuate their homes.
The platform expressed strong support for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli leaders have argued now is not the time to push for the establishment of a Palestinian state, noting Gaza is ruled by Hamas while the West Bank is governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has long been riddled with allegations of corruption and authoritarianism.
Recent polling has found that the Palestinian people in both Gaza and the West Bank generally support the Oct. 7 massacre, want Hamas to remain in power in Gaza, and would back Hamas over the PA’s ruling Fatah party in elections.
The post Democratic Party Platform Takes Pro-Israel Stance Amid Rising Internal Opposition to Jewish State first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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