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A group of young pro-Palestine activists who heckled US presidential candidate Kamala Harris earlier this week, due to concerns she wouldn't pursue meaningful policy changes towards Israel if she won the race for the White House, have started a campaign to disrupt her election rallies across the country.
In an exclusive interview with Middle East Eye, representatives of the small contingent of activists from Michigan who protested Harris during her address in Detroit, said they were convinced the Democratic Party had no intention of changing its policies towards Israel, let alone prioritising a ceasefire or an arms embargo as demanded by anti-war protesters.
On Friday evening, the activists disrupted her during a rally in the swing-state of Arizona, and the representatives told MEE that the interruptions would take place throughout her battleground state tour and until the Democratic National Convention later in August.
"I would encourage everyone in wherever city they come from, to make sure that where Kamala shows up, she must recognise and address the genocide that she's complicit in, and that she will not go without this being recognised and disrupted," Eaman Ali, an activist who took part in the initial disruption, told MEE.
"She does not get to go to a rally and speak about all these issues that she claims she will champion, without talking about the estimated 180,000 Palestinians in Gaza that she directly funded the killing of and we need to remind her of that," she said.
"We need to hold her accountable for that as voters, as young people in this country, and as people who see the humanity of Palestinians and who recognise that it is our shared humanity with them as well," Ali added.
The 21-year-old told MEE that she was among the group of seven women and two men who disrupted Harris' speech at the Romulus hangar in Detroit due to the ongoing war on Gaza.
'Until a permanent ceasefire and arms embargo on Israel are achieved, it is a moral obligation for all people of conscience to disrupt the war machine that is fueling this genocide'
- Munir, Palestine Youth Movement
The activists reportedly spent hours standing in sun and making small talk with supporters in the hopes they wouldn't arouse suspicion and could enter the venue and disrupt proceedings. Inside, they cheered for speeches by Michigan-based Democrats as they waited for Harris to deliver the keynote.
But about half-way through Harris' address, the activists began chanting: "Kamala, Kamala you can't hide! We won't vote for genocide."
Upon hearing their chant, Harris glanced at them, and said: "I'm here because we believe in democracy, everyone's voice matters. But I'm speaking now."
When they continued chanting, Harris stopped again before remarking: "You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking."
The activists told MEE they had no idea what Harris had said due to the noise in the arena, and only recognised what they described as "a sinister look" on Harris' face.
Nervous, but somehow undeterred as the crowd chanted "Kamala, Kamala", the activists said they continued their disruption even as campaign aides forced them out of the venue.
Zainab Hakim, another activist who took part in the disruption, said it was only when they hopped on to social media later that evening that they realised what Harris had said. By then the video of Harris' comments had gone viral.
Hakim said it came as no surprise that the vice-president had leaned on the bogey of a second Trump term to deter them from protesting for a change of US policy against the war on Gaza.
"That's all they said. "Trump is like this. Trump is like that; that's their whole platform. I wasn't surprised at all when her only answer [to us] was: "Oh, you want Trump to win"," Hakim said, ridiculing the notion that any of them wanted Trump to become president.
"If they're constantly putting forth this rhetoric that, "We are not Trump", then they need to understand that we don't expect them to be Trump.
"You cannot just say you are not Trump. You have to actually be better, and you have to actually address the issue that we are putting forward. And it's especially crucial if they're doing that in Michigan."
Ali said it was ludicrous that anyone who cared about democracy, or justice, or ending the war on Palestinians would endorse her when the campaign yet to even articulate their policy platform.
"Kamala doesn't have an actual platform. You go to her website, it's simply a donation link," Ali said.
MEE can confirm that as of 10 August, the Harris campaign website had a call for donations, a biography for the vice president and her running mate Governor Walz, as well as list of upcoming events. However, it had yet to include any policy programs.
'Abandon Kamala'
Another participant in Wednesday's disruption, Salma Hamamy, said the failure to articulate policy demonstrated how little the Harris ticket cared about the electorate, or their demands for ending the carnage in Gaza.
A poll in May by from Data for Progress found that seven in 10 likely voters support the US calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The same poll found that 68 percent of Democrats support "suspending all US arms sales to Israel for as long as Israel blocks US humanitarian aid to Gaza."
"Harris' campaign didn't seem to understand that the vice-president has done little to nothing to distinguish herself from current President Joe Biden and yet somehow believed that she would insulated from people's rage over Biden's handling of the war," Hamamy said.
"So when we say abandon Biden. That also means abandon Kamala."
Since Wednesday, activists from across the country have said Harris' treatment of the protesters was a signal that the Democratic Party had yet to comprehend how the needle had shifted - not just among Arab and Muslim voters in the country - but also among many others opposed to the US-sponsored Israeli war effort in Gaza.
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