Donald Trump can never be anywhere near the White House ever again, former Michigan Congressman and outspoken Palestinian rights activist Andy Levin said on Monday afternoon from a panel at the DNC, but there’s no path to Vice President Kamala Harris winning the electoral college without winning Michigan.
Levin described Michigan as the most densely Arab American state in the country, which is also made up black and South Asian American Muslims, progressive Jews and black Americans who go to church and whose pastors have bravely spoken out against the war.
“So both, because we must have justice for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and the citizens of Israel, because it’s right and in their diaspora; and also for political reasons, we need the Vice President to keep pushing the envelope,” Levin said.
Levin called on Harris to somehow say things that don’t betray President Biden, like how in her administration US and international law will be followed and it will no longer be “either or” when it comes to Israel and Palestine.
Stronger leadership from Harris
“I have faith in her, but we need her to do more,” Levin said. “We look at this room, we are here saying we need a kind of leadership from Kamala Harris that I know she’s capable of, that we have not seen in a generation. And bring it on, we can’t wait.”
The Democrats for Palestinian Human Rights panel was the first ever official DNC event focused on Palestinian issues, according to organizers for the Uncommitted National Movement. Dr. James Zogby of the Arab American Institute said the only times the word Palestine was said at a Democratic convention was in 1984 and 1988.
Other panelists included Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Layla Elabed, co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement; Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, pediatric surgeon who served in Gaza and Hala Huazi, Democratic organizer with family in Gaza.