DNC panelists discuss war in Gaza as Harris tries to ease tension with pro-Palestinian activists

CHICAGO (AP) — The Democratic Party has been riven for months by the war in Gaza, giving rise to a protest movement that threatened President Joe Biden’s electoral coalition.

But with Biden gone from the race and Vice President Kamala Harris now leading the party, there were some indicators at the Democratic National Convention on Monday that Harris is taking more assertive steps to ease that tension.

In what organizers called a first, party activists were given space at the convention to hold a forum to discuss the plight of people in Gaza, who have been under Israeli bombardment since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and its taking of hostages, as well as to share deeply personal — and often heartrending stories — about family members lost in the conflict.

Though their core demands — a cease-fire and withholding U.S. support for Israel’s prosecution of the war — remain unmet, the decision to allow activists to hold a forum amounted to the offering of an olive branch by Harris. And it’s one that many doubted Biden would have extended if he were still the nominee.

James Zogby, a panelist and the founder of the Arab American Institute, acknowledged there was still discontent over the Democratic Party’s handling of the war in Gaza. But he said the forum was nonetheless a first.

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