Kamala Harris Confronts Divisions Roiling Democrats Over Gaza War

Before Vice President Kamala Harris confronted pro-Palestinian and anti-Gaza-war protesters on Wednesday at a campaign rally in Detroit, she faced demands from the leaders of a group that has mobilized voters to protest the U.S. government’s support for Israel.

The founders of the Uncommitted National Movement, the group that mobilized more than 100,000 people to withhold their votes from President Biden in this year’s Michigan primary over his support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, were among those invited to welcome Ms. Harris and her new running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, to Michigan in a photo line.

There, the founders, Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed, said they asked Ms. Harris for a meeting to discuss an arms embargo on Israel. After 10 months of war, Gazan health officials say nearly 40,000 people, many of them women and children, have been killed.

In a statement, a Harris campaign spokesman said only that “in this brief engagement,” the vice president “reaffirmed that her campaign will continue to engage with those communities.”

Ms. Harris has emerged as a more empathetic voice in the administration, elevating the plight of innocent Palestinians who have been killed, starved and displaced in Israel’s war against Hamas. And while she has reiterated the United States’ support for Israel’s right to defend itself, she has issued the most forceful condemnation of some of Israel’s tactics. But crucial Democratic voting blocs who oppose the war — including Arab Americans in battleground states — have demanded more action, particularly for the United States to stop supplying Israel with weapons that have been used to kill scores of civilians.

In addition to an arms embargo on Israel, the Uncommitted leaders have asked for convention speaking roles for a representative of their group and a Palestinian pediatrician.

“I appreciate her leadership, and I know the Uncommitted voters want to support her, uncommitted delegates want to support her,” Mr. Alawieh said, “but our voters need to see her turn a new page on Gaza policy.”

Mr. Alawieh said that he “felt an openness from V.P. Harris, as well as a listening ear from Governor Walz” about their concerns.

Ms. Elabed said she broke into tears as she introduced herself to Ms. Harris.

“I told her that I meet with my community members who are losing tens and hundreds of family members every day,” Ms. Elabed said, “and we need something from her that can guarantee that we can save their families’ lives.”

Later, as Ms. Harris spoke in front of a raucous crowd that her campaign estimated at about 15,000 people at an airport hangar in Detroit, a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters shouted to interrupt her.

“Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide,” they chanted. “We won’t vote for genocide.”

At first, Ms. Harris brushed them off, suggesting the hecklers were evidence of democracy in action. Her supporters tried to drown them out with chants of their own.

But the protesters were not ushered out quickly, and the chants continued. Eventually, the exasperated vice president made her feelings clear.

“If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,” Ms. Harris said. “Otherwise, I am speaking.”

The crowded roared its approval. The sharp retort — or Ms. Harris’s staffers — clearly did the job, as the chants soon died down.

During a small news conference at a coffee shop in suburban Dearborn earlier in the afternoon, Mr. Alawieh practically begged for Ms. Harris to not put Arab American voters in the position to help Mr. Trump get elected.

“It’s as important as ever to beat back Donald Trump’s hurtful, destructive agenda and the plans that he has to accelerate the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” he said.