Protestors Burn Israeli Flag Outside of DNC
BY: Andrew Hansen/Contributing Writer
Flags Are Burned
This week, at the highly anticipated arrival of the Democratic National Convention, the majority of the attendees had more to say than endorsing Hillary Clinton. Inside the convention, popular figures like Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton spoke on behalf of the Democratic nominee, while outside the convention’s doors, protestors voiced their opinions by burning American and Israeli flags.
Since Clinton clinched the nomination, the Democratic Party has reportedly struggled with incorporating Bernie Sanders’ supporters, who has since dropped out of the race and endorsed Clinton. Despite admonishments from the Democratic leadership and even Sanders himself, these estranged Bernie fans have presented a major challenge to this year’s DNC.
One issue that these disgruntled protestors have demonstrated strongly is their support of Palestinian rights, and their anger towards the U.S. relationship with Israel. As the DNC protestors became more cantankerous, people began burning American and Israeli flags, sometimes together, while waving signs stating, “I Support Palestine”.
As the situation escalation on Tuesday night, around 50 protestors were arrested for disorderly conduct. However, protestors continued to burn Israeli flags, yelling, “Long Live the intifada!”
This statement invoked controversy from Trump supporters and less vocal Democrats who mistook this statement as advocating for networks like Hamas. While the word ‘intifada’ simply means ‘uprising’ in Arabic, and doesn’t imply violence or terrorism, its perception in America unfortunately implies a negative connotation, instead of its more accurate meaning of supporting human rights in Palestine.
Why Sanders’ Supporters Won’t Endorse Clinton
Linguistic implications aside, the Sanders’ supporters refusing to support Clinton due to transparency issues regarding her relationship with Israel will continue to be a major hindrance to campaign efforts. In the past, Clinton has briefly embraced the Palestinian cause, but the candidate is largely characterized by her devotion to Israel. In order to entice Sanders’ fans, Clinton will need to adopt a more hardline stance on Israel.
During his presidential campaign, Sanders was very vocal about his support for ending human rights violations in Palestine and denouncing the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. At one point in his campaign, Sanders remarked that because of Israeli occupation and harsh security methods, over 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza have lost their lives in recent months.
Clinton & Israel: A Conflicting Narrative
Hillary’s relationship with Israel is quite different. While Clinton has recently been attacked for her support of Israel and pledging to fight the BDS Movement, her approach to Israel-Palestine has not always been so one sided.
In the late 1990s and into the late 2000s, Clinton actually supported Palestine and publicly condemned the Israeli occupation. Coupled with reported clashes on settlement issues with Netanyahu in her term as Secretary of State, Clinton once blamed Israel for hindering the development of Palestinian statehood.
Since the time of her husband’s administration, Hillary has returned to her support for Israel and accepting donations from pro-Israel Super PACs and publicly calling for anti-BDS. While voters wonder what happened, a number of possibilities could explain Clinton’s change of heart.
Perhaps, after the Arab Spring and rise of ISIL, Clinton felt more compelled to keep Israel as an ally, and thus changed her views on Palestine. Or perhaps she simply felt that there was no solution in sight for the Israel-Palestine conflict. Lack of hope could have prompted her to focus more on gaining funding and support for her elections to help change other policies. Or simply, Clinton could have turned to an austere pro-Israel platform because she needed the money and does not believe in Palestinian human rights.
Based on the burning of Israel’s flags outside the DNC, it seems that Democrats felt that the latter was more probable.
A Future Platform
Both the RNC and DNC had their fair share of controversy, and many are wondering why Palestinian protest was not found as strongly within the conventions as they were outside. While burning Israeli and American flags ignited upset outside, Israel-Palestinian conflict was largely avoided inside the walls of both conventions.
And why was the burning of Israel’s flag happening outside the DNC and not at the RNC? Perhaps because many feel that even attempting to protest for Palestinian rights would have been a lost cause at the Trump nomination. Democrats still have hope for a policy change within the party, but burning a flag is not the answer. Protesters and Sanders supporters all over the country share a hope that Clinton will find it in herself to support an end to human rights violations in Palestine.