Harris the Prosecutor is Coming for the Pro-Palestine Movement . . . Already!
On July 24, 1000s converged on Washington DC to protest the hosting of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to both chambers of US Congress. He led what turned out to be a hate rally against Palestinians in the House Chamber. He received at least 50, at most 70, standing ovations by most Congressional and Senate members of both the Democrat and Republican parties. Outside, the protesters were subjected to repressive action by police including massive tear gas and pepper spraying. One Green Party candidate told this editor he was unable to breathe for minutes. Everyone who has spoken to Fightbackbetter about the experience has stressed the horror of the police actions.
July 25, on the day after Netanyahu’s incendiary call for continued genocide, it was Vice President Harris, not President Biden, who issued a statement condemning the protests against Netanyahu.
The content of the memo about the protesters from Kamala Harris – demonstrates that she believes that there is no democratic right to protected free speech in the USA.
Harris’s memo is stated in full below.
First she states that “we saw despicable acts by unpatriotic protesters and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric.”
President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris are guilty along with Bibi Netanyahu of genocide – the mass slaughter of the Palestinian people. According to the esteemed Lancet journal, a conservative estimate of the actual number of casualties is that close to 200K Palestininians have been murdered. If there is anything that is anti-patriotic to any nation it is the sponsorship and carrying out of a genocide. For Harris to use the smearing label of “unpatriotic” to describe protesters who are demanding an end to genocide shows that she has no qualms about misusing the term to smear the protest movement . Dictatorships routinely smear their opponents in preparation for massive repression to build popular support for the fascist measures they intend to implement..
It would seem that Harris is demanding that US protesters be patriotic to Israel and to Netanyahu. That is in direct opposition to the purpose of the protests outside of US Congress: to condemn Israel and US support for Israel and Israel’s continued genocidal actions against the Palestinian people. In direct opposition to thousands of protesters, Harris demands loyalty to Israel.
Her accusation of “dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric” uses broad smears to, she believes, prove a point.. However, she gives no examples – just that smearing accusation. Apparently, we are simply supposed to accept it as true.
Tyrants never love the statements, the songs, or the chants of the freedom movements. Tyrants always try to criminalize the speech (supposedly protected speech in the US) and actions of the struggle for liberation. Every yearning of the Palestinian people is smeared as hateful . Defining the protesters’ yearnings for freedom as “dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric” has a very specific legal purpose. She is a prosecutor and she is making the case for carrying out acts of massive repression. Her attempts to define any speech and language in support of Palestinians as “dangerous” and “hate-filled” shows clear marketing plans to bring about fascist repression against those who oppose current US policy.
She then goes on to state that she condemns “any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas,” She does not offer any evidence of what occurred but in making the statement she provides a broad-brush smear of the opponents of the genocide she supports with complicity. She is defining the opposition to genocide as Hamas associated. The very specific legal purpose of making that false claim is to set the ground work for invoking police and military and Homeland Security and intelligence agencies and organizations to be unleashed against opponents of genocide in the US. (Note well – there are already examples of this happening in the U.S., particularly during student encampments in April and May.).
She made allegations of graffiti – if there was any graffiti it would have been the actions of one or a few individuals. It could have been a police agent and the graffiti might have already been there before this particular protest. Being a prosecutor she knows that she is referencing ‘facts not in evidence,’ something prosecutors do to turn the public in favor of the prosecution. She is collectively smearing millions in the USA working to end the genocide because of the alleged actions by a mere few. She knows how she is using the words to suborn fascist repression.
She then goes on to over react to the allegation of flag burning which was determined by the US Supreme Court in 1990 to be protected free speech under the US Constitution. A flag burning incident – not even a crime – hardly merits Harris’s attention.
Harris then claims to support the right to peacefully protest but that “Antisemitisim, hate and violence” has no place in our nation. She is using the false conflation of Antisemitism here with opposition to Israeli policy. The protest was against Netanyahu, against Israel and against US support for Israel and its genocide. It was attended by 100s of the Jewish faith, always in the ranks of opposition to genocide – at every protest against genocide there is substantial participation by those of Jewish faith,
As a prosecutor, she chose her words carefully. She knows she is conflating. She is the 2nd biggest recipient of funds from lobby agencies that serve the interests of the Israeli Defense Forces – 2nd to Biden. She has received over $5 M. She is echoing Netanyahu’s accusations of our struggle – making Netanyahu’s case to bring the genocide being committed in Gaza to the streets of the USA against the supporters of the Palestinian People.
The Democrats are trying to scare everyone into believing that Trump will usher in fascism with Project 2025. Meanwhile the Democrats agree with Trump 100% when it comes to slaughtering Palestinian people and repressing our support for the Palestinian people here. We are facing the fascism now under the current BIden-Harris’s administration.
Harris knows that the Palestine support movement in the US is not backing her genocide supporting presidential campaign. She is sharpening the tools of repression to be waged against us. Palestine supporters in the USA largely are turning away from the Democratic Party due to the genocide. Some took a pause and some even jumped on the Kamala band wagon immediately out of relief that Biden fell from grace. Harris now is making it easier to make the case that there is nothing to support in her candidacy for those against the genocide – Harris may be more genocidal and more repressive domestically of pro-Palestinian voices. .
When some in the anti-genocide, pro-Palestinian movement were on the streets of Paterson recently (and remember that Paterson could possibly be the Palestinian capital of the US given its large population of Palestinians), so many people had the name “Jill Stein” on the tips of their tongue. Jill Stein is the presumptive Green Party candidate for US president. She is making tremendous inroads gaining support for her anti-genocide candidacy, especially given the genocide supported and engineered by the Harris – Biden White House. Harris is helping to make the case that there is nothing at all for the Pro-Palestine movement in Harris’ presidential bid, just more of the same.
Harris July 25 Whitehouse Statement:
Yesterday, at Union Station in Washington, D.C. we saw despicable acts by unpatriotic protestors and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric.
I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews. Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation.
I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way.***
I support the right to peacefully protest, but let’s be clear: Anti Semitism, hate and violence of any kind have no place in our nation. – Vice President Kamala Harris White House Statement July 25, 2024
More on Harris and Genocide:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/22/harris-plans-meeting-netanyahu-00170493
