‘Not Interested in Talking’: Media-Shy Anti-Israel Protesters Descend on Democratic Convention

Chicago – Jim Slivovsky is very frustrated that he couldn’t help out with this year’s Democratic convention. “I just want to let you know I applied to be a volunteer at the DNC,” but then “all of a sudden I stopped getting emails,” the 60-year-old native of the Chicago suburb of Westchester told me at this afternoon’s anti-Israel protest in Union Park on the first day of the convention.

His suspicion? “I was sending my thoughts about Gaza to my reps, my senators, my congressman, and lo and behold, I stopped getting volunteer emails to do it.”

“If you’re against a certain policy, you should still be able to volunteer at the DNC,” he said of the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel amid its war with Hamas.

This evening, the man that he and others have spent months demonizing as “Genocide Joe” Biden will take the stage to address the convention in what will mark his first lengthy speech since suspending his reelection campaign (unless you count his July 24 Oval Office address, which lasted only eleven minutes).

The great hope for Democrats is that the anti-Israel protests outside the perimeter won’t get out of hand so that the focus can remain on their newly minted nominee — Kamala Harris.

This morning’s anti-Israel protest in Union Park started off as a relatively low-key affair (read Jeff Blehar’s protest dispatch for more on this theme). Many protesters wore keffiyehs and masks as they called for a cease-fire and held signs to protest both parties’ support for Israel: “Stand with Palestine! Defend LGBTQIA+ & Reproductive Rights!” “Genocide Joe’s Legacy: The Butcher of Gaza,” “No Pride in Apartheid,” “Teachers for Palestinian Liberation,” and “You won’t forgive my student loans but you’ll forgive genocide.” But there were piles and piles of unused signs scattered around the park, suggesting that attendance fell well below organizers’ expectations.

There were no signs of violence or mischief when I left the protest around 2 p.m. Central, although the night is still young, the week is long, and anti-Israel activists without permits may have other ideas. More striking than the content of today’s peaceful protest in Union Square was how few of the demonstrators were eager to chat with the press.

My first attempt at an interview was to approach a man wearing a handkerchief around his face and a neon-yellow safety vest. “I don’t speak for the movement; you’re going to want to speak to one of the media people,” he told me. This ended up being a common theme throughout the afternoon.

Many protesters seemed genuinely caught off guard when I shook their hands to introduce myself as a reporter for National Review. Most were media-shy: “Not interested in talking,” “Uhh, I’m okay,” “No, not today, sorry,” “Probably not,” “I already spoke to one person; I’m not up for another one,” “I’m good, thank you though,” “I don’t want to be interviewed, sorry!”

When two college-age protesters wearing Sunrise Movement shirts walked past, I asked if they’d like to chat. One shrugged her shoulders and said “sure” she’d talk, until her friend shook her head and said, “No, we will point to someone who can speak to you on record.” I reminded her that she hadn’t given me her name yet, and I could include her comments on background, which persuaded her enough to shrug her shoulders again and say “sure.”

What motivated her to come out today? “Just like to hold our politicians accountable for sending aid to Israel, like supporting a genocide, like that’s messed up.” Now that Biden is out of the race . . . do you have faith in Kamala Harris? Do you plan on voting for her? Do you think she has a meaningfully different stance on the issue? “She hasn’t made like, a powerful enough stance on, like ending and like canceling all aid to Israel. So like, as soon as she does that, like she has my support.”

While speaker after speaker at Monday’s rally railed against Kamala Harris for supporting Israel, the two protesters who were willing to talk to me on the record seemed cautiously optimistic that she will be more aligned with their view of the war in Gaza than Biden has been. “I know she has a little bit better view on this than Joe did, but we want to make sure that she sticks with some of the things that she says,” added Slivovsky. “I know she says, Israel has a right to defend themselves, but how they do it is also important, and this is just not the right way to do it.”

Helping Harris’s case in some young voters’ eyes is the perception of her as a blank slate. “I’m optimistic because she hasn’t really come out with a policy platform,” says self-identified Gen Z voter Clara Poffenberger, a Washington state native and volunteer for the “uncommitted movement,” which came out against Biden in the primaries because of his administration’s support for Israel. “We’re all pinning hopes on this mysterious dream of Harris, because she has not pinned herself down on any concrete things that she wants to fight for.”

Poffenberger adds that she hasn’t heard of any plans for uncommitted delegates to cause a ruckus during any speeches, or for protesters to try to somehow sneak into the secure perimeter and disrupt the convention’s proceedings. “I don’t think that’s what they’re trying to do.”

Democrats inside the convention arena this evening will be crossing their fingers in hopes that she’s right.