Khaberni - Journalist Holly Otterbein, in an exclusive report published by Axios, says that senior Democratic officials who prepared a secret assessment for the 2024 elections concluded that Kamala Harris, the Democratic party's candidate in those elections, lost significant support due to the approach of former President Joe Biden’s administration towards the war in Gaza.
Otterbein, who specializes in American Democratic Party affairs, explains that the results of research by the "Democratic National Committee", which prepared the report about the party's mistakes in 2024, were kept secret because party leaders decided last year to hide them from the public.
The Danger of the Assessment Results
Otterbein said that the decision to keep the committee's decision secret reflects the severity of the risk that could arise from such findings being published internally and externally, especially in light of the sharp division between progressive and moderate Democrats regarding the stance on Israel.
The leftist "progressive" wing is highly critical, according to Otterbein, of Israel's actions against the Palestinians in Gaza, and many criticize the unwavering U.S. support for it, while Harris attempted to strike a balance in her brief campaign between supporting Israel and calling for a ceasefire.
The Axios report mentions that aides to the Democratic National Committee who prepared the assessment conducted closed discussions with a pro-Palestinian group about the conflict, where activists from the Middle East Understanding Policies Institute confirmed that the administration's support for Israel was a factor in the loss.
Support for Israel Diluted Support
Activists explained that this support led to the dissipating support among some youth and progressives, and Hamid Bandas, a spokesperson for the project, said the committee shared data that found this policy was a "net loss" in the 2024 elections.
Two other senior officials in the pro-Palestinian organization confirmed that the Democratic National Committee reached this conclusion, while Axios independently verified that the officials believe the issue hurt the party's standing.
The "Middle East Understanding Policies Project" currently accuses, according to Axios, the Democratic National Committee of partially concealing its report because of the findings related to Israel, which spokesperson Kendall Whitmer denied, confirming that withholding publication aimed to avoid distracting from electoral efforts.
Before the Midterm Elections
The Democratic National Committee confirmed that it spoke with hundreds of entities as part of its analysis, but did not provide additional details, while Bandas emphasized the need to broadly share the findings within the party before the crucial midterm elections.
An aide to Harris recently stated during a tour for her book "107 Days" that the administration should have done more, pointing to the necessity to publicly criticize how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conducted the war.
Harris mentioned in her book that Biden's declining popularity, which she partly attributed to his "blank check" to Netanyahu, hurt her in 2024, insisting she pleaded with Biden secretly to show more empathy towards civilians.
Despite these secret pleas, Harris refused during her election campaign to publicly break away from Biden's policy towards Israel, which ultimately resulted in losing important electoral blocs previously counted on by the Democratic Party.
