Joe Biden, Samelys Lopez and the Palestinian rights movement's electoral hopes and defeats
And a personal update.
With Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, the Palestinian rights movement is confronting an old, familiar question: how to engage with a Democratic presidential campaign that has never given them anything to praise, and much to criticize?
For +972 Magazine, I spoke with a number of leading Palestinian rights advocates in the U.S. to answer that question. The TLDR of it is: For the Palestinian rights movement, there’s no hope of Biden becoming a vociferous critic of Israel, nor of their ability to have any major influence on his campaign or future administration. But they also say that they have no choice but to deal with Biden. You can read the full story here.
But the Palestinian rights movement’s electoral hopes haven’t been totally vanquished—at least not yet. Next month, on June 23, is the New York Democratic primaries, and one crazy race is the 15th Congressional District, where there are 12 candidates, including an anti-gay, anti-abortion evangelical pastor who may win.
Progressives, however, have coalesced around Samelys Lopez, a South Bronx community organizer who is also speaking out for Palestinian rights. Also for +972 Magazine, I interviewed Lopez about her campaign, foreign policy platform and positions on Israel-Palestine. Check out the full interview here.
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I also have some cool personal news to share: I’m now a contributing writer for Jewish Currents. Regular readers of me will know I’ve been writing for them ever since their relaunch, but this formalizes my relationship with the publication, puts me on their masthead and commits me to writing a number of pieces very year for them. (In other words, this is not a staff job; rather it’s a fancy title for a freelance relationship with the publication.) I’m already working on one big piece for them and I’ll probably be working on more soon. Meanwhile, check out my past pieces for them! And subscribe to the magazine!