CHICAGO — Top anti-Israel protest organizers predicted a monster turnout of between 30,000 and 40,000 activists ahead of the Democratic National Convention, but on Monday afternoon before beginning their march, they appeared poised to fall dramatically short of that.
Leaders of the March on the DNC 2024 told reporters that 15,000 showed up to make hay against the Democratic Party.
For months, top Democrats were anxious about how the anti-Israel activity during the national convention would unfold, fearing a repeat of the infamous 1968 convention that saw riots take the Windy City by storm.
Yet on Monday afternoon, thousands of unused signs littered the ground at Union Park, illustrating the lower-than-expected turnout.
They included many of the typical posters that had long dominated such anti-Israel demonstrations since last October, with slogans such as, “Democrats fund genocide of the Palestinians” and others suggesting that Israeli leadership were “fascists.”
Many of the participants wore masks to conceal their identities and paraded around Palestinian flags.
Throughout the 2024 Democratic cycle, anti-Israel protesters emerged as a potent political force that made top party luminaries fret the progressive movement could splinter during a critical showdown against former President Donald Trump, 78.
Follow along with The Post’s live reporting of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Tens of thousands of voters wrote in some iteration of “uncommitted” on their 2024 Democratic primary ballot in protest against President Biden, 81.
But now there’s a new leader atop the ticket — Vice President Kamala Harris, 59 — and many of the protesters seemed torn about what to make of her.
“I don’t know because she’s said two conflicting things just recently — a lot of Palestinians are not voting for her,” Mary Tabar, 66 who lives in the suburbs of Chicago, told The Post, growing emotional at times during the interview.
“She was saying, yes, we’re going to continue aid to Israel, but Palestinians need to be able to live or something,” she said, with a shrug suggesting she didn’t know how to interpret that.
Tabar’s husband lived in Lebanon and recalled seeing refugee camps for Palestinians since the age of 6. She also briefly lived in Lebanon.
“I think she’s better, but I think she’s going to probably still uphold the whole thing about we have to defend Israel, and I think that we need to make a dividing line between [Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” said Christine Boardman, 72, of Chicago.
Boardman waived around a sign that read “Genocide Joe’s legacy: The butcher of Gaza.” She was very displeased with Democrats’ plans to honor Biden’s legacy on Day 1 of the convention.
But that’s not enough to deter her from voting for Harris in November.
“I’m planning on voting for her anyway because the alternative is worse, but that’s the only reason. If I could have had any kind of independent vote, I certainly would have,” she said.
Boardman attended the protest with Kate Thompson, 71, also from Chicago, who was less committed to backing Harris on election night.
“I think he did do some good things, but I think it’s going to be overshadowed … just like in the ’60s, LBJ also did some good things, but he’s remembered from Vietnam, and Biden will be remembered for Gaza,” Thompson said.
Harris is “a little bit better,” she argued, “I think she at least sees Palestinians as being human beings. I really don’t think Biden did. I think he really saw Jewish lives as being more important.”
Many of the typical anti-Israel signs dominated the rally such as ones claiming that “Democrats fund genocide of the Palestinians” and others suggesting that Israeli leadership were “fascists.”
“You can’t claim to be saving democracy if you’re propping up fascist regimes that are slaughtering thousands of innocent people, like the ones in Israel now,” Charlie DeGraves, 19, from Michigan, said.
“I think [Harris has] really shown no difference practically. I think it’s she’s been slightly more progressive in certain aspects of other types of policy, but she’s shown nothing but steadfast support for Israel,” he added.
DeGraves explained that he intends to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein instead.
‘It’s just disgusting’
The March on the DNC 2024 planned to walk its entourage over to Park 578, where organizers vowed to “make some noise.”
“That meeting represents genocide and war,” one of the protest speakers said about the convention.
“Who is the intifada?” another speaker shouted to the crowd during the assembly in the park.
Anti-Israel protesters were not the only ones to converge on Union Park ahead of the march. A hodgepodge of different allied groups, such as Nodutdol for Korean Community Development Bayan USA, a left-wing Philippine organization, and dozens of others.
Bayan USA set up giant papier-mache puppets of a blood-covered Biden, Harris and Philippine President Bongbong Marcos.
“They’re puppets,” Jill Mangaliman, a spokesperson for the group, told The Post. “The biggest concern is that, you know, the United States is funding the Philippines military, propping up more US bases on our soil, and provoking war with China, whereas the people we don’t want to go to war, we want to live in peace.”
A handful of counter-protesters also showed up, including pro-life groups and pro-Israel demonstrators. Dozens of law enforcement officers stood between the pro-Israel and anti-Israel factions, though there was some spillover.
One of those counter-protesters, Richard Levik, 64, described the nearby anti-Israel crowd, which dramatically outnumbered his side, as “terrorists.”
“It’s just disgusting. The least I can do is make it clear that this Democrat is not an equivocating,” he said.
Levik wore a Harris-Walz shirt and waved around a poster saying “Destroy Hamas” and “Destroy Islamic Terrorism.”
While admitting that Biden is “not as strong as I would like” on the issue and that Harris is more of an unknown, he plans to vote Democratic on Nov. 5.
Munem Kmail, 55, an anti-Israel protester, walked through the counter-protest group parading around a Palestinian flag.
“President Biden, he’s completely complicit with the genocide. He gave Israel unconditional support to commit war crimes,” he said, arguing that Harris was guilty of the same transgressions.
Kmail managed to strut around the counter-protest without incident.
