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Our movement's best hope for change lies in growing our anti-war organizing power, and that power would be severely undermined by a Trump administration. Pro-war forces like AIPAC may want to drive us out of the Democratic Party, but we’re here to stay.
Note: At the conclusion of our historic sit-in at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, we at the Uncommitted National Movement asked Vice President Harris to respond by September 15 to requests to meet with Palestinian American families in Michigan who lost loved ones to U.S.-supplied bombs in Gaza and to discuss their demands for halting arms to Israel and securing a permanent ceasefire. In response to the campaign’s failure to address these requests, Uncommitted National Movement leaders released the following statement on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024.
The Uncommitted National Movement was born out of historic anti-war organizing by people across our country witnessing a genocide unfold in Gaza against Palestinians whose humanity we recognize as no different than our own. We came together, first in Michigan, and then in state after state to insist that even through our pain and grief, we must organize to save lives, advance policies that build rather than destroy, and create a future where not another bomb from our country drops on a civilian anywhere in our world. We are proud to have grown our movement, even as our government continues to send bombs that destroy families. Our organizing around the presidential election was never about endorsing a specific candidate; it has always been about building a movement that saves lives.
Our organizing around the presidential election was never about endorsing a specific candidate; it has always been about building a movement that saves lives.
Today, the Uncommitted National Movement announces that as we continue advocating for lifesaving policy change which ends the bombing of Gaza and ends U.S. support for the Israeli military's war crimes, Vice President Harris’s unwillingness to shift on unconditional weapons policy or to even make a clear campaign statement in support of upholding existing U.S. and international human rights law has made it impossible for us to endorse her. At this time, our movement 1) cannot endorse Vice President Harris; 2) opposes a Donald Trump presidency, whose agenda includes plans to accelerate the killing in Gaza while intensifying the suppression of anti-war organizing; and 3) is not recommending a third-party vote in the Presidential election, especially as third party votes in key swing states could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency given our country’s broken electoral college system.
For months, we have urged Vice President Harris to shift her Gaza policy so we could mobilize voters in key states to save lives and our democracy. The DNC and the Vice President’s campaign fumbled even a small gesture to unite our party ahead of November by rejecting the simple request for a Palestinian American speaker. Now, the Vice President’s campaign is courting Dick Cheney while sidelining disillusioned anti-war voices, pushing them to consider third-party options or to sit this important election out.
The Uncommitted movement began in Michigan with 1.5 million voter contacts in three weeks, delivering 101,000 anti-war votes and was one of the first organized efforts to spotlight Biden’s electability issues. Nationally, we grew to 740,000 pro-peace voters, securing a historic 30 delegates to the DNC. Since then, we’ve expanded to over 300 “Ceasefire Delegates”—Harris supporters who have joined our fight to end Democratic Party leadership’s policy of backing bombs. Their efforts have been supported by our Not Another Bomb campaign, which has brought together dozens of organizations and mobilized over 100,000 people in 35 states nationwide.
We must block Donald Trump, which is why we urge Uncommitted voters to vote against him and avoid third-party candidates that could inadvertently boost his chances, as Trump openly boasts that third parties will help his candidacy.
In our assessment, our movement’s best hope for change lies in growing our anti-war organizing power, and that power would be severely undermined by a Trump administration. Seventy-seven percent of Democrats and 61% of Americans oppose weapons aid for Israel's assault on Gaza, which is preventing a ceasefire and blocking the reunification of Palestinian and Israeli captives with their families. Trump himself has bragged about accelerating the genocide against Palestinians and promised to intensify the suppression of pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S. We must block Donald Trump, which is why we urge Uncommitted voters to vote against him and avoid third-party candidates that could inadvertently boost his chances, as Trump openly boasts that third parties will help his candidacy.
We urge Uncommitted voters to register anti-Trump votes and vote up and down the ballot. Our focus remains on building a broad anti-war coalition both inside and outside the Democratic Party. Pro-war forces like AIPAC may want to drive us out of the Democratic Party, but we’re here to stay. Movements have long worked to rid the Democratic Party of hateful forces—segregationists, anti-union, anti-choice, and anti-LGBTQ proponents, the NRA, and Big Oil—and we will work in that legacy to rid our party of AIPAC’s pro-war extremism.
Building on the work of ‘Uncommitted,’ we invite stakeholders in the Democratic Party coalition—progressives, civil rights, labor, racial justice, reproductive rights, climate, immigrant rights, disability justice, people of faith, young people and more—to join us in our campaign to push our Democratic Party leadership to align with the majority of Democratic voters who support the urgent call for a stop to illegal and morally reprehensible weapons transfers through our campaign, "Not Another Bomb," both now and in the next administration.
Because we strongly believe, nay absolutely know, that the U.S. does not need another warship.
To Whom It May Concern:
Because I have twice visited the West Bank and know the personal stories of 40 year-old Palestinian men who were imprisoned as boys for simply yelling at Israeli soldiers—and beaten and dehumanized for months before being released without trial;
And because I now know that those horrific, forever haunting experiences were and remain commonplace for Palestinian youth and are symptomatic of a world where, “we (Israelis) believe they are worth more than they” (Palestinians);
And because by paying close attention to non-main-stream American and foreign media I know the horrific truth of Gaza;
And because I have a good sense that when thousands are killed under months of ceaseless bombing and thousands more remain buried under the rubble yet to be found, the crime rises beyond war to become, inarguably, a “genocide”;
And because I know of the influence of AIPAC and U.S. defense industry corporations on U.S. Congress members and, hence, on American foreign policy;
And because I know well that the siege of Gaza could not continue without U.S. cover and support;
And because, as not much more than an adolescent, as a consequence of the fiction fed me by a conventional education, I volunteered to go off to Vietnam;
And because I know that, as a consequence of that war of choice, two to three million Vietnamese were killed in defense of their country---and that 2-3 million others are institutionalized today unable to take care of themselves as 2nd and 3rd generation victims of Agent Orange;
And, because I also mourn the 58,281 Americans commemorated on “the wall”, lost in that war, generally, perhaps, believing the same fiction I had;
And because I know that millions, yes millions, of innocents have died in my lifetime, arguably victims of American wars of choice, endorsed and promoted by the American defense industry, in Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Syria, Yemen, etc., (hardly an all-inclusive list);
And because I and others, on many occasions since the Berrigan brothers, in a Prince of Peace Plowshares action on February 12, 1997, have returned again and again to protest other
christenings” at Bath;
And because we strongly believe, nay absolutely know, that the U.S. does not need more warships, but rather that General Dynamics ought to be “converting” to the manufacture of “green” technologies.
It is for these reasons, in the spirit of the “Plowshares” movement, we chose to inconvenience the so-called “christening” attendees on July 27th—that they might give pause to consider the merits of our actions. That they too, might join us in a virtual revolution—to turn away from violence, to demand that our country do the same, to be a force for cooperation among the brotherhood of nations, rather than endorsing endless militarism.
For these reasons I chose to join like-minded fellow citizens in our efforts to make more widely known our nation’s reckless conduct. I proclaim my innocence and will be very pleased to have the opportunity to defend that position in court.
Not in my name!
Dud Hendrick
Deer Isle, Maine
USNA Graduate —1963
USAF Officer — 1963-1967
AIPAC's billionaire-funded super PAC has helped defeat two of the most vocal opponents of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful lobbying group widely known as AIPAC, has officially spent more than $100 million in the 2024 election cycle so far, pouring staggering sums into Democratic primary races in an effort to unseat progressive opponents of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.
Citing new Federal Election Commission filings, Sludge reported Tuesday that AIPAC's political action committee had spent $44.8 million as of the end of last month, mostly on donations to political campaigns and party organizations. The United Democracy Project (UDP), AIPAC's super PAC, has spent $55.4 million so far, bringing AIPAC's total spending this cycle to just over $100 million—surpassing its reported spending target for 2024 races.
AIPAC money has already made a significant impact, helping a pair of pro-Israel Democrats defeat progressive Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.)—two of Congress' most vocal critics of Israel's assault on Gaza—in recent primary contests.
"Supporting Palestinian rights is becoming so popular among American voters that pro-genocide groups have to spend over $100 million to hold on."
Sludge noted that UDP's financial support for Bowman's primary opponent, George Latimer, "set a record for spending by an outside group on a House election."
"A very bad sign for democracy that MAGA billionaires are spending this much money to shape our politics," the youth-led Sunrise Movement
wrote in response to the new spending figures, referring to the Republican megadonors who have fueled spending by AIPAC-aligned groups.
Politico reported in June that AIPAC has been "the biggest source of Republican money flowing into competitive Democratic primaries this year."
Sludge pointed out Tuesday that billionaire Jan Koum, the former WhatsApp CEO who helped bankroll Nikki Haley's failed presidential bid, is the top donor to AIPAC's super PAC.
"Other UDP donors in recent months have included the following: David Messer, CEO of Freepoint Commodities, who gave another $250,000 on July 1; Martin Geller, CEO of financial firm Geller & Company, who gave an additional $268,000 on June 25; and Frank Blair, equity portfolio manager at Capital Group, who gave an additional $200,000 in May," Sludge reported.
While lamenting the outsized influence that UDP and other billionaire-funded groups are able to wield in the U.S. political system, some observers have argued that AIPAC's aggressive spending is a sign of desperation in the face of growing public opposition to Israel's mass atrocities in Gaza. A majority of Democratic voters view Israel's war on Gaza as genocide, according to one recent survey.
"Supporting Palestinian rights is becoming so popular among American voters that pro-genocide groups have to spend over $100 million to hold on," said Beth Miller, policy director at Jewish Voice for Peace.