Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) said Monday that he’s hoping Vice President Harris will call for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel before November’s election.
Bowman, an outspoken critic of Israel’s conduct in the war with Hamas, noted that Harris has already taken a more aggressive position on the conflict than President Biden has — at least rhetorically. He said her next step, as she vies to succeed Biden in the Oval Office, should be to endorse a pause in U.S. weapons sales to Tel Aviv for the sake of protecting Palestinian civilians.
“She was the first to say ceasefire – she’s said it multiple times. An arms embargo’s the next step,” Bowman said during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. “And so I would like to hear her say that before the election, absolutely. Is she going to say it? I don’t know.”
The Israel-Hamas conflict has divided Democrats for years — a clash that’s been only exacerbated by Hamas’s terrorist attack of Oct. 7 and Israel’s aggressive military response. The tensions have been on display in Chicago this week, where thousands of pro-Palestinian activists have gathered to press Biden, Harris and Democrats on Capitol Hill to quit their support for Israel’s ongoing operations.
Bowman, who lost his primary race this year in a contest hinging largely on his sharp criticisms of Israel, emphasized that he doesn’t think Harris will take such a position in her keynote speech on Thursday, when she’s scheduled to accept the Democrats’ presidential nomination. But he’s hoping she’ll adopt such a policy before November to send a message that party leaders are listening to the concerns of pro-Palestinian base voters.
“If she’s going to say ‘arms embargo’ on Thursday it would break the internet. I don’t think she’s going to say that, personally,” Bowman said. “Maybe at some point she does, because I’m very concerned with how we look on a global scale. The entire international community, a majority of it, are opposed to what Israel is doing in Gaza. And we keep sending them tens of billions of dollars to continue to do it.”
Bowman said he has not joined the protestors outside the convention, saying he’s spending his time in Chicago with family.
“But of course you know I’m with them 100 percent,” he quickly added. “We need them to hold us accountable.”