Protesters in Chicago for the Democratic National Covention (Democracy Now!)

EA on Pat Kenny Show and RTE: Harris Gains Momentum as Trump’s Insults Fall Flat

EA on Pat Kenny Show: The Depths of Israel-Gaza and the High v. Low of US Election 2024

I joined Monocle Radio’s The Briefing on Monday to analyze the linkage between the US Presidential campaign — specifically Kamala Harris and this week’s Democratic National Convention — and Israel’s mass killing in Gaza.

Listen from 2:52:

I begin with the latest from the Middle East, explaining why last week’s ceasefire talks were a non-starter, primarily because of Israel’s targeted assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and the personal position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Unless Netanyahu can show Israelis a decimated Hamas and get the hostages back, he has to continue this conflict. If he doesn’t, his political future is in jeopardy because of early elections, and his legal future is in jeopardy because his trial on bribery charges might resume.

Without minimizing the killing and destruction, I explain how Gaza has dissipated as a looming problem with Harris’s replacement of Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate. A polling deficit in Michigan, the US state with the largest Arab-American population, has been turned into a solid lead.

I evaluate why protests are unlikely to disrupt the Convention, and how Harris has distanced herself from Biden’s position.