Source: Politics<\/p>\n
After the Democratic National Committee punted on two resolutions<\/a> in August that highlighted the party\u2019s deep divide on Israel, DNC Chair Ken Martin convened a task force \u201cto have the conversation\u201d and \u201cbring solutions back to our party.\u201d<\/p>\n Seven months later, the Middle East working group \u2014 meeting today in-person for the second time \u2014 still has work to do.<\/p>\n The group, composed of eight DNC members with backgrounds in Jewish and Palestinian advocacy, has struggled to meet consistently or coalesce around shared objectives. Part of that is due to the difficulties of coordinating across schedules and time zones, with at least one member actively running for office. But atop those hurdles come the challenges of productive discourse about one of the party\u2019s most contentious debates among a cohort with sharp ideological divides.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople aren\u2019t comfortable with being uncomfortable,\u201d Steph Newton, a DNC member from Oregon who\u2019s part of the working group, told POLITICO. \u201cThese uncomfortable discussions are how we\u2019re going to be able to move the party forward and find a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n The working group met for the first time in December at the DNC\u2019s winter meeting in Los Angeles, and convened virtually two more times, on March 1 and March 18. Those meetings mostly centered on figuring out what the group should be working on in the first place. \u201cMost of the time, what we\u2019ve talked about is, \u2018What are we supposed to be doing?\u2019\u201d said James Zogby, another member from D.C.<\/p>\n The working group comes as divides over support for Israel remain a persistent liability for Democrats, and as AIPAC\u2019s involvement<\/a> in midterm primaries presents a new purity test<\/a> for candidates. \u201cNo one gets anywhere by trying to shout the other side of the room \u2014 as a matter of fact, I think that would be harmful politics,\u201d Andrew Lachman, another working group member from California, said.<\/p>\n A DNC spokesperson emphasized the group\u2019s goal is to figure out how to talk to voters about the Middle East in a way that ultimately helps the party build coalitions and win elections.<\/p>\n The group\u2019s inaction so far came into sharper focus yesterday at the DNC\u2019s spring meeting in New Orleans, when the party\u2019s resolutions committee considered one brought by Joe Salas, another member of the working group from California, to recognize Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is necessary for the Democratic National Committee to address the ongoing heinous and illegal acts against the Palestinian people. Some here may say that there is a working group. To that, I say that we are in a midterm year and they are yet to produce any results in a moment where anger has only grown amongst the American people,\u201d said Cameron Landon, VP of the College Democrats of America, who spoke on behalf of Salas.<\/p>\n Salas, who wasn\u2019t at the meeting, submitted the resolution without discussing it with the other members of the Middle East working group, according to Zogby and Newton, who said she was \u201csurprised\u201d to see it in the resolutions packet<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI would assume that if we\u2019re on a work group together discussing these issues, you say, \u2018Hey, work group members, teammates, I want to submit a resolution on X, Y and Z. I know we\u2019re working toward something like this together. Is this something that we can discuss?\u2019\u201d Newton said.<\/p>\n Deborah Cunningham-Skurnik, another member of the group from California, told the resolutions panel yesterday that there were \u201csome parts of it I would like to go bit by bit over with\u201d Salas.<\/p>\n Salas said in an interview ahead of the vote he wouldn\u2019t attend the New Orleans meeting because \u201cI\u2019m just gonna let them have those words and reject them, accept them, modify them, whatever they want to do.\u201d He didn\u2019t respond to further requests for comment about why he didn\u2019t tell the working group he submitted the resolution.<\/p>\n The panel ultimately referred those resolutions back to the working group \u2014 with a warning. \u201cAs a body, we recommend this going back to the task force,\u201d said Ron Harris, the resolutions committee co-chair. \u201cBut then we can put some \u2014 I don\u2019t want to say \u2018constraints,\u2019 but expectations that we hear back.\u201d<\/p>\n John Verdejo, a DNC member from North Carolina, was more direct. \u201cIt can\u2019t just be we have a task force and then the next time we have a DNC meeting, it just comes up again. No, we want to see your progress. You want to have a task force? You want to make the hard changes, have the hard discussions? Then do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Allison Minnerly, another working group member from Florida, said after the snafu that \u201cso long as the party does not prioritize this conversation, you will see what happened today, which is that DNC resolutions committee members have many questions on the inaction and the results of the working group. It\u2019s really clear that this issue will keep coming up at every subsequent DNC meeting until there\u2019s a clear direction, solution, talking points.\u201d<\/p>\n Now that the party has referred the resolutions to the working group, it finally has a clear, near-term objective for its meeting today.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually am pleased that we will now have a very specific charge that we must accomplish in a defined period of time,\u201d Zogby said. \u201cWe have not had a defined agenda, and it\u2019s been difficult to get people together. Now we have to get this done, and there\u2019s just no way we can duck it at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n Like this content? Consider signing up for POLITICO’s Playbook PM newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n