‘Not an easy situation to handle’: Iowa Democrats’ leader addresses college Dems’ pro-Palestine statement

DES MOINES — Calling it “not an easy situation to handle” and suggesting “we’re not all going to agree,” Iowa Democratic Party state chairwoman Rita Hart addressed the state party’s recent condemnation of a pro-Palestine statement issued by college Democrats at the University of Iowa.

During a meeting of the state party’s leadership committee on Saturday, Hart addressed criticism of the state party’s call for the resignation of leadership for the University Democrats after the group released a pro-Palestine statement that originally included a phrase that has become considered anti-Semitic.

The Nov. 1 statement originally concluded with the line, “May every Palestinian live long and free, from the river to the sea.” The phrase “from the river to the sea” has historic pro-Palestinian roots, but also has become adopted by anti-Israel entities. The Anti-Defamation League and Jewish organizations classify the phrase as anti-Semitic.

Upon receiving feedback on the line, the University Democrats changed it to instead read, “May every Palestinian live long and free.” Nonetheless, the Iowa Democratic Party issued a statement condemning the University Democrats’ statement and calling on the leaders who signed it to resign.

“Let’s be very clear. That is a call for Jewish genocide and we wholly condemn that offensive language,” Hart said in the statement.

Some Iowa Democrats — including among party leadership — have pushed back on the state party’s response. The party’s Arab American caucus criticized the state party and accused the party of misrepresenting the University Democrats’ statement.

“I understand that not everybody agreed with the way that that was handled,” Hart said during Saturday’s meeting. “I want you to understand that that was not an easy situation to handle.

“Not everyone is going to be in agreement on it,” Hart said. “That’s unfortunate. But I don’t think there’s any way that’s not going to be true. We’re not all going to agree on that.”

Hart said her hope is that while Democrats may disagree on whether the state party’s condemnation of the college Democrats’ statement was appropriate, that it can be a respectful disagreement that does not fracture the state party.

“I know there is disappointment and people have expressed that. I’ve listened. I hear the objections. I’ve tried to learn from this experience. And I hope we can all move forward together,” Hart said.

In an interview last week, UI senior and University Democrats treasurer Matthew Charles told The Gazette Hart didn’t communicate with the students who signed the statement before she demanded they resign.

“The part that is extremely harmful about their statement is that they didn't ask us to resign because we'd made a mistake or used a phrase that we shouldn't have used,” Charles said. “They said, ‘Let's be clear, that is a call for Jewish genocide.’

“They're saying, unambiguously, these people are calling for Jewish genocide, which obviously is not true,” he said. “If anything, we made a mistake and used a few words that we shouldn't have.”

Newman Abuissa, chairman of the Arab American caucus, continued that group’s criticism during Saturday’s state leadership committee meeting. He asserted that the group’s statement was not antisemitic and that Palestinians are the ones who are currently suffering in the Israel-Hamas war.

“We need to be more than welcoming to them. We need to protect them. We need to help them. And we really need to put an effort to support them any way possible,” Abuissa said of the college Democrats.

Hart said in recent weeks, she has taken steps to create a stronger connection between the state party and college groups. She said she has made connections with Democratic student groups at Iowa, Iowa State and the University of Northern Iowa, and hopes to create a standing series of periodic meetings to help the groups grow their numbers and resources.

“I recognize as many of you do how important it is to have a good relationship and to foster the youth vote. These young people are the future of this party and we need to have a good relationship with them and we need to have a working relationship with them. And that’s what we’re going to have moving forward,” Hart said. “We’re all looking forward to making that relationship stronger as we go forward. That’s the good news that has come out of what I would consider a very tough political situation.”

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