For a brief moment at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, it seemed like the “uncommitted” movement might break through the seemingly impenetrable walls of the Democratic Party leadership.

The 30 uncommitted delegates there, representing some 700,000 protest voters from various states nationwide who oppose the Biden administration’s policies on Israel, met in person for the first time at the convention. The group had real, scrappy energy, and for a few days, I watched as they seemed to gather momentum and help drive the issue to the forefront of the conversation at the convention.

But by the last day, it was clear that movement leaders felt snubbed by national Democratic leadership. And in the week since the convention, they’ve been trying to make sense of where they stand now.

Layla Elabed, one of the three Palestinian American co-founders of the national movement in Michigan, is trying to focus on the progress the movement has seen. In response to the uncommitted voter turnout in Michigan surpassing 100,000 voters, President Joe Biden had waved his hand, telling reporters that Muslims and Arabs will be forced to accept that Trump is the worse option for them. “When President Biden was at the top of the ticket, they weren’t talking to us at all,” she recalled. After a brief meeting with Kamala Harris before her rally in Detroit, where the vice president showed “genuine empathy,” Elabed felt hope. After the DNC, she felt deeply disappointed but not ready to give up.

“I’m at a point where I’m incredibly disappointed and embarrassed to be a member of the Democratic Party. But it doesn’t mean I’m going to just leave the Democratic Party,” she said. (For one thing, her sister, Rashida Tlaib, remains the United States’ first Palestinian American congresswoman.) “I’m going to continue growing our movement within the Democratic Party, because we are representative of the majority of Democrats.”

For some people who heard Harris’ speech the final night, when she called Israel’s assault in Gaza “devastating,” it seemed as if the vice president might be signaling a new approach to Israel. “The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination,” she said.

But Rami Al-Kabra, a Palestinian American local city council member in Washington state and a Kamala Harris delegate, winced as he listened to the speech. “You know how when you see somebody is about to punch you, you see it coming, but when it hits you, it really hits hard and it’s painful? That’s what it was for us,” Al-Kabra said.

There was one word in particular that jumped out to him: Harris’ declaration that she would ensure America had the “strongest, most lethal fighting force in........

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