Amid reports that the Democratic National Convention (DNC) would reject a request to invite a Palestinian-American speaker to its Chicago convention, a Muslim woman supporting Harris said she “cannot in good conscience continue to organize.”
“Given this new information from the Uncommitted Movement, and the fact that VP Harris’ team declined a request to have a Palestinian-American speaker at the Democratic National Convention, we cannot in good conscience continue the Harris-Waltz Muslim Women’s Campaign,” the group said. wrote in the statement.
“We pray that the DNC and VP Harris’ team will make the right decision before this convention is over, for each and every one of us.”
There are 30 independent delegates at the Democratic Convention, and leaders of the independent movement, who have been calling on VP Harris and the Democrats to commit to an arms embargo, are pressuring her and the Democrats to allow Palestinians to speak at the convention.
The convention and pending delegates I was negotiating Unofficial organizers say it will run throughout the week.
However, early Thursday morning on the final day of the conference, Abbas Alawie, one of the leaders of the no-holds-barred movement, received a phone call from someone at the conference. Palestinians are not allowed Give a speech during the event.
Alawiye and other pro-union organizers and protesters then began a sit-in in front of the Chicago convention site.
Alawie said he was still waiting for a call from Harris’ team or Democratic Party officials to allow the Palestinians to speak.
The Hill has reached out to Harris’ campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Cori Bush (D-Missouri) joined via FaceTime to show their support, and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) joined the protest and sat in with them. During the sit-in, the Muslim women supporting Harris-Waltz announced they planned to disband.
“The families of the Israeli hostages on stage tonight have shown more empathy for Palestinian Americans and Palestinians than our candidate or the Democratic National Committee,” a Muslim woman supporting Harris-Waltz said in a statement. “This is a terrible message to send to the Democratic Party. Palestinians have a right to speak out about Palestine.”
The group was referring to John Polin and Rachel Goldberg, the parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg Polin, who spoke on Wednesday calling for a ceasefire “to end the suffering of innocent people in Gaza.”
Luwa Roman, a Palestinian member of the Georgia state assembly, Surfaced Harris, a candidate for Democratic National Convention chair, told The Hill that the dissolution of the Muslim women’s group that supports her means that a “ray of hope” has “gone away.”
“There was a silver lining. Community members just wanted to make sure they were being seen, which is something I’ve been warning about for a while,” Roman said. “This group was the start of something great, and it just fizzled out.”
Harris and the Democrats are walking a tightrope trying to win the support of Palestinian, Muslim and Arab voters nearly 10 months after the United Nations said Hamas attacks on Israel killed about 1,200 people and Israeli counterattacks killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, most of them women and children.
Before Harris became the nominee, many undecided voters drifted away from the Democratic Party, some believing she was more likely to listen to their concerns and work with them.
