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abbas alawieh
Palestinian Rights Advocates Hold Sit-In After DNC Refuses Speaking Slot
"DNC, we will stay here until we get the call from Democratic leadership."
Aug 22, 2024
Delegates from the "uncommitted" movement led a sit-in outside of the Democratic National Convention and refused to accept no for an answer late Wednesday after the party declined their request to provide a mere five minutes of onstage time for a Palestinian American to speak to the horrors unfolding in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has been bombing relentlessly with U.S. support for more than 10 months.
DNC organizers did not say publicly why they are refusing to allow a Palestinian American to speak at the event at Chicago's United Center, which is located in the county with the largest Palestinian American population in the U.S.
The Uncommitted National Movement secured dozens of delegates to the DNC after hundreds of thousands of Democratic primary voters cast ballots earlier this year protesting the Biden administration's support for Israel's assault on Gaza.
In a joint statement late Wednesday, Abbas Alawieh, June Rose, Sabrene Odeh, and other uncommitted delegates said that "we are waiting for a phone call from Vice President [Kamala] Harris and the DNC to allow a single Palestinian American speaker from the convention stage."
"Our party's platform states that every life is valuable: whether American, Palestinian, or Israeli," the delegates said. "We will conduct a moral act of sitting in at the convention to push our party to better align our actions, instead of just our words, with the notion that every life is valuable by simply allowing a Palestinian American to speak from the stage."
Memo to Harris campaign: since you invited American Jews w/ a child held captive in Gaza, you should’ve also invited to speak a Palestinian American w/ family in Gaza suffering from the assault. Palestinians deserve respect. To fail to do this is an unforced error. Fix it now. pic.twitter.com/mImkced0tj
— James J. Zogby (@jjz1600) August 22, 2024
The DNC's speaker lineup thus far has included Republicans, the former CEO of American Express, and the parents of an Israeli American held hostage in Gaza.
"The Democratic Party has ignored Palestinian voices—canceling meetings, belittling protestors, and now blocking a Palestinian speaker from appearing at the DNC," the Uncommitted National Movement wrote on social media. "We won't let that happen. Palestinian Americans have watched for 10+ months as Democrats have spent their own tax dollars supplying Israel with weapons to kill their loved ones in Palestine."
"All we asked for was five minutes," the movement added. "DNC, we will stay here until we get the call from Democratic leadership. We will not stop until we win an arms embargo. We will not stop until the Democratic Party becomes the party of Palestinian rights."
The window for a reversal from DNC organizers is rapidly closing: Thursday is the final day of the convention, which will feature remarks from Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that "many Democratic leaders were concerned" that providing even a brief speaking slot to a Palestinian American "would threaten the unity that has been on vivid display at the convention," given the likelihood that the speaker would criticize U.S. support for Israel's assault.
Waleed Shahid, a progressive organizer and Democratic strategist, said that "several names" of Palestinian Americans were submitted to the DNC for consideration and uncommitted delegates were "well aware that every speech would be vetted and edited by the campaign and have agreed to that process."
"There are tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans," Shahid added. "The DNC can find one person to speak."
In response to the DNC's decision, the group "Muslim Women for Harriz-Walz" announced that it "cannot in good conscience" keep its organization going "in light of this new information."
"The family of the Israeli hostage that was on stage tonight has shown more empathy towards Palestinian Americans and Palestinians than our candidate or the DNC has," the group said in a statement. "This is a terrible message to send to Democrats. Palestinians have the right to speak about Palestine. We pray that the DNC and VP Harris' team makes the right decision before this convention is over. For the sake of each of us."
Ongoing Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip—enabled by tens of billions of dollars of American weaponry transferred by the current Democratic administration—and the enclave's appalling humanitarian crisis have received scant attention from DNC speakers thus far. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the two most prominent progressive lawmakers to speak at the convention, each mentioned Gaza just once, with the latter offering praise for the Biden administration's diplomatic efforts that critics said was entirely unwarranted.
Zeteo's Mehdi Hasan wrote Wednesday that "there are plenty of Dem delegates at this convention here in Chicago who I am sure support an arms embargo and are against what's happening in Gaza."
"But," he added, "they don't want it to get in the way of pro-Kamala party atmosphere. It's an inconvenient genocide."
Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) joined the sit-in late Wednesday, expressing solidarity with the demand for a Palestinian American speaker on the convention stage.
"To still speak up in your grief in the face of people who would essentially spit in your face, and to do it anyway, is a love that some people will never understand," Lee told the demonstrators.
This story has been updated to include a statement from the group "Muslim Women for Harriz-Walz."
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'Uncommitted' Backs Israeli-American Speakers at DNC, Says Palestinians Must Have Voice Too
"Excluding a Palestinian speaker betrays the party's commitment in our platform to valuing Israelis and Palestinian lives equally."
Aug 21, 2024
While welcoming a scheduled Democratic National Convention speech by the Israeli-American parents of a young man kidnapped in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, the co-founders of the Uncommitted National Movement on Wednesday implored the DNC to ensure that Palestinian voices are also heard on the event's main stage.
Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, whose 23-year-old son Hersh was abducted from the Nova rave near the Gaza border, are set to speak Wednesday night in what Forward, a progressive Jewish news site, described as "a counterpoint to the powerful appearance at last month's Republican convention by Ronen and Orna Neutra, the parents of hostage Omar Neutra, who led the crowd in Milwaukee in chants of 'Bring them home!'"
In a Wednesday statement, Uncommitted National Movement co-founders Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed said the 30 Uncommitted delegates attending the DNC "urge the Democratic Party to reject a hierarchy of human value by ensuring Palestinian voices are heard on the main stage."
"We are learning that Israeli hostages' families will be speaking from the main stage. We strongly support that decision and also strongly hope that we will also be hearing from Palestinians who've endured the largest civilian death toll since 1948," the pair continued, referring to the year in which the modern state of Israel was established amid the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Arabs from Palestine, an event known among Palestinians as the Nakba, or "catastrophe."
"Excluding a Palestinian speaker betrays the party's commitment in our platform to valuing Israelis and Palestinian lives equally," Alawieh and Elabed asserted, adding that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, "must unite this party with a vision that fights for everyone, including Palestinians."
The Democratic National Committee's 2024 platform states that "Democrats recognize the worth of every Israeli and every Palestinian."
However, the platform also opposes human rights-based protests against Israel including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, as well as efforts to hold Israel accountable at the United Nations. Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, a U.N. organ, amid an ongoing assault on Gaza that has left at least 143,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and most of the coastal enclave flattened.
The U.S. has provided Israel with tens of billions of dollars worth of military aid—including the bombs used in some of Israel's deadliest massacres in Gaza—and diplomatic cover like United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution vetoes.
With the exception of a vocal minority of pro-Palestine voices led by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American member of Congress and Elabed's sister, most elected Democrats—from Harris and President Joe Biden to a majority of U.S. lawmakers—support Israel, making it difficult for Palestine defenders to secure DNC stage time.
Following sustained activist pressure, the DNC provided space for the
first-ever panel on Palestinian rights on Monday. On Tuesday, the Uncommitted National Movement—which won nearly 20% of the Democratic primary vote in Minnesota and over 13% in the key swing state of Wisconsin—hosted another panel featuring doctors who volunteered in Gaza hospitals.
"The difficulty in approving even a single Palestinian American speaker among the dozens of speakers on the convention stage sends a troubling message to our anti-war voters, suggesting they aren't truly included in this party," Alawieh and Elabed said Wednesday. "The pain and loss of an Israeli or a Palestinian are no different, b ut there is an added sting in our communities when we know that it is our tax dollars funding the killing of our loved ones."
"We have provided the Democratic Party with a list of names and stand ready to provide more if needed," the pair added. "There is no reason not to get this done."
Backing Uncommitted's demand for Palestinian inclusion at the DNC, Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.)
said on social media Wednesday that "as Democrats, we must commit to uplifting the shared humanity of all people and recognize that the loss of human life is always tragic, regardless of nationality, religion, or race."
"I'm calling on the DNC to live up to these values and invite Palestinian speakers to the convention," he added.
There have been large and small pro-Palestine protests in Chicago and throughout the nation leading up to and during the DNC.
According to a May Zeteo-Data for Progress poll, a majority of Democratic voters believe Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
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'History Is Watching': Gaza Doctors Urge Harris to Back Israel Arms Embargo at Democratic Convention
"We are here to deliver a policy that saves and improves lives," Uncommitted National Movement co-founder Abbas Alawieh said in opening remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the DNC.
Aug 20, 2024
As humanitarians opposed to the U.S. government's support for Israel's assault on Gaza continued to protest during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday, American doctors who recently volunteered in the besieged enclave implored the party's presidential nominee Kamala Harris—based on the carnage and heartache they have witnessed—to embrace an arms embargo on Israel and an immediate cease-fire.
during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Uncommitted National Movement held a Tuesday press conference at which American doctors who volunteered in Gaza implored Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, to embrace an arms embargo on Israel and an immediate cease-fire.
"We are here to deliver a policy that saves and improves lives," Uncommitted National Movement co-founder Abbas Alawieh said in opening remarks at Tuesday's press conference. "We are here because we want to win a better world."
Alawieh slammed the "hypocritical action" of Biden administration officials who, while "saying they want a cease-fire," continue "to send more and more weapons" to far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "murderous government," which "is using those weapons to kill civilians" and is "preventing any hope for all captives, Israeli and Palestinian, to be reunited with their families."
Such support, Alawieh added, is also "preventing any hope of a departure from the horrors that we are seeing our siblings in Gaza experience with more than 16,000 children... being killed using U.S. weapons."
"The Uncommitted National Movement mobilized Democratic voters—more than 740,000 nationally—specifically around the idea that our candidate, regardless of who they may be, needs an updated approach to their Gaza policy," Alawieh continued. "Specifically, our stance is that our government should embrace an arms embargo. Stop sending weapons that are being used to kill civilians."
"Vice President Harris is engaging with us on this issue," Alawieh added. "Her team is engaging with us on this issue. We do view that as a positive step in the right direction. We want to be very clear that what we need to see urgently is for the bombs to stop. Stop sending bombs if you want us to believe that you want a cease-fire."
There are 30 Uncommitted delegates attending the DNC after being elected in Democratic primaries in states like Minnesota, where the movement received 18.9% of the vote, and the key swing state of Wisconsin, where it won 13.3%. As polling reveals that Democratic and Independent voters in crucial swing states would be more likely to vote for Harris if she backs an arms embargo on Israel, her campaign has made some moves to accommodate Uncommitted voices, including providing space at the DNC.
Dr. Tammy Abughnaim, a Chicago-based emergency physician, said she asked Palestinians what she should tell people in the United States about Gaza, where she saw the aftermath of "massacre after massacre" and "suffering on an entirely unprecedented scale."
"Tell the world what you saw," she said they told her. "We cannot afford another day of this."
On Monday, the DNC held its first-ever panel on Palestinian rights, which featured testimony from some of those who spoke at Tuesday's press conference, including Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, an American pediatric intensive care physician who volunteered for two weeks at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, Haj-Hassan said that the American doctors who worked in Gaza "cannot unsee what we witnessed, it gives us nightmares."
"I can personally testify that I have never seen anything so horrific, so egregious, so inhumane," she stated. "We decided to come here and bear moral witness with the unfortunate recognition that the only way to protect civilian life is through putting pressure on the U.S. government to stop militarily supporting Israel in its campaign."
Haj-Hassan continued:
For the past 10 months, we have witnessed civilian casualty after civilian massacre after civilian massacre. The bread massacre. The Nuseirat massacre. The multiple school massacres, where internally displaced people, who have been forcibly transferred, a war crime in and of itself... finally sought shelter only to be massacred. Entire families exterminated. Humanitarian workers and healthcare workers and journalists killed in record numbers. Children with their extremities amputated traumatically in record numbers...
Over 17,000 children have lost one or both parents in Gaza since October. We have treated children who are the only surviving members of their entire family who were killed in the same bombing. I have personally held the hands of children taking their last final gasps with no family alive... unable to comfort them during their final agonizing breaths... This phenomenon of children having their entire families killed and arriving to the emergency department is so frequent it actually has an acronym... wounded child, no surviving family, given the acronym WCNSF.
Children who are fortunate enough to survive their injuries are discharged into a Russian roulette of a hundred different ways that they could be killed... another bombing, starvation, dehydration, disease. Now we have alarming reports of an outbreak of polio. Polio is something that we were able to eradicate on the majority of this planet decades ago.
"And yet we continue to fund this," Haj-Hassan added. "History is watching us. The world is watching us. I cannot make sense of this. I suspect you cannot too. And I hope that the Democratic Party recognizes the irony and the hypocrisy of what we continue to fund and chooses to finally stand by the values of human rights and justice that we claim to stand by."
Harris has expressed sympathy for Palestinians suffering what she called a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza. However, like Biden, she's also proclaimed her "unwavering" support for Israel. When asked earlier this month if Harris would support a suspension in weapons transfers, one of her national security advisers said that "she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups" and "does not support an arms embargo on Israel."
Human rights advocates fear that if elected to a second term, former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, would be even more supportive of Israel's obliteration of Gaza than the Biden-Harris administration.
According to Palestinian and international officials, at least 40,173 Palestinians have been killed—most of them women and children—and nearly 93,000 others have been wounded during Israel's 319-day assault and siege on Gaza. Gaza officials say that at least 10,000 other Palestinians are missing, believed to be dead and buried under the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed-out homes and other buildings.
Almost the entire Gaza population of 2.3 million has been forcibly displaced. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans are starving;
dozens have died from malnutrition, dehydration, and lack of medicines and healthcare amid a crippling Israeli siege that has been cited as evidence during Israel's genocide trial at the International Court of Justice. The blockade has also exacerbated the spread of contagious diseases including measles, hepatitis, and polio.
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