Democrats have turned down demands from demonstrators to allow a Palestinian speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. On Wednesday night, uncommitted delegates who oppose U.S. support for Israel’s actions in Gaza began a sit-in protest near the arena doors. By 6:00 p.m. local time on Thursday, the deadline protesters set to hear from Kamala Harris’s campaign, activists said they still hadn’t received a response to their request for a Palestinian to be given a speaking slot. The sit-in, held on the convention’s final night, coincided with thousands of demonstrators rallying outside the venue against the war in Gaza and current White House policy.
The demonstrations this week have mostly remained peaceful, apart from a smaller, unauthorized protest outside the Israeli consulate that resulted in 56 arrests. “The decision by the Democratic leadership to deny our basic request, which we made weeks ago before the convention, has been disastrous,” said Layla Elabed, a co-leader of the uncommitted national movement.
The Harris campaign informed the BBC that campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez had recently met with leaders from the uncommitted movement. “Several speakers have addressed the war in Gaza and emphasized the need for a ceasefire and a hostage deal. You will continue to hear that message,” a spokesperson stated.
Uncommitted delegates were chosen during state Democratic primaries earlier this year. Although President Joe Biden won a large majority of primary voters, pro-Palestinian activists encouraged voters in several states to choose “uncommitted” or similar options. As a result, 30 delegates, out of more than 2,400 in total, were sent to the convention in Chicago.
While Israel’s war in Gaza has caused divisions within the Democratic Party, the issue has been largely sidestepped during the DNC this week. The uncommitted protesters said they provided the Harris campaign with a list of several potential Palestinian speakers for the convention.
According to the activists, the Harris campaign sent aides and lawmakers to the sit-in protest outside the arena on Wednesday night to try to resolve the conflict, but they did not offer a speaking slot. The activists also reported that they were told the convention’s focus was on the vice-president, who was preparing to deliver what was described as the “biggest speech of her life.”
For two months, the delegates have been requesting to have a Palestinian speaker address the convention. “We’re going to have to have a lot of difficult conversations with the vice-president and her team after this,” said Abbas Alawieh, an uncommitted delegate from Michigan. “We need to reflect on what happened.”
Despite the large protests outside the arena, the war in Gaza has been mentioned by only a few speakers throughout the four-day program. Mr. Alawieh stated that the goal of having a Palestinian speaker at the convention was to “force” the Democratic Party to “make space for discussing Palestinian human rights.”
Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, a vocal critic of U.S. support for Israel, told the BBC she was not surprised the topic had not been prominently featured during the convention. “Interestingly, foreign policy is never really a major topic of discussion,” she said. “But I’ve always viewed foreign policy as domestic policy.”