Muslim Women for Harris pulls support over Palestinian DNC speaker controversy
Amid reports that the Democratic National Convention (DNC) will refuse demands to feature a Palestinian American speaker at the Chicago convention, Muslim Women for Harris announced that they “cannot in good conscience continue” the organization.
“We cannot in good conscience, continue Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, in light of this new information from the Uncommitted movement, that VP Harris’ team declined their request to have a Palestinian American speaker take the stage at the DNC,” the group wrote in a statement.
“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.”
There are 30 uncommitted delegates at the Democratic convention, and leaders of the Uncommitted movement, which has called on Vice President Harris and the Democratic Party to commit to an arms embargo, have also been pushing Harris and Democrats to allow a Palestinian to speak at the convention.
The convention and uncommitted delegates had been negotiating throughout the week, according to uncommitted organizers.
However, in the early hours of Thursday morning, the last day of the convention, Abbas Alawieh, one of the leaders of the Uncommitted movement, announced that convention officials had called and told him that no Palestinian would be allowed to speak during the event.
Alawieh, other Uncommitted organizers and protesters then started a sit-in in front of the convention site in Chicago.
Alawieh has said that he is still waiting for a call from the Harris team or Democratic officials allowing for a Palestinian to speak.
The Hill has contacted the Harris campaign and convention organizers for comment.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) FaceTimed with participants of the sit-in and expressed their support, and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) joined the protesters and sat with them. During the sit-in, Muslim Women for Harris-Walz announced they planned to disband.
“The family of the Israeli Hostage that was on the stage tonight, has shown more empathy towards Palestinian Americans and Palestinians, than our candidate or the DNC has,” Muslim Women for Harris-Walz said in their statement. “This is a terrible message to send to Democrats. Palestinians have the right to speak about Palestine.”
The group was referring Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, the parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin who spoke Wednesday and called for a cease-fire that “ends the suffering of the innocent people in Gaza.”
Ruwa Romman, a state representative from Georgia who is Palestinian and has been floated as a potential convention speaker, told The Hill that the disbanding of Muslim Women for Harris-Walz represents a “glimmer of hope” being “snuffed.”
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“There was a glimmer of hope. Community members just wanted to see they were seen. It’s what I’ve been warning about before,” said Romman. “The group was the beginning of something amazing but it was snuffed.”
Harris and Democrats have been walking a tightrope working to engage Palestinian, Muslim and Arab voters almost 10 months after Hamas’s attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people and provoked an Israeli military response that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom are women and children, according to the United Nations.
Before Harris became the nominee, large swathes of uncommitted voters had turned away from the Democratic Party, but some viewed Harris as more likely to hear their concerns and work with them.
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