Muslim Group Withdraws Support for Harris After Palestinians Denied Speaking Slot At DNC
“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 stated. “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. Leaders of the Uncommitted movement, which has urged Vice President Harris and the Democratic Party to commit to an arms embargo, have also been advocating for a Palestinian speaker at the convention, The Hill reported on Thursday.
Negotiations between the convention and uncommitted delegates had been ongoing throughout the week, according to uncommitted organizers. However, in the early hours of Thursday morning, the last day of the convention, Abbas Alawieh, a leader of the Uncommitted movement, announced that convention officials had informed him that no Palestinian would be allowed to speak during the event.
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Following this announcement, Alawieh, along with other Uncommitted organizers and protesters, began a sit-in in front of the convention site in Chicago. Alawieh has stated that he is still awaiting a call from the Harris team or Democratic officials to allow a Palestinian speaker.
Harris should make 'clear' statement about Palestinians' rights
Meanwhile, a prominent member of the Democratic Party in Michigan said this week that Harris needs to do more to earn Muslims' votes.
During an appearance on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” this week, Nasser Beydoun, a Lebanese American, said Arab and Muslim Americans want to support Harris but cannot commit until she makes a “clear and explicit” statement supporting the creation of a Palestinian state, along with ending the Israeli genocide in Gaza.”
“If Kamala Harris wanted to do something, she would come out and say, ‘When I become president, I am going to support a political state, I am not going to veto when the rest of the world says there should be a Palestinian state,’” Arab News quoted him as saying.
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“When there is a genocide on the line and when we see Israel taking this country down with it, then we have to say enough is enough and we are not going to tolerate it. So if Kamala Harris wants my vote she has to earn my vote. She doesn’t get it just because she is not Joe Biden.”
With the full political and military support from the Joe Biden Administration, the Israeli regime launched a genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip in October last year. The Israeli aggression has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people, predominantly women and children. The attacks have also displaced almost all of the 2.3 million population of Gaza amid a shortage of food and water.
Source: Agencies
