CHICAGO ― Critics of President Joe Biden’s role in the Gaza war said Wednesday night that they had lost a high-profile battle for a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention, blaming Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee.
Abbas Alawieh, a DNC delegate from Michigan who as a boy witnessed the U.S.-backed Israeli bombings in Lebanon, said outside the convention that “Vice President Harris has unfortunately made the decision that the child in me, the American child in me, who was sure my own government was going to kill me, will not be heard at this convention.”
Alawi announced On Wednesday night, he announced he would stage a sit-in outside Congress unless the DNC changed its policy, risking arrest.
The “non-committed” campaign had requested speaking time on the DNC’s main stage for a representative of their group, which had garnered support from hundreds of thousands of voters. They initially asked for two spots—the other for a doctor who had served in Gaza, helping to address the humanitarian crisis there—but later in the week said they wanted just one: a Palestinian-American speaker. They and their allies said this was vital to show equal concern for Israelis and Palestinians amid the latest cycle of violence in the region following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas, and they noted that the DNC had agreed to give high-profile speaking time to the parents of an Israeli-American hostage captured by Hamas in that attack. That was appropriate, they said, but could appear one-sided.
The developments represented a new escalation in a simmering confrontation between the “uncommitted” delegates and other critics of the war, including prominent Democratic politicians, and the party establishment.
Less than an hour earlier, organizers with the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine had held a fiery march dubbed “Shut Down the DNC,” where a crowd of mostly Palestinian, Arab and Muslim protesters railed against the convention as a bubble and criticized Democrats for doing too little to stop the fighting. The event featured a surprise appearance by Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate who has drawn the attention of many disillusioned pro-Palestinian activists after she quickly called the ongoing offensive in Gaza a genocide.
“Don’t let this ‘lesser evil’ nonsense distract you from what we need to do. We have two greater evils being shoved down our throats,” Stein said, a keffiyeh around her neck, to cheers from the crowd. “Our job is to fight for the greater good that must prevail.”
Critics of Biden’s near-total support for the Israeli attacks have argued for days that the party made only limited concessions to their concerns, as Biden reference efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in his speech to the convention on Monday were wholly inadequate.
“It has been unacceptable to me over the last several months to watch my colleagues in this administration … fail to understand that there is no such thing as ‘working tirelessly for a ceasefire,’ and that they should be ashamed of themselves,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said at a news conference Wednesday morning, describing the humanitarian toll of Israel’s actions in the Palestinian region by recounting horrors such as families having to dig dead babies out of the rubble of bombed-out buildings.
Biden and Harris must use their U.S. leverage on Israel if they really want a deal, opponents of the policy say. They could suggest, for example, that U.S. support for the country’s campaign could end if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t move toward a deal.
However, there was no visible policy change from the top of the party during the entire week of the congress.
For some in the Democratic coalition, that’s for the best. After months of fear that protests would disrupt or distract from the key event, the party’s official programming has dominated national headlines, and the demonstrations, while ongoing, have not reached dramatic levels. Voices wary of major changes to the historic U.S. approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict predict that Harris is unlikely to change that, as Halie Soifer, a former Harris adviser, said. did a side event on a TuesdayAnd within the party there is little sympathy for the protests, despite the general celebration of Harris.
Spokespeople for the Democratic National Convention did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On the convention floor Monday, delegates hid a banner reading “Stop Arming Israel,” which they unfurled during Biden’s speech and, according to a protesting delegateOther representatives nearby then beat those holding the banner. On Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told protesters who interrupted a climate event to disrupt a Donald Trump rally instead.
