Pro-Palestinian
delegates
to
Democratic
convention
to push
for
Israel
arms
embargo
in
Chicago,
August
18,
2024.
REUTERS/Marco
Bello |
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Pro-Palestinian
delegates
to
Democratic
convention
to push
for
Israel
arms
embargo
in
Chicago,
August
18,
2024.
REUTERS/Marco
Bello |
|
Pro-Palestinian
delegates
to
Democratic
convention
to push
for
Israel
arms
embargo
By
Andrea
Shalal
6–8
minutes
CHICAGO,
Aug 18
(Reuters)
- Dozens
of
Muslim
delegates
and
their
allies,
angry at
U.S.
support
for
Israel's
offensive
in Gaza,
are
seeking
changes
in the
Democratic
platform
and plan
to press
for an
arms
embargo
this
week,
putting
the
party on
guard
for
disruptions
to
high-profile
speeches
at its
national
convention
in
Chicago.
Calling
itself
"Delegates
Against
Genocide,"
the
pro-Palestinian
group
says it
will
exercise
its
freedom
of
speech
rights
during
main
events
at the
four-day
Democratic
National
Convention
convening
on
Monday
to
formally
nominate
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris
for
president
in the
Nov. 5
election
against
Republican
former
President
Donald
Trump.
Group
organizers
declined
to give
details,
but said
they
were
encouraging
supporters
to wear
Palestinian
keffiyehs,
or
scarves,
and to
carry
Palestinian
flags,
and
would
seek
changes
in the
party
platform,
while
urging
delegates
to speak
on the
convention
floor.
On
Sunday
night, a
crowd of
roughly
1,000
pro-Palestinian
protesters
marched
through
downtown
Chicago,
chanting
"Shut
down the
DNC."
President
Joe
Biden is
due to
speak on
Monday
and
Harris
on
Thursday.
Pro-Palestinian
delegates
say they
deserve
a bigger
role in
the
writing
of the
party
platform.
The
group
wants to
include
language
backing
enforcement
of laws
that ban
giving
military
aid to
individuals
or
security
forces
that
commit
gross
violations
of human
rights.
"We're
going to
make our
voices
heard,"
said
Liano
Sharon,
a Jewish
business
consultant
and
delegate
who
signed
an
alternative
platform
along
with 34
other
delegates.
"Freedom
of
expression
necessarily
includes
the
right to
stand up
and be
heard
even
when the
authority
in the
room
says to
shut
up."
"They
want the
convention
to go
smoothly.
They
don't
want to
have any
kind of
disruption
or any
kind of
statement
or
anything
like
that,"
he told
Reuters
at an
event
hosted
by
Chicago's
large
Palestinian
population.
"I'm
sorry. A
convention
is a
political
engagement
vehicle,
okay?
And if
we're
not
using it
for
that,
then
it's
just a
beauty
pageant."
The
Harris
campaign
declined
to
comment.
BIDEN
SEEKS A
CEASEFIRE
The
party's
draft
platform
released
in
mid-July
calls
for "an
immediate
and
lasting
ceasefire"
in the
war and
the
release
of
remaining
hostages
taken to
Gaza
during
an Oct.
7 attack
by
Islamist
militant
Hamas
fighters
in which
Israel
says
1,200
people
were
killed.
The
platform
does not
mention
the more
than
40,000
people
that
Palestinian
health
authorities
in Gaza
say have
been
killed
in
Israel's
subsequent
offensive.
Nor does
it
mention
any
plans to
curtail
U.S.
arms
shipments
to
Israel.
Item 5
of 5
U.S.
Democratic
vice
presidential
candidate
Minnesota
Governor
Tim Walz
and
Democratic
presidential
candidate
and U.S.
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris
talk at
the
campaign
bus, as
Harris
and her
running
mate
Walz
make a
four-stop
bus tour
of
western
Pennsylvania
before
heading
to
Chicago
for the
Democratic
National
Convention,
in
Rochester,
Pennsylvania,
U.S.,
August
18,
2024.
REUTERS/Kevin
Lamarque
[5/5]U.S.
Democratic
vice
presidential
candidate
Minnesota
Governor
Tim Walz
and
Democratic
presidential
candidate
and U.S.
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris
talk at
the
campaign
bus, as
Harris
and her
running
mate
Walz
make a
four-stop
bus tour
of
western
Pennsylvania
before
heading
to
Chicago
for
the...
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The
United
States
approved
$20
billion
in
additional
arms
sales to
Israel
on
Tuesday.
Mediators
including
the U.S.
have
sought
to
broker a
truce
between
Israel
and
Hamas,
which
rules
Gaza,
based on
a plan
Biden
put
forward
in May
but so
far have
not
succeeded.
The
Israel-Hamas
war, now
in its
11th
month,
reduced
support
for
Democrats
among
Muslim
and
Arab-American
voters,
who
represent
crucial
votes in
election
battleground
states
like
Arizona,
Michigan
and
Pennsylvania.
While
the
activists
make up
a tiny
fraction
of
convention
delegates,
disruptions
inside
the hall
and
large
protests
outside
could
mar the
party's
plan to
unify
Democrats
around
Harris
after
Biden
dropped
out of
the race
on July
21 under
pressure
from
fellow
Democrats.
'I WILL
NOT BE
SILENT,'
HARRIS
SAYS
Pro-Palestinian
activists
say
Harris
has been
more
sympathetic
to
Gazans
than
Biden
has
been.
Her
national
security
adviser
said on
X this
month
that she
does not
support
an arms
embargo
on
Israel.
But
after
meeting
Prime
Minister
Benjamin
Netanyahu
last
month,
Harris
told
reporters
not only
that
Israel
had a
right to
defend
itself
but also
in
reference
to Gaza:
"We
cannot
allow
ourselves
to
become
numb to
the
suffering
and I
will not
be
silent.”
Some
40,000
protesters
are
expected
to
gather
outside
the
convention
on
Monday
to
demonstrate
against
the
Biden
administration's
position
on
Israel.
Organizers
say the
number
could
swell to
over
100,000.
Nadia
Ahmad, a
law
professor
at
Florida's
Barry
University
and a
delegate,
said
there
were
about 60
Muslim
delegates,
a
fraction
of the
5,000
overall.
But
their
concerns
were
shared
by
others,
especially
young
voters,
some of
whom
have
disengaged
with the
party,
she
said.
The
Uncommitted
National
Movement,
a
separate
effort
pushing
Democrats
to
change
policy
on
Israel
that won
over 30
delegates
in
primary
elections,
also
wants an
arms
embargo.
It has
focused,
unsuccessfully
so far,
on
winning
a
main-stage
speaking
slot for
a
Palestinian
American
or Gaza
humanitarian
worker,
although
organizers
agreed
on
Saturday
to add a
daytime
panel
discussion
on Arab
and
Palestinian
issues
to
Monday's
agenda
and one
on
antisemitism.
Jewish
Americans,
traditionally
Democratic
voters,
have
voiced
concern
about
rising
anti-Jewish
activity
and
Muslims
have
denounced
rising
American
Islamophobia.
Layla
Elabed,
the
Uncommitted
National
co-chair,
Minnesota
Attorney
General
Keith
Ellison,
a Muslim
ally of
Biden's,
and a
doctor
who has
worked
on the
Gaza
frontlines
will be
among
speakers
on the
first
panel,
sources
said.
Uncommitted,
which
said it
is not
planning
to
disrupt
the
convention
proceedings,
is
pressing
Harris
to make
a
statement
about
the use
of U.S.
weapons
to kill
Palestinians.
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