Delegates for an anti-war, pro-Palestinian voting bloc are calling for Democratic National Convention organizers to allow a doctor who’s been on Gaza’s front lines to speak at the presidential nominating event about the humanitarian crisis.
The “uncommitted” delegation represents a movement of Democratic voters who oppose the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. The movement sprang from the frustration of voters ― many of whom are Muslim and Arab American ― who refused to cast their Democratic primary ballot for President Joe Biden because of his Gaza policy.
What started as a statewide protest vote in Michigan spread across the country, garnering hundreds of thousands of votes and resulting in what the movement said is 30 “uncommitted” delegates for the DNC, where thousands of delegates will formally nominate the Democratic presidential candidate.
The delegation’s hope is that having Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan address DNC attendees from the convention floor about what she has witnessed in the Palestinian enclave will help the Democratic Party face the human devastation of Israel’s U.S.-funded siege, which is entering its 10th month.
“The Democratic National Convention is a chance to declare our values to the American public, to set the tone for the next four years,” June Rosenbaum, an uncommitted delegate from Rhode Island, said on a call set up Thursday morning by the delegation. “The Democratic Party cannot espouse the values of freedom, justice and equality at home while being the party of death and destruction abroad. The Democratic Party cannot oppose fascism at home while enabling genocide abroad.”
“For 18 years of my life, I never heard a single person speak up for Palestine,” they said. “With a DNC speaker with experience on the ground in Gaza, we can make it so no American can ever say the same.”
The delegation said it sent written requests to Democratic National Committee representatives and convention planners nearly a month ago but has yet to hear back. The request includes for Haj-Hassan, an American pediatric intensive care physician, to have five minutes of speaking time on the convention floor during evening programming.
The group asked for one of its delegates to have speaking time as well as language in the DNC platform that calls for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and an immediate embargo on U.S. offensive weapons to Israel.
“We have been trained to protect human lives. We have been trained to preserve human life,” Haj-Hassan said on the Thursday call. “But what has become incredibly and absolutely clear is that it is impossible to do amidst a military campaign that is not only targeting civilian life wherever it is in the Gaza Strip but also targeting everything that’s indispensable to human life, from water to fuel, food, health care and infrastructure.”
“I’m not a politician. In fact, I’m not even an activist. My life prior to this year has been spent primarily doing clinical work,” she said. “But I’m hoping to provide moral witness to the delegates of the Democratic National Convention because an end to this military campaign is the only way to preserve human life under the current circumstances. And so it is vital that the most powerful decision-makers globally hear firsthand accounts from myself and from my colleagues that can impact our foreign policy.”
Abdel Kareem Hana via Associated Press
Convention officials told HuffPost on Thursday that there was no news to share yet about the delegation’s request but that programming decisions have not yet been finalized beyond nominee acceptance speeches on the final two days of the convention, which will run Aug. 19-22.
“Our convention will be a celebration of all that unites us as Democrats because, though we may not see eye-to-eye on every issue, we all operate from the same set of shared values,” convention spokesperson Emily Soong told The Washington Examiner in May, before Biden exited the campaign, regarding the uncommitted delegation.
“We will continue to work around the clock to plan a successful convention, welcome all our delegates to Chicago in August, and bring the story of our party and president to the American people.”
Uncommitted representatives have repeatedly asked to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris now that she has replaced Biden as the likely presidential nominee. Harris has already been more outspoken about the plight of Palestinians and more critical of Israel’s offensive, however she still positions herself publicly as pro-Israel and has yet to call for a U.S. arms embargo.
“It’s almost like they’re looking for a reason to support her,” Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman (D), a Palestinian American who recently spoke with Harris, told CBS News of the uncommitted delegates. “It’s like, ‘We really do want to support you, we just need the bombs to stop.’”
Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
In Thursday’s call, the delegation expressed that the decision to ask for Haj-Hassan to speak about Gaza is partly rooted in civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer’s historic speech at the 1964 Democratic convention. Hamer used her speech to highlight the racism that plagued Mississippi and the dire need for more Black representation in the state’s Democratic Party delegation.
This year’s DNC is expected to bring thousands of protesters from across the country, many of whom will demand a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and the halt of U.S. weapon transfers to Israel.