The “Uncommitted” movement, which has threatened to withhold votes from Vice President Kamala Harris unless she promises to end U.S. support for Israel, is furious at Democrats for allowing Israeli speakers but not Palestinians.
The Democratic National Convention heard a moving speech on Wednesday evening from Ron Polin and Rachel Goldberg, the American-Israeli parents of hostage Hersh-Goldberg Polin, 23. Like the delegates at the Republican National Convention in July, who heard from the parents of American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra, Democrats welcomed the hostage family and gave them a standing ovation, chanting “Bring them home! Bring them home!”
But the “Uncommitted” movement, while supporting the appearance of the hostage family, was furious that the Democratic National Convention did not also allow a Palestinian speaker to talk about the ongoing war in Gaza.
CommonDreams.org reported:
While welcoming a scheduled Democratic National Convention speech by the Israeli-American parents of a young man kidnapped in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7, the co-founders of the Uncommitted National Movement on Wednesday implored the DNC to ensure that Palestinian voices are also heard on the event’s main stage.
…
In a Wednesday statement, Uncommitted National Movement co-founders Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed said the 30 Uncommitted delegates attending the DNC “urge the Democratic Party to reject a hierarchy of human value by ensuring Palestinian voices are heard on the main stage.”
“We are learning that Israeli hostages’ families will be speaking from the main stage. We strongly support that decision and also strongly hope that we will also be hearing from Palestinians who’ve endured the largest civilian death toll since 1948,” the pair continued, referring to the year in which the modern state of Israel was established amid the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Arabs from Palestine, an event known among Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”
STATEMENT: Uncommitted delegates urge the Democratic Party to reject a hierarchy of human value by ensuring Palestinian voices are heard on the main stage. We are learning that Israeli hostages’ families will be speaking from the main stage. We strongly support that decision and…
— Uncommitted National Movement (@uncommittedmvmt) August 21, 2024
Later, on Wednesday evening, after Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents spoke, the Uncommitted movement issued a new statement in which they called on fellow “Uncommitted” delegates, who support a ceasefire in Gaza, to protest:
— Uncommitted National Movement (@uncommittedmvmt) August 22, 2024
The group is calling all Ceasefire Delegates to gather at the front of the United Center and not leave until a Palestinian American is accepted to speak on the main stage. 2/2
— alex sammon (@alex_sammon) August 22, 2024
Abbas says they got a call after their press conference earlier that there won’t be a Palestinian speaker on stage https://t.co/0O6s7cRlTi pic.twitter.com/MmpK2K6mEG
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) August 22, 2024
Harris has attempted, both publicly and secretly, to court the members and voters of “Uncommitted,” who could form a large enough bloc to affect the outcome of the 2024 election in Michigan and other swing states.
She has done so despite the fact that pro-Palestinian protests, both at the Democratic National Convention and elsewhere, have included participants who openly support Hamas terrorism, use antisemitic rhetoric, and burn American flags.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.