The Democratic Party is facing backlash on Thursday over its alleged refusal to prominently feature a Palestinian American at its convention in Chicago.
Officials within the "Uncommitted" voters movement have urged the party to feature a Palestinian at the convention and have been negotiating with Democratic officials throughout the week. The movement is a protest against the Biden administration's handling of the war in Israel.
Abbas Alawieh, one of the movement's leaders, said they have been informed by the convention that no Palestinian will be allowed to speak, prompting a sit-in at the convention's venue on Wednesday night, according to The Hill.
The decision has also prompted the group "Muslim Women for Harris" to pull its support for Vice President Kamala Harris and disband.
“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 organization wrote in a statement.
The protests come after the convention allowed the family of an Israeli hostage to address the audience on Wednesday night. The family members called for a ceasefire in the conflict in their speech.
“The family of the Israeli Hostage that was on the stage tonight, has shown more empathy towards Palestinian Americans and Palestinians, than our candidate or the DNC has,” the group said. “This is a terrible message to send to Democrats. Palestinians have the right to speak about Palestine.”
“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," it added.
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