WASHINGTON

Several elected Democrats and activists on Thursday called on the campaign team of US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to allow a Palestinian to speak on the final day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois.

“We cannot ignore the Palestinian community in Chicagoland as one of the largest in the country. They, too, deserve to be represented on the national stage. It is critical to have a Palestinian speaker tonight to recognize the humanity of the Palestinian community,” Rep. Chuy Garcia said in a statement.

The Uncommitted National Movement (UNM) demanded that Harris’ campaign and organizers have a Palestinian American speak on stage on the final night of the four-day event.

But the DNC rejected her request for speaking time on Wednesday, prompting Abbas Alawieh, one of the leaders of the 30 undecided delegates at the DNC, to stage a sit-in, joined by numerous Democratic lawmakers, including Rashida Tlaib, who expressed her support via FaceTime.

“No Palestinian-American speaker yet. The DNC has told us ‘no’ as their decision, but we do not accept it as a final decision. Let a Palestinian-American speak. The delegates are still standing outside the United Center waiting for a response from the DNC to our request. We are not done with our pressure,” Alawieh said on X.

In a statement released on Thursday, the influential auto union United Auto Workers (UAW) called on Democrats to allow a Palestinian-American speaker to attend the DNC during the sit-in outside the party convention.

“If we want the war in Gaza to end, we cannot bury our heads in the sand or ignore the voices of Palestinian Americans in the Democratic Party.

“If we want peace, if we want real democracy and if we want to win this election, the Democratic Party must allow a Palestinian-American speaker to speak on the DNC stage tonight,” the union said on X.

The UNM said Palestinian Americans deserve a voice within the Democratic Party.

“Our demand was clear from the beginning: #NotAnotherBomb. We took to the streets and to the ballot box and we will not stop,” said X.

As delegates gathered for the convention where Harris will formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination later Thursday, tens of thousands of people have expressed their support for Palestine since the convention began on Monday.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian Hamas on October 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

According to local health authorities, the attack left more than 40,200 Palestinians dead, mostly women and children, and nearly 93,000 injured.

The ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine and left large parts of the region in ruins.

Israel is facing genocide charges before the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge before the territory was captured on May 6.

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