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Palestinian-Americans made Gaza an issue at the DNC and Democrat decision-makers floundered

A large gaggle of media was surrounding a large man recently outside Chicago’s United Center. It was the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). At six feet six inches tall, “uncommitted” Michigan delegate Abbas Alawieh sounded like a gentle giant, but only until he started talking about the “genocide in Gaza.” It’s a press conference and the 30 Uncommitted Democratic party Delegates are the center of attention here tonight, but outside the convention floor. They stand behind Abbas and Leila Al-Abed another cofounder of what they are calling the “Uncommitted Movement.” Many show somber faces, as they all represent thousands of primary voters in their respective states who presumably want a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, but the DNC will not let them speak. Their request seemed simple, address the convention about the unfolding genocide in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. Or, maybe it was too big of an ask? After all, as early as November of 2023 55% of Americans, over 70% identifying as Democrats, supported a ceasefire. So why the snub of uncommitted delegates now? The group had amassed a petition with thousands of signatures asking for a few minutes on the DNC stage to address the convention in which their spokesperson would call for a cease fire and a cessation of military aid to Israel, they were crystal clear on about this. 

Al-Abed opened the news conference saying “we asked for a speaker on the main stage, a speaker to bear witness to the pain and suffering Palestinian-Americans are experiencing due to our disastrous policy in Gaza,” she said. A policy “that has emboldened a war criminal” (Benjamin Netanyahu). Al-Abed continued, “This has been a disastrous decision by the Democratic leadership to deny a bare minimum ask that we requested weeks ago, prior to the convention.” 

Next up was Alawieh and he did not mince words. He told reporters, “You know what it means to be a ceasefire delegate? It means that you don’t send bombs to kill babies, that’s what it means…it means an arms embargo, a just call to stop sending weapons that are used to kill civilians,” he said. “That in order for us to achieve a ceasefire means you have to stop sending the fire.”  

Alawieh was the chief of staff for Congressmember Cori Bush from St. Louis who recently lost her reelection primary mainly due to the millions of dollars in donations by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) who supported her opponent. Alawieh has worked around congress since 2018, also spending time in the congressional offices of fellow Michiganders, Rashida Tlaib and Andy Levine. He’s pretty familiar with the legislative process and how lobbying is done, but this issue would seem to defy normal congressional channels. Why was the uncommitted delegation denied a speaking slot on the DNC stage?  

The D.C.-staffer Alawieh went on to outline the journey ceasefire delegates have been on since they arrived to this convention. “Us ghceasefire delegates, just 30 of us uncommitted delegates, we did the work in these halls. We approached fellow delegates, Harris supporters, Harris delegates, and told them, ‘Hey, these are the two things we support, we support an arms embargo and we support a ceasefire to stop the bombs and make sure that all those held captive—Israelis and Palestinians—are reunited with their families. Do you believe like us?’ And guess what? It turns out, our movement is popular, our movement is winning. The overwhelming majority of democratic voters support a ceasefire.” 

It is baffling to convention-goers I spoke to as to why the uncommitted delegates were denied a speaking slot. There seems to be a consensus that it likely comes from decisions at the top of the Democratic Party. More than 40,000 Palestinians, at least 15,000 children have died, according to the Gaza Health Ministry (Ralph Nader has cited figures that sets the dead at well over 200,000), during this unceasing and relentless Israeli assault on Gaza since last October 6th’s massacre of Israeli citizens by the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas. 

Abbas Alawieh wanted the world to know that this group went through the “policy channels,” but still they were denied a place on the stage. “These programmatic asks were about forcing this party that has not been having this conversation on its own, its leaders have not been creating space for talking about Palestinian human rights…let’s be clear, that [conversation] would not have happened without our leadership.” As the convention came to a close, there was no meeting with the candidate, Kamala Harris or her representatives, and no speaking slot offered to the uncommitted Palestinian-American delegates.