Headlines:
Uncommitted Movement. and Allies Launch Sit-In After DNC and Harris Refuse to Let Palestinian Take Main Stage
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
Aug 22, 2024
Outside the convention hall, delegates from the Uncommitted National Movement and their supporters launched a sit-in protest Wednesday night, after the DNC and the Harris campaign refused to let a Palestinian take the main stage, despite allowing family members of Israeli hostages to address the convention. We’ll air clips from the sit-in, which is still ongoing, later in the broadcast. Earlier in the day, uncommitted delegates and progressive lawmakers gathered for an event outside the DNC. This is Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar.
Rep. Ilhan Omar: “Working tirelessly for a ceasefire is really not a thing, and they should be ashamed of themselves for saying such thing, because we supply these weapons. So, if you really wanted a ceasefire, you just stop sending the weapons. It is that simple.”
In response to the Democratic refusal to let a Palestinian speak at the DNC, the group Muslim Women for Harris-Walz announced it was disbanding, saying in a statement, “This is a terrible message to send to Democrats. Palestinians have the right to speak about Palestine.” Protesters also took to the streets of Chicago Wednesday for more rallies calling for an end to U.S. support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel’s Genocide Continues Amid Dimming Hopes for Ceasefire
Aug 22, 2024
In Gaza, Israeli attacks continue to kill more Palestinians, with at least 22 reported deaths today. On Wednesday, at least 13 people were killed, including children, in an attack east of Khan Younis. This father lost his teenage son.
Mourning father: “Oh my son Mudi is dead! Mudi is dead! They hit us, and we’re all destroyed. … He was so precious to me, my oldest son, my darling son.”
Reporter: “How old was he?”
Mourning father: “Fourteen years old. He hasn’t seen anything in his life. I went to buy him a rooster and left it on the floor. A mere 10 minutes later, we were hit. God rest your soul.”
Another strike on a school acting as a shelter in Gaza City killed two people and injured 10 children.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed home after his latest visit to the region once again failed to secure a Gaza ceasefire. Blinken warned the failed plan may have been the chance to avert a broader regional war.
New Report Details Israel’s Pattern of Kidnapping, Torturing and Humiliating Gazan Children
Aug 22, 2024
A new report from Defense for Children International Palestine says Israeli forces are detaining and torturing Palestinian children in Gaza, using children as human shields and “intentionally and systematically” separating children from their families. The report includes testimony of children survivors, including the case of many boys who were forced to strip naked and walk with their hands bound in front of Israeli tanks and bulldozers. The children were also beaten, denied water and threatened with dogs. Sixteen-year-old Abdulmunim, who was abducted with his younger brother Ali, said he was barely able to move after Israeli forces blindfolded them, tied them up and beat them with rifles before leaving them in the cold.
Israel and Hezbollah Continue Cross-Border Fighting Amid Fears of a Broader Conflict
Aug 22, 2024
Israel and Hezbollah continued to exchange cross-border fire Wednesday, with Israel targeting multiple areas across southern Lebanon and Hezbollah blasting over 50 rockets and a swarm of drones in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel also killed a senior member of Palestine’s Fatah movement in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, claiming Khalil al-Maqdah has orchestrated attacks on Israeli forces in the West Bank. The Fatah party accused Israel of seeking to “ignite a regional war.”
Meanwhile, President Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday, and a second U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived in the Middle East Wednesday as the U.S. bolsters forces in the region.
Emmy Awards Stands Firm on Nomination of Gazan Reporter Bisan Owda After Pushback from Israel Lobby
Aug 22, 2024
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has rejected an attempt by pro-Israel groups and Hollywood celebrities to rescind an Emmy nomination for the widely admired Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda. Owda, who has been reporting from the ground in Gaza since October, was nominated for her Al Jazeera Plus report, “It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive,” which chronicles her family’s forced evacuation of their home in Beit Hanoun. The pro-Israel group Creative Community for Peace and celebrities like Debra Messing and Selma Blair accused Owda of spreading antisemitism, an accusation which has been widely used against anyone who opposes Israel’s war.
Israel Kills at Least 2 More Journalists in Gaza: Ibrahim Muharab and Hamza Murtaja
Aug 22, 2024
Israel has killed at least two more Gaza journalists in recent days. Twenty-six-year-old photojournalist Ibrahim Muharab was killed while covering ground invasions north of Khan Younis Monday. In Gaza City, Hamza Abdul Rahman Murtaja was one of the victims in Israel’s attack on the Mustafa Hafez School this week. Hamza Murtaja was the brother of Yasser Murtaja, who was killed by an Israeli sniper in Gaza in 2018. Some 170 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7, by far the largest death toll of media workers recorded in any war.
U.K. Gov’t Official Resigns over British Arms Sales to Israel to Use in War Crimes
Aug 22, 2024
A British diplomat has resigned, charging the U.K. government of complicity in war crimes amid its continued military aid and arms supply to Israel. Mark Smith previously worked in Middle East arms export licensing assessment for the British government, and said he raised his concerns, including to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, but was ignored. He recently spoke to the BBC.
Mark Smith: “For me, personally, my profession, or former profession, as of last week, was to advise the government on the legality of arms sales. And when you look at what constitutes a war crime, it’s actually quite clear, even from what you see in open source on the TV, that the state of Israel is perpetrating war crimes in plain sight.”
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Uncommitted Delegates Launch Sit-In After DNC Rejects Request for a Palestinian Speaker at Convention
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
Aug 22, 2024
Delegates from the Uncommitted National Movement and their allies launched a sit-in protest Wednesday night outside the convention hall in Chicago after the DNC refused to honor their request to let a Palestinian American speak onstage, despite allowing family members of an Israeli American hostage to address the convention. We hear voices from the sit-in with uncommitted delegates and their allies. “Today I watched my party say, 'Our tent can fit anti-choice Republicans,' but it can’t fit an elected official like me?” said Georgia state Representative Ruwa Romman, referring to convention addresses given by anti-Trump Republicans. Romman was among the list of speakers offered by the uncommitted movement that the DNC refused to allow on onstage. “We can’t take no for an answer here,” Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison, an uncommitted delegate from Minnesota, tells Democracy Now!.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: The third night of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday was headlined by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz formally accepting the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential nomination. The evening featured a host of celebrity speakers and prominent Democrats, but the most solemn portion of the evening was an address by the parents of an American Israeli hostage, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who has been held in Gaza since October 7th. Polin’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, wore pieces of tape with the number 320, marking the number of days their son has been held hostage. As they spoke, the convention hall was largely silent. In his remarks, Jon Polin also called for an end to the war in Gaza.
JON POLIN: There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East. In a competition of pain, there are no winners. In our Jewish tradition, we say, ”Kol adam olam um lo’o,” “Every person is an entire universe.” We must save all these universes. In an inflamed Middle East, we know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring calm to the entire region: a deal that brings this diverse groups of 109 hostages home and ends the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza.
AMY GOODMAN: Jon Polin, the father of American Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, addressing the Democratic National Convention last night.
At the same time, delegates with the “uncommitted” movement received word that their request for a Palestinian American to address the convention was denied by the DNC and the Harris campaign. Uncommitted delegates were selected in state Democratic primaries earlier this year to call for an end to the Biden administration’s backing of Israel in its assault on Gaza.
After the Democratic National Committee denied their request for a Palestinian American speaker onstage, uncommitted delegates and their allies staged a sit-in outside the convention hall. They remained throughout the night; the sit-in is still ongoing at the time of this broadcast. These are some of the voices from that sit-in last evening, beginning with the co-founder of the uncommitted movement, Abbas Alawieh.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: The Democratic Party is actively suppressing a Palestinian American from speaking from the stage. We urge the Democratic Party to reconsider. I’ve worked across the aisle. I’ve written bipartisan bills. I was a congressional staffer. I’m proud of it. I’m proud that I was a Democratic congressional staffer. And so, as part of our negotiation with the DNC, we gave them a list of names. One such name is a Palestinian American elected representative from Georgia. Her name is Ruwa Romman. And for some reason, Ruwa didn’t pass the vetting. And I want to know what the issue is. I want Ruwa to speak.
REP. RUWA ROMMAN: Good evening, everybody. My name is Ruwa Romman. I am a Georgia state representative. I am an elected Democrat. I come from the swing state of Georgia.
We are not here to create any divisions. As my colleagues have said over and over and over again, the only reason we are here — the only reason we are here — is to ensure that Donald Trump will never make it to the White House, and save the lives of the people that we love. It’s about the fact that today I watched my party say, “Our tent can fit anti-choice Republicans,” but it can’t fit an elected official like me? I do not understand. I do not understand why being a Palestinian has become disqualifying in this country.
I don’t know how much more we have to prove. All of us have decade-or-more-long résumés working for this party, because we know that this party is the only one that’s ever tried to meet the promise of our country. We are here to literally save the soul of our party. I do not understand why that is a bad thing.
This would have truly and sincerely been a beautiful gesture to show this party cares about the cries of an Israeli child the same way they care about the cries of a Palestinian child. We are not asking for too much. All we wanted was to be on that stage and show people desperate for hope there is something to hope for.
JUNE ROSE: My name is June Rose. I came into this week feeling hopeful. When President Biden was the nominee, I felt hopeless, hopeless because our presidential nominee, who we were putting forth to take on Donald Trump, was enabling a genocide of Palestinians, was providing the bombs used in the genocide of Palestinians, and hopeless because I felt, like so many others, that he had no chance of beating Donald Trump anyways. And then Vice President Harris became the nominee, and I felt hopeful. For the first time in a long time, I felt like we might beat Donald Trump. And then I heard her speak about Palestinians. I heard her speak when Benjamin Netanyahu, a genocidal leader, came and visited this country, and disgracefully, Congress let him speak in front of it, and I heard empathy in her voice for Palestinian suffering. And I thought, “Maybe we’re turning a page. Maybe we’ll get something different.”
What is a bigger issue in this moment than in the midst of a housing crisis where no one can afford a place to live, in the midst of a climate crisis posing an existential threat to our planet, when every single dollar in this country is meaningful towards creating the world that we want to see, and instead billions of dollars going to kill children across the world, billions of dollars, instead of addressing the crises in front of us, are going to tear families apart, where generations are wiped off the map, where children will have to go the rest of their lives without knowing another member of their family? Is that what we pay taxes for? Is that what we elect these people to do?
SABRENE ODEH: My name is Sabrene Odeh, and I’m an uncommitted delegate from Washington state, a Palestinian uncommitted delegate from Washington state. To know as a Palestinian, my voice, my people’s voice is not important enough to be on the main stage is heartbreaking.
The Palestinians in Gaza are suffering the most unimaginable circumstances. These are teachers. These are doctors. These are artists. These are dreamers. They deserve to live. All four of my grandparents were survivors of the Nakba from a village called al-Malha in Palestine. My family still lives in a refugee camp, internally displaced in the West Bank to this day. They live under occupation to this day, since 1948.
How many more Palestinians need to die until the American government stops sending arms to kill them? What more do we have to do? What more do we have to do? They have our names on the lists of the dead. They have our sisters’ names, our brothers’ names, our parents’ names, our grandparents’ names.
ASMA MOHAMMED: Asma Mohammed. I’m the co-chair of the Minnesota delegation of uncommitted delegates. Every single one of us who are sitting here have been getting calls and texts from our family members and people from our community, the nearly 740 — no, the nearly million voters who voted for us to be here as delegates, asking what’s happening, asking for updates on what is happening, because they asked for us to be here. They elected us as delegates to be here to represent them inside.
They wanted a reason to support the vice president. They wanted us to leave this convention saying Vice President Harris supported a plan for a ceasefire, and she did that by putting in an arms embargo. She did that by stopping the bombs. Imagine all 1 million, nearly 1 million of those voters watching right now and saying, “That party isn’t representing me right now.” I want you to imagine you are a young Muslim woman watching right now. You’re a Palestinian watching right now. You’re a young anti-Zionist Jew watching right now. You’re a Gen Z voter watching right now, wondering, “How is this party representing me in this moment?” wondering, “Where do I fit in?”
When I was organizing in Minnesota, we got 46,000 votes in just eight days. Imagine if we had the three weeks that Abbas had in Michigan. I imagine we’d have a lot more.
UNIDENTIFIED: We do it.
ASMA MOHAMMED: Yeah, we do it. We do it.
UNIDENTIFIED: Challenge accepted.
ASMA MOHAMMED: Challenge accepted. At this convention, I brought a young Muslim woman with me who the other day said, “Asma, sometimes it feels like they don’t even want us here.”
I challenge you, Vice President Harris, to make Palestinians, to make young Muslims, to make the anti-Zionist Jews, to make Gen Z voters welcome in this party, to remind everyone that this tent is big enough for all of us, to remind everyone that we can be the Democratic Party that stands up for human rights, the one that I know and love, because I know the Republican Party does not give a damn about me. I know that this party is the only party that can and will uphold human rights. I want a reason to believe in this party again. Give us that reason, Vice President Harris.
DAN ENGELHART: Dan Engelhart. It’s a big night for Minnesota. I’m from Minnesota, uncommitted delegate. In 2002, I was staff. We had a paid canvass for the late Senator Paul Wellstone, who voted against the Iraq War, and the polls went up. Tim Walz likes to talk about Paul Wellstone. They need to have that courage and realize that people respond to that. And we all know that that was a horrible mistake, the Iraq War. And this is exponentially worse, what’s happening with our bombs and our money.
With 70 — a little over 70 days left, this is about winning. I’ve been doing a lot of talking to delegates here and getting people to sign that letter and come out and support. Somebody in the elevator said — she was really having a hard time, and she finally got it out and said, “So, do you think Palestine matters more than saving democracy?” And I said, “They are connected. They are absolutely connected. That’s what this is about.”
ASMA MOHAMMED: Now that the vice-presidential pick is our Governor Tim Walz, you’re going to hear him and people from Minnesota talk a lot about Paul Wellstone and the famous quote, “We all do better when we all do better.” That should include Palestinians. I say that to the vice-presidential pick: Governor Walz, if you’re hearing this, we all do better when we all do better, and that includes Palestinians.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: I’ve got June Rose right here. We became quick siblings through this work. I didn’t know June before. I didn’t know that June lived in Israel and that I had a very different experience and that we would end up, in this moment, speaking up for our siblings, who are no different than June and I, in Gaza. We make siblings with people who are willing to put themselves on the line, who are willing to put their names on the line, who are willing to take the professional risk to do the right thing. One such sibling I’ve gained very quickly, Lily Greenberg Call, who will tell you herself who she is and why she’s here. Lily.
LILY GREENBERG CALL: Well, I saw the live stream, and I had to come down and join all these brave folks. My name is Lily Greenberg Call. I am a Jewish American. I was a Kamala staffer. And until May 15th, I was an appointee in the Biden-Harris administration, and I resigned in protest of the president’s unconditional support for Israel’s assault on Gaza.
PROTESTERS: Thank you! Thank you!
LILY GREENBERG CALL: I resigned because for 10 months I watched the president, who was my boss, who I was supposed to represent, this administration that I was supposed to serve, the American — you know, serve the American people through this administration — I watched the president make my community the face of this war machine. I watched him use our safety and abuse and abuse the death of my friends on October 7th.
I’m very proud to be a Jewish person. It’s the first thing I identify as. It is the most important part of what makes me a person. And I grew up in a really beautiful Jewish community, very strong, went to Jewish day school for 20 years, did Torah study, chose to do text study in high school in my free time because I was a nerd.
And I grew up learning that Judaism, at the end of the day, is about a lot of things. We can’t really agree on anything. That’s kind of our whole shtick. We say “two Jews, 10 opinions.” The word “Israel” means wrestle with God. That’s the name Jacob was given after wrestling with angels. I learned that to be Jewish is to question authority, is to know that laws and the people who make them do not always have your best interests at heart, because we, as Jewish people, know what it is like to be persecuted, know what it is like to be victims of state-sponsored violence, know what it is like to have an entire country dedicate itself to your extermination. That is what I learned about being Jewish, that because of that obligation, you stand up for other people.
UNIDENTIFIED: That’s my congresswoman! That’s my congresswoman!
ABBAS ALAWIEH: The most honorable from Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is here.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: I love you all.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: We love you.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: And I am pained by the fact that we have to go through this, that everybody doesn’t feel the pain and the anguish of others as we talk about seeing people as their neighbors, that that is not extended to Palestinians.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: Doesn’t make any sense.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: And it’s almost certainly mostly never really extended to anybody that is Muslim, which — which is sad. And I hate that we have to beg for our humanity to be recognized, for our children’s pain, the loss of their dreams and aspirations. But as those who came before us never lost hope, we are not going to lose hope.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: We’re going to win. We’re going to win. We’re going to win.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: And I am in this with you all for as long as it takes.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: We love you, Congresswoman.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Yes.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: Thank you for leading.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Please do not — do not despair.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: I have an update: The vice president’s team is aware of what we’re doing here. DNC leadership is aware of what we’re doing here. We’ve been trying to have this conversation in private. This is a moment when over 16,000 children have been killed, with the help of U.S. bombs, in contravention of international humanitarian law and American law. So we were trying to be reasonable. We are reasonable. We feel like we’re being very reasonable. Just let a Palestinian American speak.
And so, the response that we just received is, a speaker is not happening. Could something else work? Would you be open to a private meeting? And I want to be clear: This is a conversation that is long overdue. Our party is long overdue for a reckoning about Palestinian human rights. There is no suppressing this conversation. We will not be silenced. We will not be silenced. If you believe me, say, “We will not be silent.”
PROTESTERS: We will not be silent.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: We will not be silent.
PROTESTERS: We will not be silent.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Abbas Alawieh, the co-founder of the uncommitted movement. Formerly, he was the chief of staff of Congressmember Cori Bush. He, along with other uncommitted delegates and their allies, are still at the sit-in just outside the United Convention Center, waiting for a call from the Democratic National Committee or the Harris campaign.
Joining us here in the studio at CAN TV in Chicago is Jeremiah Ellison. He’s a Minneapolis city councilmember, one of the 30 uncommitted delegates at the DNC. He was at the sit-in last night until the early hours. He was going inside the convention for the speeches and coming outside, as well.
Welcome to Democracy Now! Can you give us an update on what’s taking place just outside? This is a sit-in these uncommitted delegates did not plan to have.
JEREMIAH ELLISON: Yeah, no, we didn’t plan it at all. And, you know, I think we initially thought that our demands were going to get met. We’ve had good conversations with the DNC throughout the week. Abbas and Layla Elabed have been really great about those conversations. But when we were denied the chance to have a speaker — and we’re not asking for someone from uncommitted to speak. We’re not asking for any of our members to speak. We’re asking for a Palestinian American to address the crowd. There are tons of Palestinian American elected officials who have endorsed the administration, who can speak on this issue, who can speak for their families. That’s the request, not for us to be up on that stage. And when the DNC denied that request, it felt like, you know, this is a low bar, we can’t take no for an answer here.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Was there any explanation given?
JEREMIAH ELLISON: No, there was no explanation given, not any that we thought would — you know, not any that was communicated to us, just it’s a no.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to go to the sit-in in the second hour of Democracy Now!, where some of the people were sleeping. Also, the executive director of the Democratic National Committee, Roger Lau, stayed overnight to ensure that they weren’t arrested?
JEREMIAH ELLISON: Yeah. I left around 2 a.m. to get some folks home, but that’s my understanding from, you know, my colleagues on the ground, is that Roger Lau was there.
AMY GOODMAN: So, we’ll get more information. Also congressmembers visited the site. Ilhan Omar, congressmember from Minneapolis, your city, and also Summer Lee. On the phone, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congressmember, also called in. Jeremiah, we’re going to ask you to stay with us as we have a discussion about Tim Walz, who has just accepted the nomination as a vice-presidential candidate last night here in Chicago. Jeremiah Ellison is a Minneapolis city councilmember, one of 30 uncommitted delegates at the DNC. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Stevie Wonder performing “Higher Ground” last night at the Democratic National Convention here in Chicago.
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“Stop Sending Bombs”: Rep. Ilhan Omar Visits Uncommitted Sit-In & Demands Israeli Arms Embargo
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
Aug 22, 2024
Democracy Now! spoke with Minnesota Congressmember Ilhan Omar late Wednesday outside the Democratic National Convention, where members of the “uncommitted” movement launched a sit-in to demand a Palestinian American be allowed to address the convention from the main stage. Omar said she joined protesters outside the DNC because “there is no compassion in turning our heads away from the piles of dead bodies” in Gaza. “A ceasefire is only possible if we use every leverage that we have, and the biggest leverage that we have is to stop sending bombs,” says Omar, explaining why she is calling for an arms embargo against Israel and an end to “this genocidal war.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Delegates from the “uncommitted” movement and their allies launched a sit-in protest Wednesday night after the DNC refused to let a Palestinian American take the main stage, despite allowing the parents of an American Israeli hostage to address the convention. Uncommitted delegates were selected in state Democratic primaries earlier this year to call for an end to the Biden administration’s backing of Israel in its assault on Gaza. The sit-in continued throughout the night and is still ongoing at the time of this broadcast.
Among those who addressed the crowd last night at the sit-in was Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian American who is a Georgia state representative and an uncommitted delegate. She was among the list of speakers offered by the uncommitted movement that the DNC refused to allow onstage. This is some of what she had to say last night.
REP. RUWA ROMMAN: Good evening, everybody. My name is Ruwa Romman. I am a Georgia state representative. I am an elected Democrat. I come from the swing state of Georgia.
We are not here to create any divisions. As my colleagues have said over and over and over again, the only reason we are here — the only reason we are here — is to ensure that Donald Trump will never make it to the White House, and save the lives of the people that we love. It’s about the fact that today I watched my party say, “Our tent can fit anti-choice Republicans,” but it can’t fit an elected official like me? I do not understand. I do not understand why being a Palestinian has become disqualifying in this country.
I don’t know how much more we have to prove. All of us have decade-or-more-long résumés working for this party, because we know that this party is the only one that’s ever tried to meet the promise of our country. We are here to literally save the soul of our party. I do not understand why that is a bad thing.
This would have truly and sincerely been a beautiful gesture to show this party cares about the cries of an Israeli child the same way they care about the cries of a Palestinian child. We are not asking for too much. All we wanted was to be on that stage and show people desperate for hope there is something to hope for.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Georgia state representative, uncommitted delegate Ruwa Romman. Among those who came to the sit-in to express their support were Pennsylvania Congresswoman Summer Lee and Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. I caught up with Congressmember Omar at the sit-in last night.
AMY GOODMAN: The uncommitted delegates are here asking for a Palestinian speaker on the stage of the DNC. Do you support this?
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Yes, I did put in a request for that accommodation to be made, both to the Harris campaign and to the chairman of the DNC. I am hopeful that they will hear. It’s not just me who made that request. There’s multiple leaders within the Democratic Party who are here, have also made that request.
AMY GOODMAN: And the delegates here who have sat down asking for this one response say they’ve been simply told no.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Mm-hmm. Well, that’s — that’s heartbreaking to learn. That hasn’t been the response. The response was, to me, “Be patient. We’ll figure out something.” And it’s unfortunate if they have been told no.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think there’s still a chance for them to change their minds?
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Every phone call I’ve had, every conversation I’ve had today, has been, “Be patient with us. We’ll figure something out.” So…
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think Vice President Harris takes a different position than President Biden on the issue of an arms embargo, on the issue of stopping supporting Israel’s assault on Gaza?
REP. ILHAN OMAR: She has certainly been more forceful in talking about how this war and its devastation is unconscionable. I do hope that tomorrow we get to hear what her policy positions will be going forward.
AMY GOODMAN: You spoke earlier today. Can you talk about your message?
REP. ILHAN OMAR: My message is, this is not about just winning votes. It’s about living up to the words that we say about caring for our neighbors, for having a heart, for being compassionate. If that is who we are as Democrats, there is no compassion in continuing to fund this genocidal war. There is no compassion in turning our heads away from the piles of dead bodies that have been going on for the last 10 years. There is no compassion and care in simply keeping this the status quo. There is compassion and care in saying we know that a ceasefire is only possible if we use every leverage that we have. And the biggest leverage that we have is to stop sending bombs. Thank you all.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. She visited the sit-in, where we are going right now.
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Uncommitted Delegates Speak Out After Sleeping Outside DNC to Protest Silencing of Palestinian Voices
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
Aug 22, 2024
As “uncommitted” delegates continue their sit-in just outside the Democratic National Convention in protest of the party’s refusal to meet demands to platform a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage, we hear from two uncommitted delegates who have made a concerted effort to bring Israel’s war on Gaza to the forefront and to push the Harris campaign on its policy in the Middle East. Asma Mohammed, a campaign manager for Vote Uncommitted Minnesota and a delegate from Minnesota, says there is widespread disappointment and betrayal among delegates who feel their voices in support of Palestinian rights are being ignored. “This level of silencing, this level of exclusion [does] not belong in our Democratic Party,” adds Abbas Alawieh, a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement and an uncommitted delegate from Michigan.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Just outside the United Center, the convention center, we’re joined by Asma Mohammed, campaign manager for Vote Uncommitted Minnesota and co-chair of the Minnesota uncommitted delegation, one of the 11 Minnesota uncommitted delegates at the DNC. She spent the entire night at the sit-in, though wasn’t planning to do that, and we were having her on to talk about Governor Walz. She is from Minneapolis.
But right now in this sit-in — that looked like it surprised all of you last night when you got word that your request for a Palestinian American speaker had been denied — can you describe what you understand is happening? I understand that Roger Lau, the executive director of the Democratic National Committee, stayed with you all overnight, concerned that — he wanted to make sure you weren’t arrested. But you haven’t had your demands met. Explain why you’re sitting there, Asma. I know the video might be a little dodgy here, but we thought it was really important to hear your voice from the sit-in site.
ASMA MOHAMMED: Yeah, and I will have Abbas share in a moment, as well. But it was important to sit here, because the demand hasn’t been met. We set the lowest bar for our party. And we’ve gotten questions like, “Why? Why now? Why is now the time?” Because this is our party. I spent over a decade of my life organizing for Democrats up and down the ballot, professionally. It is within my right as a Democrat to ask for a Palestinian. I’m not a Palestinian myself, but I’m advocating for a Palestinian, like Ruwa Romman, like Abdelnasser Rashid, like the brilliant Palestinian elected leaders and representatives that we have, to be able to have a chance to speak to what has been happening in Gaza over the past 10 months, to be able to speak to what they’re feeling right now as Palestinian Americans.
And to have that denied reminded me — it made me feel that this tent, this party, isn’t big enough. And I think for those who are watching, the messages that I’ve been getting from people in my community is: Do we have a place in this party right now? And as a Democrat, I never want to send that message to my people. I never want my people to feel like they don’t have a place in this party. I’m going to give it to Abbas.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, sitting alongside you, Asma, we see Abbas Alawieh, who has also been there overnight. Abbas, if you could talk about how this night has passed and what kind of response you’re expecting now from the DNC?
ABBAS ALAWIEH: Thank you so much. It’s great to be on with you.
As uncommitted delegates, Asma and I are 30 uncommitted delegates who came to the convention supporting a ceasefire that stops the bombs and that reunites all captives, all Israeli and Palestinian captives, with their families. We came here as 30 uncommitted delegates. We’ve been organizing as we’re here. A whole bunch of Harris delegates have joined us. We’re almost 300, what we’re calling, ceasefire delegates. The position that we’re representing is widely popular among Democrats. We need to stop sending weapons that kill civilians. That’s how we achieve a ceasefire. Those are the demands of our movement.
As we are continuing to push those demands, we had a secondary ask, that we thought — we think our demands are very reasonable. Stop killing people we love. But we had a secondary ask that we thought for sure was a slam dunk in the party of representation, in the party where everybody gets to at least be heard. We thought that in the party that allowed for an Uber executive to speak from the main stage — Uber, a company that treats its workers terribly, I might add — in this party, at least they would allow for a Palestinian American to speak from the stage in this moment when our own government has contributed so profoundly, unfortunately, horrifically, to the pain that Palestinians and Palestinian Americans are experiencing.
And so, overnight, we were thinking about our central demand. We need our government to stop sending weapons. We also, honestly, are in a state of shock. This level of silencing, this level of exclusion, this does not belong in our Democratic Party. And we know that the majority of Democratic voters across the country agree with us. We are appalled the Democratic Party leadership have given us an answer of no. We hope that will not be their final answer. We’re still sitting out here right in front of the United Center. I have my phone. I’m waiting for the Democratic Party to call back and tell us, hopefully, that this is not a party that silences Palestinians and those advocating for Palestinian human rights
AMY GOODMAN: When we heard you were having the sit-in and we raced over to the United Center, you all seemed as surprised as anyone to be having this, as you got what you thought at the time was the final no, though nothing is final. But you do have the executive director of the DNC right there, of the Democratic National Committee. Asma Mohammed, is that right? Roger Lau. And can you ask him these questions? I mean, he stayed with you all overnight.
ABBAS ALAWIEH: Yeah. So, we’ve been in touch with a whole bunch of folks, both at the DNC and on Vice President Harris’s team. So it’s not just one individual. We know that everybody in Democratic leadership has been aware of this request. So, the issue isn’t with any one individual.
The issue is with, unfortunately, a systematic problem in our party, a systematic problem in our country, where there are pro-war forces. There are pro-war forces in our country. They’re not the majority. We’re the majority, and we’re going to win. We will end the war. That’s what the American people want. But there are pro-war forces that make money off of every additional bomb that drops and kills babies. That is the difficult thing that we’re sitting in.
And for some reason, after a very long back-and-forth with the DNC, where they — where we were feeding them names, and we were having member of Congress after member of Congress also get in touch with the vice president’s team, and folks pushing from the inside — after all of that, and after we felt we were very close, out of nowhere — out of nowhere, the answer is no. Someone vetoed it. I don’t know who they are. They probably oppose Palestinian human rights. But we are people who support all human rights. We support human rights for all people, including Palestinians. And we are the majority in this country.
ASMA MOHAMMED: Eighty-six percent of Democrats support a ceasefire. I know the people at this convention want to hear from a Palestinian. They need to hear from a Palestinian. As someone who isn’t Palestinian, I want to hear from a Palestinian on that main stage. They deserve that stage. They need that stage. Do you not think that over the last 10 months, that we at least owe Palestinian Americans that? I do.
AMY GOODMAN: Asma, we originally booked you before this sit-in. You were going to be in the studio. You are an uncommitted delegate from Minnesota. And we wanted to ask you — and we’ll end with this question: What is your governor, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who was speaking inside the convention center, where you planned to be last night, as you all sat down outside — what is his position around the uncommitted delegates and around Gaza?
ASMA MOHAMMED: Around uncommitted voters, he’s been actually very kind. After we 46,000 voters joined us to say that we want an end to the genocide, he said, “Those people need to be heard.” And right now he has an opportunity to tell his running mate to hear us. He has an opportunity to say, “We need to let them take the main stage.” He has an opportunity to say, “We need to stop sending bombs.” So, if he feels like we need to be heard, like he said on March 6th, the day after the primary election in Minnesota, then he needs to make that very clear in this moment, because, as Minnesotans, we always, always reference late Senator Paul Wellstone, and we say, “We all do better when we all do better.” Well, I think that includes Palestinians, too.
AMY GOODMAN: Asma Mohammed, we want to thank you so much for being with us, an uncommitted delegate from Minnesota, and Abbas Alawieh, an uncommitted delegate from Michigan. They are both taking part in a sit-in. We’re speaking to them where they are, just outside the United Center, just outside the Democratic National Convention.
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“So Horrific”: Doctor Recounts Treating Patients in Gaza Injured in Massacres Enabled by U.S. Bombs
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
Aug 22, 2024
Tanya Haj-Hassan is a pediatric intensive care physician who has volunteered in Gaza multiple times over the past 10 months. She joins us to recount what she witnessed there and to explain why she is calling for an end to U.S. support for the Israeli military and the resumption of comprehensive humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Over the course of Israel’s assault, Haj-Hassan has treated victims of “massacre after massacre,” with injuries and casualties “enabled by American bombs.” She joins demands for Palestinian voices to be allowed to address the convention onstage and argues that Democratic Party leadership’s refusal is part of a systematic “process of dehumanization” targeting Palestinians.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And we’re joined now by Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care surgeon who volunteered in Gaza many times. Earlier this week, she spoke at the first-ever panel on Palestinian human rights held at a Democratic convention. “Uncommitted” delegates had asked the DNC to allow Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan to speak on the main stage, but she’s not been invited.
Dr. Tanya, welcome back to the show. So, if you could just begin by saying, if you had been given the opportunity to speak on the main stage of the Democratic National Convention, what would you have said?
DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: So, I think — you know, I’m an American citizen. Every American physician and surgeon that I know that’s been to Gaza and returned comes back with the same very urgent message. And in fact, when I was first contacted about potentially coming and speaking, I rang the other American doctors and surgeons that I know to see if any of them would be available to join me here in Chicago, and I got an overwhelming response of yes from everybody, with the exception of one person who couldn’t swap out of their shifts. And so, that tells you how much we all feel like we need to deliver this message.
You cannot unsee what you witness there. It is so horrific, so egregious. And we know that it’s being funded by American bombs, and it’s being enabled by American bombs, and in direct contrast to demonstrated realities on the ground, documented realities on the ground, universal condemnation from international human rights and humanitarian organizations, and findings by the ICJ of plausible genocide.
And so, I would have liked to get up on stage and say, look, for the last 10 months, we have witnessed massacre after massacre — massacres of schools where internally displaced people were sheltering, massacres outside of hospitals, massacres of — a flour massacre, water distribution site massacres, humanitarian distribution site massacres. And we have witnessed as our healthcare worker colleagues have been detained, tortured, killed. We have witnessed, as healthcare workers, healthcare workers, journalists and humanitarian workers have been killed at an unprecedented and in record-breaking numbers.
And we feel very much — particularly when we know that international journalists are not let inside of Gaza for the last 10 months, we feel like our witness becomes particularly important. You know, I work for an organization called Médecins Sans Frontières, Doctors Without Borders. And one of our core principles is témoignage, the concept of bearing witness. And that was an organization founded by journalists and doctors, with the understanding that when atrocities are committed anywhere in the world, it’s very important that we bear witness to those atrocities. And that’s particularly important as a physician, when you’re trained not only to treat disease, but to prevent disease and illness. And there’s a very easy way, well within the grasp of the American government, to prevent this disease. But instead, we are enabling it.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Tanya, you’re a pediatric intensive care physician, so can you tell us the story of a child in Gaza that stays with you even as you have left?
DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: I mean, it’s hard, Amy. There are so many stories. It’s really heartbreaking. Every single day, I would sit down and try and find five minutes alone to kind of reflect on what happened throughout my day. And this is a practice I’ve always had in medicine. You know, when a patient of mine dies, I take a minute — sometimes I go to the bathroom, sometimes I do it in the patient’s room — just to kind of honor that person. There was no time. There was no time.
You know, I remember — I remember trying to resuscitate two children at the same time, along with my Palestinian colleagues, on a bed, and there were no family members around for either child. They were cousins. And one of their families — the entire family of one of them was killed. Maybe even fortunately for him, he ended up dying, too. And the other one, both of her parents were severely injured in the same attack, and so weren’t at her bedside. And it’s really heartbreaking.
I shared the story the day before yesterday of a child who had lost his parents and all of his siblings, bar one sister who was burned beyond recognition and in the bed next to him while we were treating him. And he kept calling her name, because he didn’t recognize that this body in the bed next to him, burned beyond recognition, was his sister. She died about two days later in the intensive care unit, and he survived, with horrible injuries, but will be — will function well. However, I don’t know how he would ever psychologically survive from that. He told me the following day that he wished he had died. He said, “Everybody I love is in heaven. I don’t want to be here anymore.” And this is the daily reality. This was in March. My colleague, a pain doctor in Gaza, who’s trying to practice pain relief for patients right now, as we speak, without adequate access to pain medications, told me two days ago that children around him are wishing for death.
And, Amy, just importantly, for what’s happening right now outside the DNC, I’m not Palestinian. I know there are a lot of rumors going around that I am Palestinian. I’m not. And, in fact, it would be an honor to be a Palestinian, particularly today, as I watch my Palestinian colleagues come in day after day after day to the hospital, dedicating every ounce of their being to their patients, despite having been displaced five times, having had their own family members killed, knowing that they’re a target of this — a clear target of this military campaign, with over 500 of them killed, some executed, and many detained and tortured. I am not a Palestinian. But I think the fact that people are trying to discredit me by calling me a Palestinian is very telling of how we view the Palestinian voice. You know, Palestinians are humans, are wonderful human beings. And this constant effort to dehumanize is so destructive, not only to the Palestinians themselves, but for the perpetrators of this dehumanization. When you dehumanize others, you dehumanize yourself. And I’m really sad to see that the DNC is a part of this process of dehumanization, of not giving Palestinians a voice where they deserve it.
And I don’t want to be speaking on that platform. I want one of my Palestinian colleagues, and certainly one of the Palestinian delegates would be — but if you’re looking for a medical voice, I would have wanted one of my Palestinians in Gaza to be on that platform, people like Dr. Hammam Alloh, who you interviewed, who said he was not going to leave his patients. He said, “If I leave my patients, who will treat them?” So he didn’t evacuate and was killed. Or people like Dr. Mahmoud, a Doctors Without Borders physician, who stayed at Al-Awda Hospital and wrote on a board, “Whoever stays will tell our story. Remember us.” He was killed. That sign that he wrote was destroyed. This is the reality for healthcare workers in Gaza right now. And they are the ones who should be speaking right now, not me.
AMY GOODMAN: Very quickly, first case of polio, 10-month-old infant in Gaza, the crisis of a disease that was eradicated decades ago there, and how it affects children, and the demand for all the children of Gaza to be inoculated?
DR. TANYA HAJ-HASSAN: Amy, the resurgence of polio is a symptom. It’s a symptom of the bigger disease, and it’s very concerning. It’s a deadly disease. It causes paralysis. Particularly deadly is the paralysis of the breathing muscles, that would require you to be on a ventilator. If that were to happen, there aren’t enough ventilators. There aren’t enough intensive care beds. The majority of the hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed. There are a remaining few partially functioning hospitals. So it would be a death sentence for many people who contract the disease, not to mention the public health disaster of the resurgence of an eradicated, very contagious disease.
But it is a symptom of these unlivable conditions that have been architectured by this military campaign — destruction of sewage systems, destruction of clean water supply, people living in overcrowded conditions, over a thousand people sharing a bathroom or a shower. These are the sort of conditions that are not compatible with life and that are very compatible with the resurgence of these sorts of eradicated diseases. We were already seeing measles, hepatitis, other communicable diseases that you see when people are in crowded circumstances, like they are in Gaza right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you for being with us. And for people to hear Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan’s testimony before the first-ever Palestinian human rights panel held by the Democratic National Convention — it was a side event of the convention itself — you can go to democracynow.org. Dr. Haj-Hassan is a pediatric intensive care physician, served many times in Gaza hospitals, co-founder of the social media account Gaza Medic Voices, which shares firsthand accounts from healthcare professionals in Gaza.
Coming up, we host a roundtable on an issue that’s received very little attention here at the DNC: the climate crisis. We’ll be back in a minute.