 "United States Vice President Kamala Harris. File image/Reuters")
A day before US Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Presidential nomination, the group called “Muslim Women for Harris” released a statement in which they announced that they would withdraw their support to the Harris-Walz campaign. The statement was released on the third day of the Democratic National Convention.
In the statement released on Thursday, the group slammed the Harris-Walz campaign’s refusal to allow a Palestinian person to speak on the main stage. The statement was released hours after the Uncommitted National Movement, which won 30 delegates to the convention, held a sit-in outside the convention.
“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 “Muslim Women for Harris” said in a statement on Friday.
30 Convention Delegates stage sit-ins
On the third day of the convention, 30 delegates conducted sit-ins outside the convention centre. Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar joined the demonstration online. Even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was one of the Democratic stalwarts who addressed the convention, also attended the sit-in via FaceTime.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“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 also strongly hope that we will also be hearing from Palestinians who’ve endured the largest civilian death toll since 1948,” the Uncommitted statement read.
What Harris said about Israel in her DNC address
In her nomination acceptance speech, Vice President Kamala Harris affirmed that she will always ensure that Israel will continue to have the ability to defend itself. However, she also called for the end of Palestinian suffering in Gaza.
“With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done,” she told the crowd which was followed by a loud applause.
“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on October 7,” she added.
However, Harris also pointed towards the horrors in Gaza which included " unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival." “So many innocent lives lost, desperate hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking,” she said.
“President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination,” she added.
With the mayhem that ensued, one thing remains clear, Harris will have to maintain a fine balance between Pro-Palestine and Pro-Israeli group ahead of the November polls.