CHICAGO — During Tuesday night’s exuberant roll call of states, 4,563 Democratic Party delegates cast votes to confirm Vice President Kamala Harris as their nominee for president.
But the vote was not unanimous. Fifty-two delegates from 18 states voted “present,” giving the live TV audience a glimpse at one major division that remains among party activists. Virtually all of these uncommitted delegates are withholding support for Harris because they are critical of the U.S. position toward Israel as its war with Hamas rages on in the Gaza strip.
Abbas Alawieh, one of three uncommitted delegates from Michigan, said Tuesday that he and others are waiting for Harris to outline her policy position regarding the conflict. The “Uncommitted National Movement” has called for an end to U.S. weapon transfers to Israel, as well as a cease-fire agreement.
It has also requested that a Palestinian speaker be added to the Democratic National Convention program this week and be allowed to deliver remarks focused on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Harris, who replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket officially on Aug. 6, has not shared a foreign policy platform yet. But she has expressed concern about human suffering in Israel and supports ongoing negotiations that could lead to a cease-fire.
“We feel very encouraged that Vice President Harris has been engaging with us, and that her and that her team and the DNC leadership have been engaging with us,” Alawieh said. “But we need to hear her stance on this policy change urgently. We need the policy to change urgently.”
While the uncommitted delegates have been vocal in their demands and disappointment, the most visible sign of the rift has been the black and white keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves, many of them have worn to sessions.
However, during Biden’s speech Monday night protesters managed to display a banner for a few moments that said, “Stop Arming Israel.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Outside of the convention, hundreds of protesters have demonstrated on a variety of topics, but opposition to the war in Gaza has been chief among them.
Nancy Haverstick, 76, of Chicago was one of more than 3,500 protesters the city’s police said gathered outside the United Center on the first night of the convention. She was born in 1948 when war broke out as Britain withdrew from the region and the state of Israel was established. Her parents were forced to flee their small village outside Bethlehem.
Since then, Haverstick continues to have family in the West Bank. She said Palestinian families in Gaza now face the same threats to their safety at the hands of Israel’s military.
“This is what I don’t understand about the United States of America, which gave me life all these years,” she said, referencing her family’s emigration to the states. “How can they say (Israel) is our most important ally? How can you ally yourself with that kind of brutality and inhumanity?”
Haverstick expressed hope in Harris ending the war and demanding a permanent cease-fire, but only because she doesn’t know what else to do. Many other protesters said they would not vote for Harris unless she demanded a cease-fire before the November election.
“The Democrats are in power right now, so they can divest right now,” said Geral Mueller, a senior at the University of Colorado, Denver. “So she would not win my vote unless they divest right now.”
Though protests surrounding the war have been largely peaceful in Chicago, some activists have faced arrests during demonstrations Monday and Tuesday.
A group that separated from a larger group of protesters breached the outside perimeter of the United Center on Monday, leading to at least 13 arrests, police Superintendent Larry Snelling said. More than 60 people, including three journalists, were arrested Tuesday outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown Chicago after “committing acts of violence (and) vandalism,” Snelling added.
Some of the uncommitted delegates’ demands have already been met, such as the convention allowing a panel on Palestinian human rights to be added to its programming. Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, the only Palestinian American to serve in the state’s Legislature, was among the speakers.
Sworn into office in January 2023, Romman said she was still learning the ropes as a state lawmaker when the bloody Middle East conflict put new responsibilities and pressures on her shoulders. Hamas’ attack in northern Israel on Oct. 7 resulted in over 1,000 deaths, and the resulting counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
“All of a sudden, I went from being responsible for 60,000 constituents to truly and sincerely not just being a symbol for people but their only recourse for getting help,” she said.
Romman also talked about the political pressure she faced after opposing a fast-tracked bill that defined antisemitism in a way she said could criminalize legitimate criticism of Israeli leadership. She said other Democrats who expressed concerns about the bill faced political retribution, such as well-financed opponents in this year’s primary.
Romman said that she was thankful discussion happened, but that it also was long overdue. “I cannot believe the first one is in 2024 considering how long key parts of our coalition have been working on Palestine-specific policy,” she said.
A few of the speakers during the first two nights of the convention’s prime-time programming have mentioned the war and its effects on Palestinians. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia made a passing reference on Monday night during a portion of his speech on shared human experiences and empathy.
“I need all of my neighbors’ children to be OK; poor inner-city children in Atlanta and poor children of Appalachia,” he said. “I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza. I need Israelis and Palestinians. I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine. I need American children on both sides of the track to be OK, because we are all God’s children. And so let’s stand together. Let’s work together. Let’s organize together. Let’s pray together. Let’s stand together.”
Liberal U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders made some of the most pointed statements about the war during his speech Tuesday.
“We must end this horrific war in Gaza, bring home the hostages and demand an immediate cease-fire,” he said.
Metro Atlanta has seen various protests regarding the war in Gaza, most recently in downtown and college campuses. People who attended those demonstrations are asking for exactly what Sanders urged.
Ziad Rashed, 27, is a Georgia Tech student who voted for Biden in 2020. He said he wished Biden had more firmly taken control of the conflict by demanding a cease-fire early into the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. He said the route Harris is taking is one of “dismissal” when it comes to the war.
“It is kind of normalized that every politician has to, in one way or another, guarantee the safety of Israel,” Rashed said. “But you can also acknowledge that there is a genocide going on.”
