Pro-Palestinian delegates to Democratic convention to push for Israel arms embargo
Adds protest paragraph 4
By Andrea Shalal
CHICAGO, Aug 18 (Reuters) -Dozens of Muslim delegates and their allies, angry at U.S. support for Israel's offensive in Gaza, are seeking changes in the Democratic platform and plan to press for an arms embargo this week, putting the party on guard for disruptions to high-profile speeches at its national convention in Chicago.
Calling itself "Delegates Against Genocide," the pro-Palestinian group says it will exercise its freedom of speech rights during main events at the four-day Democratic National Convention convening on Monday to formally nominate Vice President Kamala Harris for president in the Nov. 5 election against Republican former President Donald Trump.
Group organizers declined to give details, but said they were encouraging supporters to wear Palestinian keffiyehs, or scarves, and to carry Palestinian flags, and would seek changes in the party platform, while urging delegates to speak on the convention floor.
On Sunday night, a crowd of roughly 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched through downtown Chicago, chanting "Shut down the DNC."
President Joe Biden is due to speak on Monday and Harris on Thursday.
Pro-Palestinian delegates say they deserve a bigger role in the writing of the party platform.
The group wants to include language backing enforcement of laws that ban giving military aid to individuals or security forces that commit gross violations of human rights.
"We're going to make our voices heard," said Liano Sharon, a Jewish business consultant and delegate who signed an alternative platform along with 34 other delegates. "Freedom of expression necessarily includes the right to stand up and be heard even when the authority in the room says to shut up."
"They want the convention to go smoothly. They don't want to have any kind of disruption or any kind of statement or anything like that," he told Reuters at an event hosted by Chicago's large Palestinian population. "I'm sorry. A convention is a political engagement vehicle, okay? And if we're not using it for that, then it's just a beauty pageant."
The Harris campaign declined to comment.
BIDEN SEEKS A CEASEFIRE
The party's draft platform released in mid-July calls for "an immediate and lasting ceasefire" in the war and the release of remaining hostages taken to Gaza during an Oct. 7 attack by Islamist militant Hamas fighters in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed.
The platform does not mention the more than 40,000 people that Palestinian health authorities in Gaza say have been killed in Israel's subsequent offensive. Nor does it mention any plans to curtail U.S. arms shipments to Israel.
The United States approved $20 billion in additional arms sales to Israel on Tuesday.
Mediators including the U.S. have sought to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza, based on a plan Biden put forward in May but so far have not succeeded.
The Israel-Hamas war, now in its 11th month, reduced support for Democrats among Muslim and Arab-American voters, who represent crucial votes in election battleground states like Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
While the activists make up a tiny fraction of convention delegates, disruptions inside the hall and large protests outside could mar the party's plan to unify Democrats around Harris after Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 under pressure from fellow Democrats.
'I WILL NOT BE SILENT,' HARRIS SAYS
Pro-Palestinian activists say Harris has been more sympathetic to Gazans than Biden has been. Her national security adviser said on X this month that she does not support an arms embargo on Israel.
But after meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, Harris told reporters not only that Israel had a right to defend itself but also in reference to Gaza: "We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.”
Some 40,000 protesters are expected to gather outside the convention on Monday to demonstrate against the Biden administration's position on Israel. Organizers say the number could swell to over 100,000.
Nadia Ahmad, a law professor at Florida's Barry University and a delegate, said there were about 60 Muslim delegates, a fraction of the 5,000 overall. But their concerns were shared by others, especially young voters, some of whom have disengaged with the party, she said.
The Uncommitted National Movement, a separate effort pushing Democrats to change policy on Israel that won over 30 delegates in primary elections, also wants an arms embargo.
Ithas focused, unsuccessfully so far, on winning a main-stage speaking slot for a Palestinian American or Gaza humanitarian worker, although organizers agreed on Saturday to add a daytime panel discussion on Arab and Palestinian issues to Monday's agenda and one on antisemitism. Jewish Americans, traditionally Democratic voters, have voiced concern about rising anti-Jewish activity and Muslims have denounced rising American Islamophobia.
Layla Elabed, the Uncommitted National co-chair, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Muslim ally of Biden's, and a doctor who has worked on the Gaza frontlines will be among speakers on the first panel, sources said.
Uncommitted, which said it is not planning to disrupt the convention proceedings, is pressing Harris to make a statement about the use of U.S. weapons to kill Palestinians.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by Joey Roulette and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons, Howard Goller and Michael Perry
Τελευταία νέα
Δήλωση αποποίησης ευθύνης: Οι οντότητες του ομίλου XM Group παρέχουν υπηρεσίες σε βάση εκτέλεσης μόνο και η πρόσβαση στην ηλεκτρονική πλατφόρμα συναλλαγών μας που επιτρέπει στον ενδιαφερόμενο να δει ή/και να χρησιμοποιήσει το περιεχόμενο που είναι διαθέσιμο στην ιστοσελίδα μας ή μέσω αυτής, δε διαφοροποιεί ούτε επεκτείνει αυτές τις υπηρεσίες πέραν αυτού ούτε προορίζεται για κάτι τέτοιο. Η εν λόγω πρόσβαση και χρήση υπόκεινται σε: (i) Όρους και προϋποθέσεις, (ii) Προειδοποιήσεις κινδύνου και (iii) Πλήρη δήλωση αποποίησης ευθύνης. Ως εκ τούτου, το περιεχόμενο αυτό παρέχεται μόνο ως γενική πληροφόρηση. Λάβετε ιδιαιτέρως υπόψη σας ότι τα περιεχόμενα της ηλεκτρονικής πλατφόρμας συναλλαγών μας δεν αποτελούν παρότρυνση, ούτε προσφορά για να προβείτε σε οποιεσδήποτε συναλλαγές στις χρηματοπιστωτικές αγορές. Η πραγματοποίηση συναλλαγών στις χρηματοπιστωτικές αγορές ενέχει σημαντικό κίνδυνο για το κεφάλαιό σας.
Όλο το υλικό που δημοσιεύεται στην ηλεκτρονική πλατφόρμα συναλλαγών μας προορίζεται για εκπαιδευτικούς/ενημερωτικούς σκοπούς μόνο και δεν περιέχει, ούτε θα πρέπει να θεωρηθεί ότι περιέχει συμβουλές και συστάσεις χρηματοοικονομικές ή σε σχέση με φόρο επενδύσεων και την πραγματοποίηση συναλλαγών, ούτε αρχείο των τιμών διαπραγμάτευσής μας ούτε και προσφορά ή παρότρυνση για συναλλαγή οποιωνδήποτε χρηματοπιστωτικών μέσων ή ανεπιθύμητες προς εσάς προωθητικές ενέργειες.
Οποιοδήποτε περιεχόμενο τρίτων, καθώς και περιεχόμενο που εκπονείται από την ΧΜ, όπως απόψεις, ειδήσεις, έρευνα, αναλύσεις, τιμές, άλλες πληροφορίες ή σύνδεσμοι προς ιστότοπους τρίτων το οποίο περιέχεται σε αυτήν την ιστοσελίδα παρέχεται «ως έχει», ως γενικός σχολιασμός της αγοράς και δεν αποτελεί επενδυτική συμβουλή. Στον βαθμό που οποιοδήποτε περιεχόμενο ερμηνεύεται ως επενδυτική έρευνα, πρέπει να λάβετε υπόψη και να αποδεχτείτε ότι το περιεχόμενο δεν προοριζόταν και δεν έχει προετοιμαστεί σύμφωνα με τις νομικές απαιτήσεις που αποσκοπούν στην προώθηση της ανεξαρτησίας της επενδυτικής έρευνας και ως εκ τούτου, θα πρέπει να θεωρηθεί ως επικοινωνία μάρκετινγκ σύμφωνα με τους σχετικούς νόμους και κανονισμούς. Παρακαλούμε εξασφαλίστε ότι έχετε διαβάσει και κατανοήσει τη Γνωστοποίησή μας περί Μη ανεξάρτητης επενδυτικής έρευνας και την Προειδοποίηση ρίσκου όσον αφορά τις παραπάνω πληροφορίες, τις οποίες μπορείτε να βρείτε εδώ.
