Disappointed pro-Palestinian activists said Kamala Harris’ speech at the closing of the Democratic convention in Chicago showed no sign of a change from the status quo while mostly ignoring the most divisive issue facing the party for a week.
Under pressure to respond to critics of US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, the vice president reiterated earlier calls for a ceasefire and hostage-taking agreement in her Thursday night speech. She said she supports Israel’s right to self-defense, as well as the Palestinian right to self-determination.
Abbas Alavieh, co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, which has organized more than 750,000 voters to oppose U.S. policy on Israel, said Harris missed an opportunity to win over those voters, many of whom live in battleground states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona.
“What is needed now is bold leadership, a departure from the current approach,” Alawieh told Reuters shortly after Harris formally accepted the party’s nomination.
The uncommitted delegates and their allies had sought unsuccessfully to secure prime time speaking spots at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to discuss the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which began on October 7 when Hamas launched attacks on Israel that have killed nearly 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures.
Gaza health officials say Israel’s US-backed assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza has killed 40,000 Palestinians, displaced almost the entire population of 2.3 million, created a famine crisis and destroyed almost the entire enclave.
Rima Mohammed, an uncommitted delegate from Michigan, said the speech deepened frustrations over the DNC not allowing a Palestinian to speak, and that nothing was done to address the concerns of her progressive, diverse community in Ann Arbor.
“I’m even more worried now,” Muhammad said. “It’s just a bad thing. You’re going to lose Michigan.”
A campaign spokesman declined to comment on the decision not to have a Palestinian speaker speak at the DNC. Sources familiar with the discussions said DNC organizers made the decision in close consultation with the Harris campaign.
Party insiders fear the Gaza war could cost Harris needed votes in battleground states such as Michigan, which has large Muslim and Arab American populations and where college campuses have been the site of Gaza protests.
The conference was held in Chicago, home to the largest Palestinian community in the United States, according to the Arab American Institute.
The DNC faced daily pro-Palestinian protests in Chicago, including thousands on Thursday night ahead of Harris’ speech. Dozens of arrests were made this week.
Protesters carried banners that read “No sanctions, no vote” and “No ceasefire, no vote”, while thousands chanted “Ceasefire now” and “Long live Palestine”.
“It is completely tone deaf to lead with Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of the massacre of 40,000 Palestinians,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the DNC and national president of the US Palestinian Community Network. He said Harris has merely reiterated President Joe Biden’s positions.
“Harris has not said anything new,” he said. “We continue to demand that the US and Harris implement the arms embargo and stop sending arms and all other aid to Israel.”
Mohammed, Alawieh and other uncommitted delegates spent the previous night on the sidewalk outside the conference in protest of the D.N.C.’s rejection of their request for a Palestinian speaker.
He welcomed calls by the parents of an American citizen taken hostage in Gaza on Wednesday night – Rachel Goldberg and John Pollin – for a ceasefire and the return of hostages, but said they should also have been given a chance to speak.
Pro-Palestinian protesters and representatives said they were buoyed by messages of solidarity from the United Auto Workers Union and the Movement for Black Lives, a network of more than 150 leaders and organizations. Muslim Women for Harris-Walz said on X that it would cease operations following the DNC’s decision.
Georgia state legislator and Rep. Ruva Romain, who spent the night outside the D.N.C., said uncommitted organizers had negotiated with the Harris campaign for weeks and submitted a list of potential speakers, only to be rejected.
Prior to Harris’s remarks, only a few speakers had spoken on the war, including Biden, Senators Bernie Sanders and Raphael Warnock, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
A major donor to the Harris campaign, who requested anonymity to speak openly about his private conversations with the campaign, said he was concerned that without a ceasefire agreement in the near future and clear statements from Harris about ending the fighting and protecting civilians, campus protests could flare up again when universities resume classes in the coming days.
“We need every vote,” the donor said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
