The Democratic Party snubbed a give pro-Palestinian speaker at the Democratic National Convention this week, which sparked outrage in the Uncommitted National Movement, the Washington Examiner reported. This move has potentially put them in a difficult position with voters.
Representatives from the movement said Thursday that their position was not given a platform at the DNC. This is particularly galling because others, like Israel victims of the Hamas attacks and some Republicans, were allowed to speak.
The group is one of the many calling for a ceasefire as Israel defends itself in the wake of an attack perpetrated by Hamas. The Democratic Party is stuck between two factions of its base as President Joe Biden supports the war in Israel while others are calling for them to give up.
The uncommitted movement has gained traction, earning two delegates in Michigan by casting ballots with the designation in the Democratic primary. It has excoriated Biden for "funding war crimes and the mass killing of Palestinians" while calling the Israeli government "murderous."
Vice President Kamala Harris was named the nominee at the convention on Thursday. However, this controversy over the speaker erupted the same day and threatened to bleed over into her support.
As Vox noted, the DNC was progressing well this week and gaining momentum for Harris. That changed after Georgia House of Representatives Democrat Ruwa Romman was effectively denied the right to speak at the convention.
She is a Palestinian-American and a supporter of the uncommitted movement. Romman said she just wanted to share the plight of the Palestinian civilians caught up in the consequences of the conflict.
Instead, she was denied a spot on the main stage while Israeli Americans impacted by the war were given the right to voice their opinions. This sparked an exodus from the Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, which disbanded over the decision to allow no Palestinians to speak.
Romman took exception to the fact that she was silenced while even a Republican was allowed to speak at the DNC. "When I saw [Republican former] lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan on that stage, knowing that the party rejected me — a member of the party and a Democratic elected official — frankly, it was just too much," Romman said.
Romman was hoping for the bare minimum for her position at the DNC. Instead, it confirmed what her side of the conflict had felt all along about which side Democrats were on.
"This was supposed to be the symbolic bare minimum ask. We understand that we can’t change policy in a single election cycle, and this was supposed to be an easy way for the party to unite us on this issue," Romman said.
"A lot of people care about this. Anybody who’s at the convention has seen the amount of people wearing pins and keffiyehs and flags. It is everywhere," she pointed out.
Indeed, support for Israel was a long-held value among Democratic politicians and their constituents. However, that has changed since the attack on Israel sparked a war with Hamas in Palestine and has fractured the party and created a difficult conundrum for Democrats that makes supporting either side difficult.
This issue threatens to splinter Democratic Party support in November. Harris may find it an obstacle in her road to victory that will cost her the election.
