Democratic National Convention to Host Panel on ‘Palestinian Human Rights’

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Monday will host a panel on “Palestinian human rights,” the latest indication of the growing influence of progressive activists on the Democratic Party’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The convention in Chicago this week to nominate the Democrats’ presidential and vice-presidential nominees for the 2024 US election will feature a panel discussion on Arab and Palestinian issues organized by members of the “Uncommitted National Movement” — an initiative which encouraged voters to withhold support from US President Joe Biden in protest of his support of Israel’s war against the Palestinian terror group Hamas in Gaza.

Monday will mark the first time that the anti-Israel movement will be given such a platform at the DNC. The panel will take place six miles from the main convention action, at a satellite location.

“This week, 30 Uncommitted delegates will be engaging with Democratic leaders inside the DNC, asking them to unite the party, win a ceasefire, and save Palestinian lives by no longer arming Israel. Democratic leaders need to know the delegates represent a grassroots movement,” the Uncommitted movement said on X/Twitter.

“We thank the DNC for recognizing this pivotal issue and remain dedicated to pushing [US Vice-President Kamala] Harris to stop providing weapons for Israel’s assault on Gaza,” the organization added.

Uncommitted leaders will attempt to push Harris, the Democratic nominee, to endorse a US arms embargo on Israel along with a permanent ceasefire between the Jewish state and Hamas. The organization argues that its demands will help end a so-called “genocide” in Hamas-ruled Gaza. 

Top Democrats have spent recent weeks engaging in meetings with leaders of the Uncommitted movement, hoping to mollify angry Arab Americans, a voting bloc which could prove critical in key swing states such as Michigan.

Harris recently held a meeting with Uncommitted leaders ahead of a campaign rally in Michigan. The New York Times reported that Harris indicated she would be “open to” arranging a meeting with pro-Palestinian activists to discuss an arms embargo on Israel. The Harris campaign later denied such reports, insisting that the nominee “does not support an arms embargo on Israel” and “will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups.”

Harris also reportedly arranged a secret meeting with Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, the state with the largest Arab population in the US. Hammoud has repeatedly condemned Israel’s military operations in Hamas-ruled Gaza, accusing the Jewish state of committing a “genocide” in Gaza and an “ethnic cleansing” in the West Bank. On Oct. 7, following the slaughter of roughly 1,200 people throughout southern Israel by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists, Hammoud condemned the Jewish state as a “racist apartheid system that criminalizes Palestinian existence.”

“Israel’s decades of illegal military occupation and imprisonment of Gaza make peace impossible and tragic violence inevitable,” Hammoud tweeted on Oct. 7. Israel has trapped millions of Palestinians in Gaza in what is recognized by the international community as the world’s largest open-air prison. Failure to recognize this context is the inability to comprehend what is unfolding overseas.”

Hamas-led terrorists kidnapped some 250 hostages during their Oct. 7 rampage and perpetrated mass atrocities, including rampant sexual violence.

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