The United Auto Workers, which has endorsed Harris, posted a statement to X Thursday, urging Harris’s team to reverse course on its decision. “If we want the war in Gaza to end, we can’t put our heads in the sand or ignore the voices of the Palestinian Americans in the Democratic Party,” the statement said. “If we want peace, if we want real democracy, and if we want to win this election, the Democratic Party must allow a Palestinian American speaker to be heard from the DNC stage tonight.”
Earlier this week, the Uncommitted Movement was invited to host a panel discussion about Palestinian human rights at the DNC, the first time such an event has happened. At the time, the group thanked the DNC and reiterated a request that Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a Palestinian American pediatric physician who has been working in Gaza throughout Israel’s assault, should be invited to speak from the convention’s main stage.
Inside the United Center, pro-Palestinian speech has been entirely absent, and attempts to protest have been repeatedly quashed. On Monday, several members of the Florida delegation dropped a banner that read “Stop Arming Israel” during Joe Biden’s speech but were blocked and even hit with signs by others standing around them. The protesters were then escorted out of the main room. Outside the convention center, more than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched in Chicago for a third day, after violent clashes with the police outside of the Israeli consulate.
