Inside the Push to Get Palestinian Speakers on the DNC Main Stage

The speaker list at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago includes names from across the Democratic Party, such as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and of course Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. But notably absent from the lineup are any Palestinian American voices.

“Uncommitted” Democratic delegates and political leaders, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, are pushing to correct the omission by urging DNC officials to include two Palestinian American speakers on the convention’s main stage to address the ongoing war on Gaza.

The Uncommitted National Movement announced its demands for Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care physician who works with Doctors Without Borders and treated patients in Gaza, to speak at the convention stage earlier this month. The group said in a statement on Monday it is pushing for a second speaking slot to go to an as-of-yet-unnamed Palestinian American speaker.

At a press conference on Monday, Uncommitted leaders floated several Palestinian American Democratic leaders as potential speakers, including Illinois state Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, Colorado state Rep. Iman Jodeh, and Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul.

DNC officials have yet to announce their decision on whether to include the requested speakers. The DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist who has been advising the Uncommitted movement, told The Intercept the group has been proposing names of possible Palestinian American speakers — mostly elected officials — multiple times a day to DNC officials.

“But we haven’t heard anything back,” Shahid said. “We also haven’t heard a no.”

As the convention kicked off Monday, there was a panel discussion on Palestinian human rights. The panel was a first-of-its-kind gathering for convention-goers, but it was little consolation for those seeking a main-stage speaker.

“The Uncommitted folks and I don’t see [the panel] as an alternative to somebody on the main stage,” said James Zogby, founder and director of the Arab American Institute, who was a panelist in the Palestinian human rights session.

The convention will feature a wide array of speakers, from household names to lesser-known figures. Among those offered speaking slots at the convention are family members of American hostages captured by Hamas on October 7, according to the New York Times. They will also be on the convention floor Monday evening for President Joe Biden’s speech, in which he is expected to address his administration’s efforts for a hostage deal.

“We in no way want to take away their time at all to speak about their pain,” Shahid told The Intercept, “but to once-again emphasize only one community’s pain over another does not hold the platform’s own statement that Israelis and Palestinians are equally valued by this party — and so we’re hoping if we’re going to uplift one community’s pain, we’re not silencing another.”

Lexis Dena Zeidan, a leader within the Uncommitted movement, worried the lack of response from the DNC so far could be a sign that party officials are stalling before ultimately denying their request.

“It could just be them running out the clock,” she said. “Folks want to be able to mobilize behind VP Harris and Walz to help elect them in November, but at the same time folks are also asking for real change when it comes to what’s happening in Palestine and our tax dollars funding bombs, and so listening to the requests and really considering it important.”

Zogby told The Intercept that while DNC officials had not given a clear answer, he and delegates with the Uncommitted movement had been in constant contact with them while organizing the panel, talking back and forth as many as three times a day. He said that DNC officials have been receptive to concerns that both sides of the conflict should be represented on the convention stage, but also acknowledged a lack of response so far from convention decision-makers.

DNC organizers have also been in contact with Ellison around the issue, Zogby said. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, is scheduled as a mainstage speaker and was also on the Palestinian rights panel. He has been a longtime advocate for Palestinian rights, which made him a political target during his unsuccessful bid for Democratic National Committee chair in 2017.

Ellison has been a vocal supporter of Walz’s vice presidential bid, which in recent weeks has included praise of the Minnesota governor on national TV spots.