DNC hosts first ever panel on Palestinian human rights
“Uncommitted” movement co-founders Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh called the panel discussion “an important step.”
Pro-Palestinian and anti-war demonstrators march outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
Organizers behind the national “uncommitted” movement are commending a decision to host an official panel discussion on Palestinian rights Monday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The movement began as the “Listen to Michigan” campaign to get 10,000 uncommitted votes in the state’s Democratic presidential primary in February, in protest of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The uncommitted campaign wildly exceeded expectations in Michigan, picking up more than 13% of the votes in the Democratic race, or roughly 101,000 votes.
“The Muslim community, not just in Michigan, but in nearly every state, is more active, more involved than ever before,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellsion told WDET before participating in Monday’s panel discussion. “Not just as candidates, but as people who are doing fundraising; people who are doing communications; I mean, Bernie Sanders campaign manager was a Muslim, right? So the Muslim community has stronger political muscles than ever before, and is making itself heard.”
Others on the panel, like pediatric intensive care surgeon Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan — who recently returned from serving in Gaza — say the Harris-Walz ticket needs to hear the cries of the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed during the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
“We feel like the only way to protect and preserve human life is to put political pressure at this point.”
-Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, pediatric physician in Gaza and DNC panelist
“I was asked to be here to provide moral witness to the delegates of the Democratic National Convention, the civilian casualties that I myself witnessed while I was there, the entire families that were exterminated, health care workers, humanitarian workers, that have been killed in unprecedented numbers, child amputees, record numbers of child amputees, all the children who had survived and arrived injured at the hospital with no surviving family,” Haj-Hassan told WDET. “I myself treated several children who would fall into that category. And for these children, they would often die in our arms in the emergency department without any family around to comfort them, because their family were killed in the same attack, and without anybody to bury them once they were dead…it was honestly, completely, utterly devastating.
“So we feel like the only way to protect and preserve human life is to put political pressure at this point. The unconditional ongoing funding of the U.S. for this military campaign, it starkly contrasts with the documented realities on the ground, with the findings by the International Court of Justice — a plausible genocide — and with universal global condemnation from every human rights and humanitarian organization, saying ‘This has to stop.'”
Haj-Hassan says everyone in her immediate family and friends circle are “very afraid of a Trump presidency,” however, she says, “we have red lines for what we will support in a party that we’re going to vote for, and genocide is one of those lines.”
“If the Harris-Walz platform wants to win, then they’re going to need to start listening to all of these voters, and I hope they also start listening to their conscience, because I don’t know how you’d sleep at night knowing that you’re funding this,” she said.
In a statement from uncommitted movement co-founders Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh, they called the panel “an important step toward recognizing the rightful place of human rights advocates for Palestinian rights within the Democratic Party.”
“Our focus remains on policy change,” the statement read. “Vice President Harris has an opportunity to unite the party against Trump this week by turning the page towards a human rights policy that saves lives and helps us re-engage key voters for whom Gaza is a top issue.”
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators were gathered outside the DNC on Monday, with some breaking through a security fence near the convention site. However, the protests have been mostly peaceful.
Elabed and Alewieh say they have formally requested that Haj-Hassan and a Palestinian American be granted speaking time on the convention stage this week to share their plight.
Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
