Pelosi defends exclusion of Palestinian American speaker at DNC

‘We don't have every nationality in our country speak at a convention,’ former House speaker says

WASHINGTON:

Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday defended the Democratic Party’s decision to ​​refuse a speaking slot to a Palestinian American speaker at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois.

 

“We don't have every nationality in our country speak at a convention. We have every cause that we want to be represented, or people representing those causes, but they had plenty of opportunity to express what you just expressed,” Pelosi said in response to a reporter’s question about her party’s refusal to allow a Palestinian American speaker on the convention’s main stage.

“There were several people who spoke at this convention. One of them was the head of the United Auto Workers, a great and respected labor leader in our country. His union is calling, even today, for a cease-fire (in Gaza),” she said during a press briefing by the State Department’s Foreign Press Center in Chicago.

“Alexandria (Ocasio-Cortez), one of our members, known as AOC, a very respected member of Congress advocating for what you advocated, she could have spoken in her remarks about this.

“(Senator) Bernie Sanders, he wanted all of this. He could have spoken for this,” she added.

The “Uncommitted” delegates at DNC have been advocating for their party to include a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage to address Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

The Uncommitted Movement reportedly proposed several Palestinian American speakers for the convention at Chicago’s United Center, including Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman.

However, on Wednesday evening, the DNC reaffirmed its decision not to include a Palestinian American speaker, sparking a sit-in protest outside the United Center, with the Uncommitted hoping to pressure the DNC to reconsider its decision.

On the other hand, the DNC allowed the parents of an Israeli American hostage, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, to speak on the main stage Wednesday evening.

The Uncommitted Movement has been campaigning across various states in the US, encouraging Democratic voters to select “uncommitted” on their ballots in the primary elections as a way to voice their disapproval of the Biden-Harris administration's policy on Gaza.

The campaign reported that approximately 800,000 voters nationwide have cast "uncommitted" votes.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's war in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children. Vast tracts of the coastal territory have been completely leveled amid relentless Israeli bombardment that has reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble.

Gazans continue to face acute shortages of food, water and medicine due to Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian assistance as well as a significant curtailment of movement for aid convoys once they enter the Strip.

A total of 1,139 people were killed in the cross-border attack led by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which precipitated the current war.