After disbanding last week during the Democratic National Convention, the “Muslim Women for Harris-Walz” group is back urging the Muslim community to vote for the Democratic ticket this November.
“When we started this group, we did so with the intent to highlight clear policy difference between Vice President Harris’s campaign, the actions of the Biden administration and, most significantly, the impending danger of a second Trump administration,” the campaign wrote in a statement. “With less than 70 days until the November election, we have to be honest with ourselves about what is at stake here for Muslim women.”
The Muslim Women for Harris-Walz group originally disbanded last week after the Uncommitted National Movement said it was told a Palestinian American speaker couldn’t address the DNC.
Uncommitted delegates began a sit-in outside the United Center in Chicago on Wednesday night after being informed that their request for a speaking slot had been denied. Abbas Alawieh, a delegate from Michigan and co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, told reporters that he received a call from a convention official on Wednesday, who said: “Abbas, the answer is no.”
Protesters held rallies outside of the DNC throughout the entire week in support of Palestinians.
Muslim Women for Harris-Walz said on social media last week that it could not continue its efforts to elect Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, after the decision to deny a Palestinian American speaker time on the convention’s main stage.
The movement emerged during Democratic primary contests when those angry over the Biden administration’s backing of Israel’s war in Gaza were encouraged to deny the president their support by voting “uncommitted.”
“We cannot in good conscience, continue Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, in light of this new information from the Uncommitted movement, that VP Harris’ team declined their request to have a Palestinian American speaker take the stage at the DNC,” the group said in a statement posted on Instagram.
At the DNC last week, Vice President Kamala Harris said she will stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself because no one should have to go through a terrorist attack. She noted, however, that Palestinians have faced “devastation” over the last ten months. Harris said she will equally fight for their right to self-determination.
“With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is time for a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal,” Harris said.
Vice President Kamala Harris lost and regained the support of Muslim Women for Harris-Walz all within a week. Protesters are still urging her, however, to step up
AP
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is soon going into its eleventh month after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people in Israel and saw some 250 people taken hostage. About half were released during a weeklong ceasefire in November.
Israel has since launched an offensive in response. At least 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, The Associated Press reported, citing the Gaza Health Ministry, but many more dead are feared buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed in airstrikes.
Now back together, Muslim Women for Harris-Walz did still note that “the promise of a big tent is an empty one without the inclusion of Palestinian Americans in 2024 and beyond.”
They are calling on the campaign to invite state Rep. Ruwa Romman, as a Palestinian American, to join Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz during their bus tour in Georgia. The group is also looking for Harris and Walz to meet with Muslim women and “make abundantly clear that even our allies are not above international law.”
“As a result of the November elections, we will either have Kamala Harris or Donald Trump as our next President, and we pray for the sake of all of us here and abroad, that it is Kamala Harris,” the group said. “In order to see progress on Gaza, other Foreign Policy issues, and on domestic issues here at home, we must join together to help elect VP Kamala Harris.”
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