In a briefing for foreign press at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday, former House speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back at the idea that a Palestinian speaker should have been given an official speaking slot.
A Qatari reporter asked Pelosi—arguably her party’s most powerful leader and among those who reportedly convinced U.S. President Joe Biden not to seek re-election—why the so-called “Uncommitted” movement that is pushing for anti-Israel Democratic policy changes wasn’t invited onto the dais.
Critics of the Jewish state have charged that the Palestinian cause has been largely ignored within the United Center, although protesters have made their voices heard, at times violently, outside the convention. On Wednesday, the parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin delivered a powerful speech during the event.
Pelosi told the Qatari reporter that many official speakers had the opportunity to voice their support for and concern about Palestinians.
“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, who has been calling, even today, for a ceasefire,” Pelosi said of Shawn Fein. “He could have brought it up.”
The union has endorsed Harris but has consistently demanded a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and demanded on Thursday to have a Palestinian DNC speaker.
Pelosi added that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a member of the progressive “Squad” of far-left, anti-Israel members of Congress, is “advocating for what you’re advocating.”
“She could have spoken in her remarks about this,” Pelosi said.
The only reference that AOC made to the Israel-Hamas war during her speech on Monday was to Harris “working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bring the hostages home.”
Pelosi also noted that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has frequently denounced the Israeli government, only mentioned the war briefly when he spoke on Tuesday night.
“We must end this horrific war in Gaza,” Sanders said, pausing for applause. “Bring home the hostages and demand an immediate cease-fire,” he added.
“We don’t have every nationality in America speak at a convention,” Pelosi told reporters.
The California Democrat also pushed back on a reporter’s question about Washington continuing to transfer weapons to the Jewish state while also calling for a ceasefire.
“There was a ceasefire on Oct. 7,” Pelosi said. “Hamas broke that ceasefire.”
“We’re working tirelessly with our partners, including Qatar and the Netanyahu government, to get a ceasefire deal reached,” she added.
‘Space to do the right thing’
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also briefed foreign reporters on Thursday.
JNS asked the outgoing senator, who is Jewish, if he was surprised at how warmly the hostage parents were received at the convention and whether that reception suggests that reports of the Democratic Party being divided on Israel are overblown.
“I don’t think there’s any division at all among Democrats or Americans that the hostages need to be released,” Cardin told JNS. “The Polin family is just one example.”
Cardin has spent time with the Polin family during his time in Chicago. “Every time we’re together, the receptions have been extremely supportive of getting the hostages released,” he said.
JNS also asked Cardin about his committee, whose work has been stalled while Republicans insist that Democrats support sanctions on the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The committee has been unable to mark up bills or advance ambassador nominations while Republicans try to force the hands of Democrats on the issue.
Cardin told JNS that the actions of the court, in The Hague, are inappropriate, and he noted that the ICC’s policy is only to intercede when a nation’s judiciary system can’t or won’t investigate major crimes.
“If you have a comparable judicial system, then you need to yield and let the host country deal with the issues first,” he said.
The senator also said that the case shouldn’t have moved forward, since Israel isn’t a member of the ICC.
“We’ve expressed ourselves on that. The Biden administration has expressed itself in regards to the ICC,” he said. “The question is, what can we do about that?”
Cardin is working with Democrats and Republicans in his role as committee chair to “try to get the ICC to back down and allow Israel to move forward with their own independent investigations.”
“We thought we were moving in that direction when there was action taken,” he said.
Cardin said Democrats are trying to give the ICC “some space in order to do the right thing.”
“We’ll see whether they do it or not, but we are trying to be effective in getting the right results,” he said.
There is, however, very little that Congress could do directly that would be positive in that regard, other than continue to express our strong position,” he admitted.