Natives for Palestine, “We understand genocide”

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By Neely Bardwell

August 21, 2024

CHICAGO — On the first day of the Democratic National Convention, Monday August 19, Democrats For Palestinian Human Rights held a panel to hear from organizers, humanitarians and elected officials who are working to accomplish a ceasefire in Gaza. Native people have shown their support for those suffering in Gaza.

[Trigger warning: talk of genocide and graphic descriptions of injuries.]

Organization Not Another Bomb! have garnered support from DNC delegates for a permanent ceasefire. They are calling themselves Ceasefire Delegates. At the panel, speaker Layla Elabed, co-founder of Uncommitted, a movement urging voters to vote uncommitted as a way to pressure elected officials, asked Ceasefire Delegates to stand. Over 50 people in the room stood up.  

Gabriella Cázares-Kelly (Tohono O’odham Nation) was a speaker for the second panel during Monday’s DNC Native American Caucus meeting and spoke to the importance of Indigenous people supporting Indigenous people everywhere, including Gaza. She is the Pima County, AZ Recorder, a former public school educator, and one of four women who co-founded Indivisible Tohono, an organization that provides education and civic-engagement opportunities for members of her tribe. 

“As survivors of genocide, Indigenous people know firsthand that the government can make mistakes, and they can do that with policy, and they can do that with weapons,” said Cázares-Kelly. “We have the opportunity to do something, and if we can't push past that, what are we fighting for?”

Keith Ellison, Minnesota Attorney General and previous U.S. Representative, was the moderator for the panel discussing the Palestinian-Isreali conflict. During his time in Congress, he visited Palestine and Israel thirteen times. 

“We have this situation where on October 7, 1200 Israelis were killed or captured, and now 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children. Everyone has been displaced,” said Ellison. 

The Israeli attacks on Gaza have resulted in the direct death of 40,000 Palestianians which is 2 percent of Gaza’s population. Accounting for indirect deaths, experts estimate the numbers are much higher, around 186,000, nearly 10 percent of the population. 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza have been internally displaced, as stated on the Ceasefire Delegate Fact Sheet handed out for the panel. 

Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, pediatric surgeon who served in Gaza, shared two heart wrenching stories of her time as a doctor in Gaza. She has been helping in Gaza in the West Bank for over 10 years as a part of a team of doctors and surgeons from Oxford University.  

“Every single one of us, many of us, have worked in many wars before, and we have never seen anything so egregious, so atrocious,” said Haj-Hassan. “I received a young boy to the emergency department during one of the mass casualties who had half of his face and neck missing… He kept asking for his sister. His sister was in the bed next to him. The majority of her body was burned beyond recognition. He didn't recognize that the girl in the bed next sister, his entire family, parents and the rest of the siblings were killed in the same attack that boy survived.”

Dr. Haj-Hassan explained she visited him later, and he, to the best of his ability, told her “I wish I had died too…Everybody I love is now in heaven. I don't want to be here anymore.”

In April, Congress passed a supplemental funding bill that gave $16.5 billion in military aid to Israel in addition to the $3.8 billion given annually. As for the weapons being used against Palestianians, 69 percent of them have been provided by the United States. 

With the unwavering protests outside the DNC and other ongoing protests and boycotts, support for a permanent ceasefire and arms embargo have increased among voters. A poll conducted in three key swing states, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona, by YouGov found that voters were more likely to vote for Harris if she publicly supported an arms embargo. Nearly 1,500 likely Democratic and independent voters were polled.

In Pennsylvania, 34 percent of voters polled said they would be more likely to vote for Harris compared to the 7 percent who indicated they would be less likely to vote for her. In Arizona and Georgia the numbers are similar, with 35 percent more likely in Arizona and 39 percent in Georgia. 

“My office doesn't create legislation. My office has to do with voter registration and early voting. My office would never need to have any type of policy surrounding that. However, I am a political figure, and I am somebody who is in the public light, and somebody who is handed a microphone and on stage, and I need to use that opportunity and talk about it,” Cázares-Kelly said. “For those who don't have a microphone, call the people who have the microphone. Call your representatives and make noise about this.”

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About The Author

Author: Neely BardwellEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neely Bardwell (descendant of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian) is a staff reporter for Native News Online. Bardwell is also a student at Michigan State University where she is majoring in policy and minoring in Native American studies.