‘Stop Arming Israel’: How a Florida woman disrupted Biden’s DNC speech
Nadia Ahmad’s plan to disrupt President Joe Biden’s Democratic National Convention speech essentially came in three parts.
She would wrap a banner around her body like a bed sheet so security would see it as clothing. She would position herself toward the back of the Florida delegation’s box inside the United Center to avoid stirring attention when she made her move. And she would hang on to the sign — which read “Stop Arming Israel” — for as long as she could until it was inevitably ripped away.
The Florida delegate’s strategy to protest the president’s Israel policy on a national stage was largely a success in that it caught attention and ruffled feathers.
What she says she didn’t expect was the volatile reaction of some Democrats around her.
“I wasn’t really nervous. I was [only] nervous about getting caught before. But I felt like I took sufficient precautions to prevent that from happening,” Ahmad told the Miami Herald. “I didn’t expect that delegate guests who were in club suites behind me would be hitting me in the head with ‘I love Joe Biden’ signs.”
When Ahmad and two other delegates unfurled the banner, painted in Palestinian colors, DNC staffers quickly distributed more vertical “We love Joe” placards to block its view. Some seated above her shouted down at her with contempt. And at least one man, as seen in video captured by an Intercept reporter, hit her on the head with a sign.
“They’re up there talking about fascism and like hitting me on the head with ‘I love Joe’ signs. That’s not a good look,” Ahmad said.
A spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party did not respond to an inquiry on how staffers handled the protest.
The moment — which lasted several minutes before the banner was ripped away — encapsulates the biggest political intraparty tension point as Democrats convene in Chicago.
Israel’s war in Gaza, now in its tenth month, has divided the party. Polls show a majority of Democrats continue to oppose Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, with more Democrats disapproving of how Biden has handled the war.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators participated in a rally and marched on the Democratic National Convention on Monday. The convention also held its first-ever panel on Palestinian rights on Monday, including testimony from those who witnessed horrific civilian deaths in Gaza.
In his speech that evening, Biden acknowledged their presence and underlined his hope to lock in a lasting ceasefire.
“The protesters out in the street, they have a point,” the president said. “A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”
He said a peace treaty is closer to becoming a reality than any time since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack.
READ MORE: This Florida man was a diehard Trump supporter. He’s now backing Kamala Harris at the DNC
A dissenter’s viewpoint
But Ahmad, a law professor from Orlando, said she is tired of lip service and will only measure politicians by their actions. That’s why she voted “present” in her vote for the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I’m not there to go around with pom poms for her. She has to earn the vote,” Ahmad said of Harris. “It’s not so much what I’d like to hear. It’s what I’d like to see. I’d like to see the ceasefire happening. I don’t want to hear something, I want to see action.”
When asked if she believes Harris will outline a more pro-Palestinian approach to the war in the Middle East, Ahmad said, “I think she will, but I don’t know how much more.”
It’s an open question how detailed Harris will get on the Israel-Palestinian conflict in her speech Thursday night — and that’s exactly why Ahmad felt it was important to raise the plight of Gaza during a presidential address with a competitive White House race about to enter the homestretch.
She’s heard from fellow Democrats that she picked the wrong time and place to send a message, but Ahmad has no regrets.
“I elevated the issue,” she said. “It’s an issue they can’t ignore. They can’t not talk about it.”
This story was originally published August 20, 2024 at 6:09 PM with the headline "‘Stop Arming Israel’: How a Florida woman disrupted Biden’s DNC speech."
