(RNS) — A coalition of Muslim Democratic delegates has rejected the Democratic National Convention’s proposed party platform, in particular for not pushing for the U.S. to end military aid to Israel and sanctions on Iran.
The Muslim Delegates and Allies Coalition is urging all delegates to vote against approving the platform during this week’s vote. The coalition was recently formed in hopes of pushing the party to “take more decisive action to improve U.S.-Muslim relations.”
“There are definite inroads that were made in the 2020 platform versus the 2016 platform,” Nadia Ahmad, a delegate from Florida who co-founded the coalition, told Religion News Service. “But since a lot of the delegates in the Muslim coalition were primarily Bernie delegates, a lot of them are very disappointed that there hasn’t been more movement on progressive issues.”
Due to the pandemic, the DNC’s nearly 5,000 delegates will vote electronically on the platform’s language before the actual convention begins on Aug. 17.
The party’s proposed platform “reject(s) the targeting of Muslim, Arab, and other racial and ethnic communities based on their faith and backgrounds at home and abroad.”
