Arab American voters struggle to support Harris over US support for Israel’s war in Gaza

On October 30, 2024By Karl

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — At a Lebanese restaurant near Detroit, tables were piled high with bowls of labneh and za’atar bread, but no one seemed to have much of an appetite.

On one side were senior representatives of Kamala Harris’ Arab American community. On the other hand, local leaders were once again explaining why many people in the community could not vote for the vice president. war in Gaza.

“I love this country, but let me tell you, we’ve never been as disappointed in this country as we are right now,” said Nabih H. Ayad, president of the Arab American Civil Liberties Union. “We wanted to give the Democratic Party the opportunity to do something, but they didn’t.”

Ayad said, “The only line we cannot cross is genocide.”

Nasrina Bargzie and Brenda Abdelal, who were hired by Harris’ campaign to lead Arab and Muslim outreach, listened intently but said little in response.

If Harris loses Michigan and loses next week’s presidential election, conversations like this could explain why. The Detroit area has the nation’s largest concentration of Arab Americans, and Democrats fear Harris will pay a heavy political price for U.S. support for Israel; which rejects claims that its military operations in Gaza constitute genocide.

Community members who normally support Democrats said they faced an impossible decision. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, they are either punishing Harris for what they see as her complicity in the deaths of at least 43,000 Palestinians, or they are enduring the return of Donald Trump to the White House, which they fear will revive discrimination against their community.

A reminder of the complexity of the situation came Monday night in Ann Arbor, where Harris held a campaign rally. Assad Turfe, one of the few Arab American officials in Michigan to support the vice president, said his community needs someone “who sees us, understands us and will express our pain,” adding: “Without a doubt, Kamala Harris Is she the leader?

However, when Harris began her speech, pro-Palestinian protesters shouted, “Israel is bombing, Kamala is paying, how many children did you kill today?” He interrupted him by chanting slogans. Harris responded, “Hey guys, I hear you” and “We all want this war to end as soon as possible.”

It’s unclear how many skeptics Harris can win over, especially given that she hasn’t proposed any concrete change on U.S. policy toward Israel or the war in Gaza. Four years ago, Joe Biden won by a 3-to-1 margin in Dearborn, where nearly half the 110,000 population is of Arab descent. Democrats now worry that some of those voters will go to Trump or third-party candidates like Jill Stein.

“They are divided. “There are people who will vote for Harris knowing they can get a seat at the table,” said U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who organized the final rally at a Lebanese restaurant in an effort to help the Harris campaign. . “But there is a segment of people who will vote for Stein or stay at home. “There is also a minority that will vote for Trump.”

Trump has received a number of endorsements from Muslims in the region, including two Democratic mayors representing Muslim-majority cities outside Detroit. He brought several Muslims onto the stage at a rally in metro Detroit on Saturday.

WRISTWATCH: Comparing where Harris and Trump stand on key foreign policy issues

He argues that he will “put an end to endless wars” and points to the Abraham Accords that Israel signed with many Arab countries during his presidency. He also mocked Harris’ embrace of former Rep. Liz Cheney, a conservative Republican whose father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, was a key force behind the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Harris is campaigning with Liz Cheney in Michigan and elsewhere to rally moderate Republicans rejected by Trump.

But many senior Arab American leaders (even those who have not supported Harris) still have a deeply negative attitude towards Trump, saying his support does not reflect the majority of society. They also recall calls for a “complete and total lockdown” of Muslims entering the country and travel restrictions on visitors from Muslim-majority countries. Some note that Trump suggested he would give Israel more room to attack its rivals in the region.

Harris wins over supporter of ‘no commitment’ movement

Turfe, a Lebanese American and Wayne County’s deputy executive, is among the few Arab American leaders in Michigan to support Harris. This, he says, is what “opens old wounds for the generation that lived through the post-9/11 years” to ensure the community doesn’t return to a Trump presidency.

Turfe said he was shaken awake by immigration officers who came to detain his wife, who came to the country in 2005 when she was 2 years old and was unaware that she did not have legal citizenship.

“That’s why they came and tore my family apart,” he said.

Then in 2006, two of Turfe’s grandmothers were killed in Lebanon, where Israel was fighting Hezbollah in a war supported by President George W. Bush.

Turfe said that until those years, his congregation was predominantly Republican. But members gravitated toward Democrats during Barack Obama’s presidency and then helped Biden defeat Trump in 2020.

These political ties have now been severed.

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping more than 200 hostages. Israel launched its attack soon after, with military and diplomatic support from the Biden administration.

As civilian casualties mount in Gaza, anti-war Democrats in Michigan and elsewhere have launched a protest ballot movement in the Democratic primary. They collected over 100,000 “uncommitted” votes, mostly from Muslim-majority counties like Dearborn.

Turfe was part of the “neutral” movement when Biden was running for re-election, but he said he changed his mind when Harris became the nominee. He endorsed her in August and met with her before a rally near Detroit in October.

He said he told Harris about his grandmothers’ deaths almost two decades ago and “I felt her empathy.”

“He felt my pain,” Turfe said.

Turfe’s support sparked a backlash. Photoshopped images on social media accuse him of supporting the oppression in Gaza. He also received text messages labeling him as a traitor. Longstanding relations in his hometown of Dearborn have become strained.

Dearborn resident Suehaila Amen is used to her community being in the national spotlight, having starred in the 2012 TLC reality series “All-American Muslim.” Amen, a lifelong Democrat, said he would not vote for Harris.

“They want to send their people to come and see how we feel because they are afraid they will lose what is now a volatile province,” said Amen, who lived in Lebanon from 2017 to 2021. “But you know, if he loses, it will be by his own hand, by his own hand, and he will deserve it.”

Amen said he didn’t want Trump to win, but “at the end of the day, I have to sleep at night.”

Harris delivers closing remarks to Arab Americans

Harris made a rare reference to Israel’s fight against Hamas and Hezbollah in a recent speech in Oakland County outside Detroit.

“This year has been very difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon,” he said. He said the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “could and should be a turning point.”

Harris also said she was “proud to have the support” of Turfe and other Muslim leaders.

But Harris has made no calls for reducing the flow of U.S. arms to Israel, and her campaign did not allow a pro-Palestinian speaker to take the stage at the Democratic National Convention in August, a key demand of the “no-commitment” movement.

WRISTWATCH: WATCH LIVE: Harris makes ‘closing arguments’ for her campaign in speech at Ellipse in Washington DC

Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California, spent months in close contact with Arab American leaders in the Detroit metropolitan area and this summer received a “Profile in Courage” award from the Arab American Civil Liberties Union. Khanna is Hindu, but he said his family’s background gives him common experiences with Arab Americans.

At a meeting with Arab American leaders on October 26, Khanna sat next to Harris’ Arab and Muslim outreach directors and acknowledged that Harris had “not done enough” to help end the Israel-Hamas war.

“If Trump is elected, people like me will not be in any room,” Khanna said. “Harris gives people like us a seat at the table to advocate for you.”

That’s the kind of message that resonated with Mike Musheinesh, a Palestinian American who runs his own auto parts store and attended the meeting. He said the community should vote for Harris “even if we have to hold our noses.”

“If we want to have a seat at the table, we have to help it cross the finish line,” he said.

Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.