PNN – Angry Muslim and Arab Americans voters, whose voice of protest against the United States’ support with Israel in the Gaza war, was not heard by the “Joe Biden” administration, are now desperate for any change in the Middle East policy of “Kamala Harris” in her possible administration respond to this indifference and betrayal of the Democratic Party by not supporting Harris at the polls.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, “Kamala Harris”, the final candidate of the Democrats, after the resignation of “Joe Biden”, the President of the United States and the former candidate of this party in the last months leading up to the 2024 elections, entered a tough campaign with “Donald Trump”, the Republican candidate. This issue breathed new life into the body of the Democratic Party, which had previously been under heavy pressure due to the decline in Biden’s popularity and the increase in criticism of his government’s approach to economic management and the inability to end the Gaza war.
Harris’ approach to Gaza
Harris continued to campaign by promising to distance himself from many of the approaches of the Biden administration. One of these promises was to stay away from Biden’s Middle East policies. But what she showed in practice was the continuation of Biden’s way of supporting Israel and ignoring the suffering and sorrow of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Since Harris was named the Democratic nominee in August, the party has missed opportunities to improve its standing with Muslim voters. For example, Palestinian Americans were prevented from speaking at the Democratic National Convention, and more importantly, Harris has so far shown no Middle East policy different from the Biden administration.
Although Harris, as the vice president, has shown a protective tone towards the civilians of Gaza and has spoken several times about the difficult human conditions in this area, but a series of obvious and deep mistakes question her good intentions. For example, the “Non-Aligned National Movement” – the opponents of Biden and Harris regarding Gaza – intended to introduce a Palestinian American or a doctor who volunteered in Gaza to speak at the Democratic National Convention. The end result was the introduction of Ruwa Romman, a veiled Muslim Palestinian-American representative of the state of Georgia, to speak at this political meeting. But despite the fact that the predetermined text of her speech was not very aggressive and enthusiastic support for Harris waved in it, the only emphasis on the need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners in it caused the Democrats to feel threatened and do not issue this presence. It showed just how sensitive the Harris campaign is to even mild expressions of support for Palestinian human rights.
Except for a few cases, the Democratic candidate has avoided speaking directly with Arab Americans, and in those few cases, he has not shown any signs of wanting to change his stance on Israel and the Palestinian issue. He acknowledged the suffering of the Palestinians, but did not mention the perpetrators, as if a tragic natural disaster had occurred for civilians in Gaza. While in reality, these American weapons and the protectionist policies of the Biden administration have created a huge humanitarian crisis in this area. In Detroit, Michigan’s largest city, when Harris was asked about Arab American voters’ anger at Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, she only repeated points from the Biden administration, saying: “The first and saddest story is the story of the October 7 attack.” The declaration of such a position by the Democratic candidate sends this message to Arab and Muslim American voters as if the suffering of the Palestinians is ignored and will not be paid attention to by the possible administration of Harris.
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Trump won Muslim dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party
The disappointment and anger of the American Arab and Muslim community over the failure of the Biden administration to contain the war in Gaza and the lack of clear signs of change in Harris’ electoral behavior has only benefited Republican Donald Trump. Her campaign has campaigned heavily in the Muslim and Arab communities, trying to win the support of its leaders.
Trump’s promise that he will end the war between Israel and Gaza – as well as the war in Ukraine – if he wins the White House, has caught the attention of Muslim and Arab Americans. The Republican nominee has met with Muslim leaders in Michigan several times in recent weeks. On the other hand, the “Pro-Trump Muslims” coalition is forming and working for Trump’s victory in several states.
Trump has won the support of a number of Muslim leaders, including two Democratic mayors who represent Muslim-majority cities. On Saturday this week, he brought several Muslim leaders to the stage at a rally in Detroit, who spoke passionately about Trump’s promise to “end the unfinished wars” and urged their fellow Muslims to vote for Trump to end the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, Trump has held more than 100 meetings with Arab Americans.
Many Muslim and Arab voters complain about why the Democratic Party takes their support in the elections for granted and is unwilling to commit to ending the war in Gaza and holding Israel accountable in order to satisfy this influential group. American Muslims and Arabs believe that this is not just a political reaction, but a resistance to be seen, heard and live with dignity.
In fact, most Muslim voters simply cannot support another four years of a policy they see as complicit in the mass killing of civilians in Gaza. Many of them believe that the Democratic Party should be punished, even if their support for a third-party candidate leads to Trump’s victory and hurts the Democratic Party.
In the most obvious example of the Democrats’ lack of cooperation with the Muslim and Arab community, Harris, the official candidate of this party, avoided trying to reduce the flow of US weapons to Israel. Meanwhile, 77 percent of Muslim and Arab American citizens believe that America should not send weapons to Israel.
What do the polls say?
The vote of American Muslims and Arabs is very important in some crucial states. The group’s vote could be decisive in states like Michigan, which has a significant Arab American population and is one of the seven battleground states. The electoral behavior of this voting block in the state of Georgia as another vital state in the elections is also important and worth considering. According to the report of “Hail” website, it is said that probably more than 150 thousand Arab American and Muslim voters of this state will not participate in the upcoming elections. Roughly 40,000 Muslim voters also live in the swing state of Wisconsin, where the 2020 election was decided by just 20,000 votes, according to census data.
According to a report from ABC News, a poll showed that Trump is slightly ahead of Harris among Arab Americans. Another poll found that American Muslims support Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris almost equally.
This is despite the fact that, according to the survey of Marquette University, Jill Stein, who is committed to ending the genocide in Gaza with the support of 44% of Muslims, Harris with 39% and Trump with 8% more support for this group.
Israel’s attack on Lebanon, Israel’s new problem for the Democrats
With the Zionist regime’s attack on Lebanon, Tim Harris’s little hopes for ending the war in the Middle East have also ended. The Israeli army’s attack on Lebanon on October 1, which has so far killed more than 2,400 people in this country and forced more than a fifth of its residents to leave their homes, puts the Democrats in an awkward position. Because the war they hoped to end has now spread and their closest ally has been the main cause of it by receiving billions of dollars in US military aid.
For Democrats, it is difficult to deny that Harris is complicit with Biden in these two wars that have deliberately targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure. Despite public concerns, the senior officials of the Biden government have launched an invasion of Lebanon with continuous financial and military support to Israel, and on the other hand, they have no ability to confront Israel in removing obstacles to access humanitarian aid.
Lena Manzer, a Lebanese-born author and columnist at the New York Times, says: If you ask Arab Americans what was the most painful issue for you last year, you will hear this answer: We have come to understand the inhuman view of the Democrats towards us to such an extent that we can no longer support this party.
The activism of Palestinian supporters in the 2024 elections; a serious blow to the Democratic Party
Arab and Muslim Americans can play an important role in the victory or defeat of the Democrats in the elections. Dr. Youssef Chouhoud, a political science researcher at the Reiff Center at Christopher Newport University, predicted that If 40 percent of Arab and Muslim voters do not vote or vote for a third party, Harris will lose 44,000 votes in Michigan, 28,000 votes in Pennsylvania and 12,000 votes in Georgia, a significant disadvantage for her campaign.