Amid anger over Israel, Harris courts Arab and Muslim voters. Will it work?
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is attempting to win support in American Arab and Muslim communities before the elections next month despite claiming to have unwavering support for Israel in the wake of the country’s ongoing conflict in Gaza and Lebanon.
The US vice president and her team have been holding meetings with “community leaders” from Muslim and Arab “community leaders” in recent weeks while receiving support from Muslim organizations and individuals affiliated with her Democratic Party.
However, many supporters contend that nothing will improve her standing with Arab and Muslim voters as long as Harris keeps her pledge to support Israel and rejects President Joe Biden’s unwavering support for the US ally.
Additionally, Harris and her top national security adviser’s private meetings have been criticized as being unreliable and not representative of the communities Harris’ campaign claims it is aiming to touch.
According to Laura Albast, a Palestinian American activist in the Washington, DC, area, “she maintains campaigning on trends and memes rather than impactful policy,” “she’s only been paraded by Harris’ campaign as mere tokens for the Democratic Party.”
She claimed that because someone shook Harris’ hand and appeared to be “insanity,” voters might be inclined to support US-backed atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon.
Meetings
Just weeks before the November 5 elections, Harris’ campaign to reach out to Arab and Muslim voters comes as Israel’s military assaults on Gaza and Lebanon are growing, causing anger and fear in these areas.
Community members have been pressing the vice president to back off from Biden and impose conditions on Israeli military assistance to put pressure on Israel to put an end to its assault on the Gaza Strip for months.
Harris, however, has refrained from making those calls. Her campaign turned down requests to have a Palestinian American speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
And this week, she sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss how the US administration “ironically” supported Israel.
On Sunday, Harris met with Arab and Muslim rights advocates in Flint, north of Detroit, Michigan, a significant battleground state with significant Arab populations. Days earlier, her top national security adviser held a similar meeting virtually.
A Lebanese American political consultant in the Detroit region, Hussein Dabajeh, criticized the lack of transparency at these gatherings.
He said the Harris campaign is “afraid” to have an open dialogue with representatives of the community, so it is reverting to behind-closed-doors discussions to appear like it is listening to Arab and Muslim Americans.
He emphasized that the Democratic Party’s attempt to portray its candidate as inclusive and caring is primarily aimed at the wider electorate rather than Arabs and Muslims.
“It’s a meeting just to check off the headline. There’s no actual substance behind it”, Dabajeh told Al Jazeera.
“It’s unfortunate that the people I’m meeting with now think these fake meetings will continue to take place despite our people being massacred for a year.”
Prior to his withdrawing from the race for president, the Biden administration and campaign held similar meetings that failed to raise his profile among American Arabs and Muslims or quell the outcry over his support for the Gaza war.
Israel receives at least $3.8 billion in military aid each year, and the Biden administration has authorized $1.4 billion in additional aid to its ally to help pay for the ongoing war.
‘ Critical times ‘
Emgage, a Muslim American political advocacy organization, was one of the groups that did attend the Flint meeting.
In a statement, the group called on Vice President Harris to do everything in her power, should she win, to end the war and restore US policy in the area.
The organization and the Muslim community were also reaffirmed in an email that “the crisis that has severely damaged our communities’ well-being at home and is now extending to a broader regional war”
Deputy Wayne County Executive Assad Turfe, who lost family members during Israel’s 2006 war in Lebanon, also attended the meeting.
Vice President Harris and I spoke about this deeply personal loss. In a social media post, he wrote that “we need her leadership right now to put an end to the violence.” “I sincerely hope her administration will respond to this request with all the necessary relief and action that we all desire.”
He claimed that he raised the need for immediate humanitarian assistance for displaced people in Lebanon and the need for US citizens trapped there.
We may not all agree on a strategy in these difficult times, but we must still work together to end this conflict and offer immediate relief to the people of Lebanon and Gaza! We must push for good deeds, according to Turfe, in order to save lives and restore hope and dignity to those who are suffering.
Harris endorsement
Several people were offended when Emgage announced late last month that it was backing Harris’ campaign for president, just days into Israel’s devastating bombing campaign in Lebanon, which has already destroyed a lot of the nation.
The group, which almost exclusively endorses Democrats and is led by figures who have worked in Democratic administrations, argued that the endorsement is rooted in preventing the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, from winning.
In a statement, it stated that “this endorsement is not an agreement with Vice President Harris on all issues, but rather an honest advice to our voters regarding the difficult choice they make at the polls.”
Emgage praised the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to hire Muslim Americans for federal positions.
Some supporters view the vice president’s nod as misguided and insulting as the conflict rages in Gaza and people flee southern Lebanon as a result of the Biden-Harris administration’s relentless bombardment of civilians.
The mass slaughter of Muslims on a global scale isn’t enough for you to hold your head up high, said Suehaila Amen, a community advocate in Michigan.
Michigan is home to a large Lebanese American population, tens of thousands of whom hail from Lebanon’s southern , villages and towns , that have been largely depopulated and decimated by the Israeli offensive
Emgage and two of its representatives did not respond to Al Jazeera’s numerous requests for comment on the group’s criticism of its position.
Amer Zahr, a Palestinian American activist and comedian, called the Emgage endorsement of Harris a “spit in the face of our community”.
“Emgage has announced that, as far as they are concerned, no amount of massacred Arab children is enough to abandon the Biden-Harris administration”, Zahr told Al Jazeera.
“Genocide is impugneable in order to maintain a Democratic ticket,” said Emgage. Their openly and proudly states that obtaining federal appointments triumphs over repeatedly vetoing ceasefire resolutions, proud declarations of Zionism, and tens of thousands of Arab bodies hidden under rubble.
Harris’s position
Separately from the Emgage endorsement, 25 Muslim imams and community figures – mostly from Georgia and the Washington, DC, area – penned a joint statement last week backing the vice president.
They praised Harris for speaking out against “the devastating loss of life in Gaza and the unfolding humanitarian crisis” in the endorsement, which was first reported by NBC News. But the authors avoided any mention of the vice president’s support for the Israeli offensive, which they described as a “genocide”.
She traveled to and met with regional leaders to make it clear that the US would pursue a two-state solution and how Gaza would be rebuilt, according to the statement. She also made it clear that international humanitarian law must be upheld.
The suffering in Gaza has been criticized by a number of Biden administration officials.
For example, Secretary of State Antony Blinken , said he sees his “own children” in the eyes of Palestinian children enduring displacement and bombardment.
Despite recent US  and media reports, Blinken defied assessments from various US officials by confirming that Israel was not stopping Gaza from receiving humanitarian aid. This decision made it possible for the US to continue to give arms to its allies.
And Harris avoids giving Israel credit when talking about the atrocities in Gaza, like Blinken did when he talked about Palestinian pain.
Moreover, Harris often stresses that her support for Israel is “unwavering”. She has been a member of a government that has overseen the brutal conflict in Gaza, and she has recently welcomed the rise of Israel in Lebanon.
When asked recently what she would have changed about Biden, Harris responded that she had been a part of the White House’s decision-making process on the most pressing issues.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved three proposals calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
This week, Harris described Iran – not Russia or China – as America’s “greatest adversary”, a position that further aligns her with the Netanyahu government.
Political agenda
Given Harris’s record and the equally staunch support for Israel of her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, as well as his anti-immigrant rhetoric, many Arab and Muslim voters feel frustrated with the two-party , political system in the US.
On Monday, the Abandon Harris campaign, a Michigan-based Muslim group that says it aims to hold the Democratic administration “accountable for the Gaza genocide”, endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein for president.
The Muslim-American community is one of the country’s most important populations, and our movement continues to make sure that the American people understand that we are a part of fighting against oppression and using all of our resources to stop genocide wherever it occurs, according to a statement from the organization.
“On the precipice of the election, we endorse Jill Stein”.
Jill Stein and Butch Ware are supported by the Abandon Harris Campaign for the 2024 Presidential Election.
“The path to justice is long, painful, and difficult, but it is ours to pave and follow”. pic. twitter.com/XgZv5OUB1m
Stein has hardly any chance of winning the presidency, but recent polls have revealed that she has seen a rise in support in both Arab and Muslim communities, in part due to her support for Palestinian rights.
Trump has also seen his numbers improve in Arab and Muslim communities, and last month, he was endorsed by the Yemeni American mayor of Hamtramck, a Muslim-majority city in southeast Michigan.
Recent campaigning has sparked debates about the status and interests of American Arab and Muslim communities, whose members have culturally similar beliefs and practices but are not monolithic.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee stated in a statement on Sunday that “we unequivocally condemn those in our community who continue to use the blood of Arabs for their political agenda.”
