‘Learn a lesson’
How Gaza genocide shaped 2024 US elections
George Helmy, a Democratic senator and a member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Al-Jazeera on Wednesday that the war in Gaza contributed to Kamala Harris’s loss of the state of Michigan. Earlier, official results from the state, home to hundreds of thousands of Arab-Americans, indicated that approximately 110,000 votes went to candidates other than Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The voting patterns of Arabs and Muslims and their allies suggest that Gaza played a major role in decisive votes in some American states.
By Romana Rubeo
Columnist
Case of Michigan
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris lost Michigan, a crucial swing state, where votes from Arab and Muslim communities proved influential.
Republican candidate Donald Trump claimed Michigan’s 15 electoral votes. Many American Muslims in the state expressed frustration with the Biden-Harris administration’s unwavering support for Israel amid the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
According to The Associated Press, with 99% of precincts reporting, Trump gained 49.8 % of votes in the key state, while Harris received 48.3%. Green Party candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, gained 0.8%, absorbing some of the dissatisfaction among Arab communities.
For example, in the city of Dearborn, which is considered the ‘capital’ of the Arab American community, Jill Stein garnered an impressive 18.37%.
In addition to her support for Israel, Harris’s campaign appeared to suffer from other choices or mistakes.
Last August, for instance, she refused to have a Muslim or Arab speaker at the Democratic National Convention.
Two weeks ago, former US president Bill Clinton was sent by the Democratic Party to rally support for Harris. However, Clinton faced wide criticism for remarks justifying Palestinian civilian casualties, claiming that Hamas “forced” Israel into such actions.
“I understand why young Palestinians and Arab Americans in Michigan think too many people have died. I get that,” Clinton said addressing Arab-American voters.
“But if you lived in one of those kibbutzim in Israel right next to Gaza, where the people there were the most pro-friendship with Palestine, most pro-two-state solution of any of the Israeli communities — were the ones right next to Gaza. And Hamas butchered them,” he continued.
In an attempt to engage with “leaders of the Arab-American community,” Harris herself headed to Michigan, and vowed to do “everything in her power to end the war”.
Yet, voters appeared skeptical of her commitment. While acknowledging the “suffering in Gaza,” she reiterated, once again, that she must “ensure Israel is secure”.
Demands rejected
US voters opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza openly declared that they would not support the Democratic party and the outgoing administration, which provided Israel a record $17.9 billion in military aid during the first year of the war, according to a report from Brown University’s Costs of War Project.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Arab American activist Adam Abusalah stated that Harris’s campaign disregarded warnings from the community.
“We’ve been warning the Democrats for over a year now, and the Democrats continue to downplay what’s going on,” he was quoted as saying.
Just a few days before election day, a report published in The Intercept noted:
“After months of protests on the streets and organizing within the Democratic party, Kamala Harris’s campaign has not shown signs it will stray from the Biden administration’s steadfast support for Israel amid its genocidal war in Gaza and invasion into Lebanon.”
The Intercept interviewed “voters who are horrified by the ongoing US support for Israel’s war” and found out that “each voter(…) had demanded of Biden, and now Harris, an immediate, permanent cease-fire, and an end to the US policy of unconditional military aid to Israel”.
“The rejection of such demands have left voters uneasy about their choices,” the report stated.
Exception: Rashida Tlaib
Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib won re-election in Michigan’s 12th congressional district, securing her fourth term as the only Palestinian-American woman in the US House of Representatives.
The Associated Press declared her victory early, with only 18 percent of precincts reporting. Tlaib garnered a remarkable 77 percent of the vote, while her Republican challenger, James Hooper, only received 19 percent.
Notably, Tlaib was the only member of the so-called ‘Squad ’ not to endorse the Democrat candidate.
Tlaib has been outspoken in her criticism of the Democratic Party’s stance on the ongoing genocide, stating that it was “hard not to feel invisible” when the party chose not to include a Palestinian-American speaker at its convention.
“Our trauma and pain feel unseen and ignored by both parties,” she said in an interview with former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan at the time. “One party uses our identity as a slur, and the other refuses to hear from us. Where is the shared humanity? Ignoring us won’t stop the genocide.”
‘Learn a lesson’
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, issued a statement on Wednesday calling for Democratic leaders to “learn lessons from Vice President Harris’s loss of support among Muslims and other voters opposed to the Gaza genocide.”
“It is important for Democratic and other elected officials to recognize that Vice President Harris’ steep drop in support in key states compared to President Biden’s 2020 victory resulted, in part, from the deep frustration and disillusionment that many young, Muslim, Arab, Black, and other voters feel with the Biden-Harris administration due to its steadfast financial and military support for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the statement said.
“Rather than listening to the clear majority of American who support both a cease-fire and a suspension of weapons to Israel, Vice President Harris only struck a slightly more sympathetic tone toward Palestinians while sticking with the substance of President Biden’s disastrous stance.”
“This led to an unprecedented shift of support from Muslim, Arab, and other communities who traditionally vote for Democratic presidents,” the statement concluded.
The article first appeared on The Palestine Chronicle.