Arab-American voters see Trump as an ‘extreme danger’

There is widespread opposition among Palestinian rights activists and Arab Americans generally to Biden administration policy in the Middle East. Large numbers of Arab American voters, however, say they will back Harris because they see Trump as posing extreme dangers to Palestinians and to their supporters in the United States.  Jose Luis Magana/AP

The ongoing catastrophe in Gaza and Lebanon is framing painful decisions for how Palestinian Americans, Arab Americans, and both Muslim and Christian Arab Americans will vote on November 5. They are vital voting blocs in most battleground states and could tip a close election.

According to a recent Arab American Institute poll, Arab-American voters are split between Trump or Kamala Harris, 42% to 41%, with 12% voting for a third party. In 2020, 59% of Arab-American voters supported Joe Biden. Voter enthusiasm has also declined, and many may skip the election.

But with so much at stake, many Palestinian-American, Arab-American, and Muslim leaders and activists are endorsing Harris, including Muslim clerics who declared, “Knowingly enabling someone like Donald Trump to return to office, whether by voting directly for him or a third-party candidate, is both a moral and a strategic failure.”

Leaders of the Palestinian, Arab-American, and Muslim communities and allies in Arizona, where approximately 100,000 Arab Americans live, announced their support for Harris despite bitter opposition to Biden administration policies in Gaza.

Create the best conditions

The signers believe her administration would create the best conditions to wage the struggle to end the war and gain Palestinian self-determination and social progress in the U.S.

“Allowing the fascist Donald Trump to become President again would be the worst possible outcome for the Palestinian people,” said the leaders in a statement. “A Trump win would be an extreme danger to Muslims in our country, all immigrants, and the American pro-Palestine movement. It would be an existential threat to our democracy and the whole planet.

“Voting for Harris is not a personal endorsement of her or of the policy decisions of the administration in which she served,” they said. “It’s an assessment of the best possible option to continue fighting for an end to the genocide, a free Palestine, and all else that we hold dear.”

The signers also noted that Harris administration policies would be “shaped by the larger Democratic Party coalition and the growing movement for Palestinian human rights. Many Democrats and allies, including unions, civil rights groups, and progressive organizations, are calling for a ceasefire and a halt to military aid to Israel and are working to elect Harris.”

Harris will likely adjust policies once in office based on her statements and circle of advisors. Until then, she won’t differ significantly from Biden. But she has repeatedly decried the death and destruction in Gaza, called for an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid, the return of the hostages held by Hamas, a two-state solution guaranteeing Palestinian self-determination and security for both Israel and Palestine.

Consequently, she has recouped some of the support Biden lost. But her vote among Arab Americans increases to 60% if she calls for a moratorium on arms shipments to Israel and its withdrawal from Gaza.

The Trump presidency was marked by Christian white nationalism, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism and will again. Among Trump’s first executive orders was the Muslim ban, which sparked a wave of anti-Muslim hate crimes and which Trump vows to restore and expand. Trump also pushed for Muslim Americans and their families to register as enemy aliens.

Trump is wholly aligned with Netanyahu and Israel’s extremist, fascist, pro-settler government. Netanyahu favors Trump and is boosting his campaign by prolonging and widening the war. In turn, Trump would greenlight annexing the West Bank and Gaza, a move supported by one of his mega-donors, Miriam Edelson.

As President, Trump boosted Netanyahu, scrapped the Iranian nuclear deal, supported Israel’s declaration of the disputed city of Jerusalem as its capital, and moved the U.S. Embassy there. He slashed humanitarian aid and USAID programs, impacting infrastructure, economic, and humanitarian projects in Palestine, later restored by the Biden-Harris administration.

The Trump administration also broke with longtime U.S. policy by formally recognizing Israeli territorial gains from the 1967 Six-Day War and Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.

During the campaign, Trump has employed “Palestinian” as a derogatory slur against critics and pledged to deport pro-Palestinian advocates.

Anti-Arab hate was on ugly display at the fascist Trump rally at Madison Square Garden. “They want to kill us. And the Palestinians are taught to kill us at two years old. They won’t let a Palestinian in Jordan. They won’t let a Palestinian in Egypt, and Harris wants to bring them to you!” foamed the disgraced Rudy Giuliani.

Polls show a tossup

In Michigan, Biden won by 154,000 votes in 2020, and polls show a toss-up this year. The state has approximately 170,000 Arab-American voters, primarily in Wayne County, including Detroit, Hamtramck, and Dearborn.

Some Muslim leaders and the Arab-American mayors of Hamtramck and Dearborn Heights support Trump. The “Abandon Harris” group endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein to outright defeat Harris.

“We are desperate for a president who sees us, who understands us, who will give voice to our pain and work to end this war once and for all…Kamala Harris is that leader,” said Wayne County Deputy Executive Assad Turfe, the county’s highest-ranking Arab-American official.

The Uncommitted Movement, which organized 100,000 uncommitted votes in the Democratic Primary, didn’t endorse Harris but urged their supporters not to vote for Trump or Stein, which would help Trump.

“It’s clear to us that Trump is a purveyor of white supremacy preying on the pain of Arab and Muslim-American voters right now,” said Uncommitted Movement co-founder Abbas Alawieh, a Harris supporter. “It’s resonating… because he’s filling a void left by Harris’s absence…and the absence of support for families like my own.”

“We’ve got an anti-war movement in the Democratic party to block Donald Trump and continue our organizing to pressure the Democratic Party to take a stand that doesn’t fund the genocidal actions of Netanyahu,” he said.

Alawieh urged people to combine a vote for Harris with pressure to halt weapons shipments and President Biden to distance himself from the extreme-right Netanyahu government in the campaign’s last days.

Another leader of the Uncommitted Movement, Georgia State Senator Ruwa Romman, was selected to deliver the group’s remarks at the Democratic National Convention, which was denied. Romman supports Harris despite her refusal to support ending the transfer of weapons.

“Voting this year carries a heavier weight, as it feels like choosing between survival and surrender,” said Romman. “It is a reality. I don’t believe there’s anything worse than genocide. But the reality is a second Trump presidency would ensure continued disaster for our community and far too many other allied communities as well.”

“Vote for Vice President Harris not because she represents all of our ideals, but because there is a chance, even slim, that we can push her,” said Romman.

If Harris and Democrats win, “we will wage that fight with more allies among the American people, Congress, and the White House than ever before,” the Arizona community leaders wrote. “If they don’t deliver, we will have a mandate and mass support to hold them accountable through every nonviolent tool of democracy. It’s a difficult path, but the one that offers the most hope.”

“The first step—and our best choice in this horrible situation—is defeating Trump by electing Harris,” they added.

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CONTRIBUTOR

John Bachtell

John Bachtell is president of Long View Publishing Co., the publisher of People's World. He is active in electoral, labor, environmental, and social justice struggles. He grew up in Ohio, where he attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs. He currently lives in Chicago.