“Learn a Lesson”: How the Gaza Strip Genocide Affected the 2024 US Elections

Romana Rubeo

Voting patterns among Arab Muslims and their allies suggest that Gaza played an important role in crucial elections in some American states.

George Helmy, a Democratic senator and member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the war in the Gaza Strip contributed to Kamala Harris’ loss of Michigan.

Earlier, official results from the state, home to hundreds of thousands of Arab Americans, showed that about 110,000 votes went to candidates other than Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

Voting patterns among Arab Muslims and their allies suggest that Gaza played an important role in crucial elections in some American states.

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Michigan case

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris lost Michigan, a crucial swing state where the votes of Arab and Muslim communities have proven influential.

Republican candidate Donald Trump received Michigan’s 15 electoral votes. Many American Muslims in the state have expressed frustration with the Biden-Harris administration’s unwavering support for Israel amid the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip.

With 99% of precincts reporting, Trump won 49.8% of the vote in the key state and Harris 48.3%, according to the Associated Press. Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein won 0.8%, absorbing some of the discontent among Arab communities.

For example, in the city of Dearborn, which is considered the capital of the Arab-American community, Jill Stein collected impressive 18.37%.

Beyond her support for Israel, Harris’ campaign appears to have suffered from some other options.

“Israel is forced to kill civilians in Gaza” – Clinton’s remarks caused outrage

For example, last August she refused have a Muslim or Arab speaker at the Democratic National Convention.

Last week, the Democratic Party dispatched former US President Bill Clinton to drum up support for Harris. However, Clinton has faced widespread criticism for remarks justifying Palestinian civilian casualties, claiming that Hamas “forced” Israel to take such action.

“I understand why young Palestinians and Arab Americans in Michigan think too many people have died. I understand that,” Clinton said, addressing Arab American voters.

“But if you lived in one of these kibbutzim in Israel next to the Gaza Strip, where the people were the most pro-friendship with Palestine, the most pro-two-state solution of all the Israeli communities – those would be the ones near Gaza. And Hamas slaughtered them,” he continued.

In an attempt to engage with “leaders in the Arab-American community,” Harris headed to Michigan herself and vowed to do “everything in her power to end the war.”

Voters, however, appeared skeptical of her commitment. While acknowledging the “suffering in Gaza,” she reiterated that she must “keep Israel safe.”

“I will always defend Israel” – Kamala Harris affirms “Israel’s right to self-defense”

Claims rejected

US voters opposed to Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip have openly said they will not support the Democratic Party and the outgoing administration, which provided Israel with a record $17.9 billion in military aid in the first year of the war, according to a Brown University report, “The Cost of War.” Project.

Arab American activist Adam Abusala told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the Harris campaign had ignored public warnings.

“We’ve been warning Democrats for over a year now, and Democrats continue to downplay what’s happening,” he was quoted as saying.

Just days before Election Day, the report published The Intercept noted that “after months of protesting in the streets and organizing within the Democratic Party, Kamala Harris’ campaign has shown no signs of moving away from the Biden administration’s strong support for Israel amid its genocidal war in Gaza and invasion of Lebanon.”

The Intercept interviewed “voters who are horrified by continued U.S. support for Israel’s war” and found that “every voter (…) demanded Biden, and now Harris, an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to American policy of unconditional military aid Israel.”

“The rejection of such requirements made voters uneasy about their choices,” the report said.

Exception: Rashida Tlaib

Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib won re-election to Michigan’s 12th Congressional District, securing her fourth term as the only Palestinian-American woman in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Associated Press declared her victory early, with only 18 percent of polling stations reporting it. Tlaib won an impressive 77 percent of the vote, while her Republican challenger James Hooper received just 19 percent.

Notably, Tlaib was the only member of the so-called “squad” not to endorse the Democratic candidate.

Tlaib has been an outspoken critic of the Democratic Party’s stance on ongoing genocide, saying it was “hard not to feel invisible” when the party decided not to include a Palestinian-American speaker at its convention.

“Our trauma and pain seems invisible and ignored by both sides,” she said in an interview with former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan at the time. “One side uses our identity as an insult, and the other refuses to hear us. Where is the common humanity? Ignoring us will not stop the genocide.”

“The future is stolen”: Tlaib presented to the US Congress a list of children killed in the Gaza Strip

“Learn a Lesson”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy organization, issued a statement Wednesday calling on Democratic leaders to “learn lessons from Vice President Harris’ loss of support among Muslims and other voters opposed to the Gaza Strip.” genocide”.

“It is important that Democrats and other elected officials recognize that the sharp drop in support for Vice President Harris in key states compared to President Biden’s victory in 2020 is partly the result of the deep frustration and disillusionment felt by many young Muslim, Arab, and Black people.” And other voters share the sentiments of the Biden-Harris administration over its continued financial and military support for Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

“Instead of listening to the clear majority of Americans who support both a ceasefire and a suspension of arms sales to Israel, Vice President Harris has only struck a slightly more sympathetic tone toward the Palestinians while sticking to the core of President Biden’s disastrous position,” added to it.

“This has led to an unprecedented shift in support from Muslim, Arab and other communities that traditionally vote for Democratic presidents,” the statement said.

(Palestine Chronicle)