DEARBORN, Michigan — Bowls of labneh and platters of za’atar bread covered the tables at a Lebanese restaurant near Detroit, but no one seemed to have much of an appetite.

On the one hand they were Kamala Harris top emissaries in the Arab-American community. On the other hand there were local leaders who explained – one more time — why many in the community couldn’t vote for the vice president because of the war in Gaza.

“I love this country, but I’m telling you, we’ve never been so disappointed in this country as we are now,” said Nabih H. Ayad, president of the Arab American League for Civil Rights. “We wanted to give the Democratic Party an opportunity to do something, and they didn’t.”

“The only line we cannot cross,” Ayad said, “is genocide.”

Nasrina Bargzie and Brenda Abdelal, who were hired by the Harris campaign to guide Arab and Muslim activities, listened intently but said little in response.

If Harris loses Michigan and next week’s presidential election, conversations like this could explain why. The Detroit area has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the country and Democrats are afraid that Harris will pay a heavy political price for US support for Israel, which rejects accusations that its military operations in Gaza constitute genocide.

Community members who normally support Democrats said they were faced with an impossible decision. They either punish Harris for what they see as complicity in the deaths of at least 43,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, or endure. Donald Trump his return to the White House, which they fear would revive discrimination against their community.

A reminder of the complexity of the situation came in Ann Arbor Monday night when Harris held a campaign rally. Assad Turfe, one of the few Arab-American elected officials in Michigan to support the vice president, said his community needs someone “who sees us, who understands us and who will voice our pain,” adding that ” no doubt Kamala Harris is that leader.”

But as Harris began his remarks, pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted him, chanting: “Israel bombs, Kamala pays, how many children have you killed today?” Harris replied, “Hey guys, I hear you” and “we all want this war to end as soon as possible.”

It is unclear how many skeptics Harris will be able to win over, especially since he has not proposed any concrete changes in US policy toward Israel or the war in Gaza. Four years ago, Joe Biden won by a 3-to-1 margin in Dearborn, where nearly half of the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent. Now, Democrats worry that some of those voters will go to Trump or third-party candidates like Jill Stein.

“They are divided. There are those who will vote for Harris, recognizing that he might get a seat at the table,” said U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who convened the recent meeting at the Lebanese restaurant on his own time. efforts to help the Harris campaign. “But there is a part that will vote for Stein or stay home. Then there is a minority who will vote for Trump.”

Trump secured a the number of notices from Muslims in the area, including two Democratic mayors who represent Muslim-majority cities outside Detroit. He brought more Muslims to the stage at a rally in metro Detroit on Saturday.

He claims he will put an “end to the endless wars” and notes the Abraham Accords Israel signed with several Arab nations during his presidency. He also mocked Harris’ embrace of former Rep. Liz Cheney, a conservative Republican whose father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, was a key force behind the US invasion of Iraq. Harris is campaigning with Liz Cheney to try to win back moderate Republicans abandoned by Trump in Michigan and elsewhere.

But many top Arab American leaders — even those who did not support Harris — are still deeply negative about Trump and say his endorsements do not reflect the majority of the community. They also recall his call for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the country and his travel restrictions on visitors from Muslim-majority countries. And some point out that Trump has hinted that he will give Israel even more freedom to attack its rivals in the region.

Turfe, a Lebanese-American and deputy Wayne County sheriff, is among the few Arab American leaders in Michigan who have endorsed Harris. He says it’s to make sure the community doesn’t go back to a Trump presidency that “opened up old wounds for the generation that lived through those years after 9/11.”

Turfe said he was rattled by immigration agents in 2005 when they came to detain his wife, who had come to the country when she was 2 years old and didn’t know she didn’t have legal citizenship.

“They came after her and tore my family apart,” he said.

Then, in 2006, Turfe’s two grandmothers were killed in Lebanon while Israel was fighting Hezbollah in a war supported by President George W. Bush.

Turfe said his community was primarily Republican until those years. But members swung toward Democrats during Barack Obama’s presidency and then helped Biden defeat Trump in 2020.

Those political ties are now severed.

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking over 200 hostages. Israel launched its offensive shortly thereafter with military and diplomatic support from the Biden administration.

As civilian casualties mounted in Gaza, anti-war Democrats in Michigan and elsewhere launched a protest ballot movement in the Democratic primary. They raised over 100,000 “uncommitted” votes.most coming from Muslim-majority cities in the state, such as Dearborn.

Turfe was part of the “uncommitted” movement while Biden was running for re-election, but he said he he changed his mind when Harris became the nominee. He endorsed her in August and met her before a rally near Detroit in October.

He said he told Harris about his grandparents’ deaths nearly two decades ago and “I felt her empathy.”

“She felt my pain,” Turfe said.

Turfe’s endorsement sparked a backlash. On social media, photoshopped images accuse him of supporting atrocities in Gaza. He also received text messages labeling him a traitor. Longtime relationships in his hometown of Dearborn became strained.

Dearborn resident Suehaila Amen is used to having her community in the national spotlight after starring in the 2012 TLC reality series “All-American Muslim.” A lifelong Democrat, Amen said she would not vote for Harris.

“They want to send their people to come and see how we feel, because now they’re afraid of losing a swing state,” said Amen, who lived in Lebanon from 2017 to 2021. “But, you know, if she loses, it is by her own doing, by her own hand, and she will deserve it.”

Amen said he doesn’t want Trump to win, but “at the end of the day, I have to sleep at night.”

Harris made a rare reference to Israel’s fight against Hamas and Hezbollah during a recent speech in Oakland County, outside Detroit.

“This year has been very difficult given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon,” she said. His death Hamas leader Yahya Sinwarshe said, “it can and must be a turning point.”

Harris also said she was “very proud to have the support” of Turfe and other Muslim leaders.

But Harris has not called for any reduction in the flow of American arms to Israel, and her campaign has not allowed a pro-Palestinian speaker to take the stage at the Democratic National Convention in August, a key demand of the “non-aligned” movement.

Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California, has remained in close contact with Arab American leaders in metro Detroit for months and received a “Profiles in Courage” award from the Arab American League for Civil Rights this summer. Khanna is Hindu, but said his family’s background gave him common experiences with Arab-Americans.

During the October 26 meeting with Arab-American leaders, Khanna sat next to Harris’ Arab and Muslim communications directors, while acknowledging that Harris had done “not enough” to help end the Israel-Hamas war.

“If Trump is elected, people like me will not be in any of the chambers,” Khanna said. “Harris gives people like us a seat at the table to stand up for you.”

It’s the kind of message that resonates with Mike Musheinesh, a Palestinian American who runs his own auto parts store and attended the meeting. He said the community should vote for Harris “even if we have to hold our noses.”

“If we want a seat at the table, we have to help her cross the finish line,” he said.

___ Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.