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    • Arab American voters make their choice
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    Arab American voters make their choice

    Online Niel Posted on

    By JOEY CAPPELLETTI

    DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — 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 officials in Michigan to support the vice president, said his community needs someone “who sees us, who understands us and who will give voice to our pain,” adding that “there is no doubt that Kamala Harris is that leader.”

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    Former Republican President Donald Trump, right, greets local Muslim leaders during a campaign rally at the Suburban Collection Showplace, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Novi, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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    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 separated. 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 called the recent meeting at the Lebanese restaurant in his efforts to help the Harris campaign. . “But there is a chunk that will vote 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.

    Harris wins over someone who championed the “uncommitted” movement.

    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.

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