US Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is considering three Palestinian rights advocates, including two Arab Americans, to be her running mates in the election, her campaign confirmed.
The vice president's announcement will be made during a live-streamed rally on Thursday, Stein's campaign told Al Jazeera.
The candidates are Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC); Amer Zahr, a Palestinian-American activist; and Jacqueline Luqman, a journalist and activist.
All three have been outspoken critics of Israel and the United States' unconditional support for the war in Gaza. Stein, a physician and activist, is a long-time supporter of Palestinian rights.
Having one of the three on the ballot could boost Stein's chances of reaching the mass of disaffected voters who have grown angry at the mainstream Democratic Party's stance on Israel.
While Stein's campaign is a long shot, as American politics is dominated by the Republican and Democratic parties, if she wins a significant share of the vote, her campaign could affect the outcome of the election.
Stein's supporters also say they hope her candidacy can broaden the conversation about Gaza and amplify voters' concerns with U.S. policy.
With a Palestinian advocate on the ticket, Stein’s candidacy could also force Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, to further grapple with growing frustration over President Joe Biden’s unconditional backing of Israel.
Even with a small percentage of the vote, Stein's campaign could have a big influence on elections in places like the key state of Michigan, home to large Arab and Muslim American communities.
Both Ayoub and Zahr are from Michigan.
'Honored'
Luqman, Zahr and Ayoub confirmed to Al Jazeera that they had been contacted by the campaign and said they were “honoured” to be considered for the position.
Ayoub said it was “important” that Stein was considering Palestinian rights advocates for her running mates.
“This is a critical moment. It is a moment when the genocide is before everyone’s eyes. There is no way to hide it. And it is a moment when most of the world and many Americans see how complicit and active both parties are in the genocide.”
Zahr also said that choosing a staunch advocate for Palestinian rights as Stein's running mate was a “smart choice” by the campaign.
“It's clear that the genocide in Gaza has dominated the entire presidential campaign,” Zahr told Al Jazeera.
Although Biden withdrew due to growing concerns about his age following a disastrous performance in the May debate, Zahr said the Democratic president's coalition was “falling apart” because of the war in Gaza.
Luqman said opposing the war in Gaza should not be a campaign issue, but a human issue. “There is no lesser evil. Evil is evil and genocide is evil,” he told Al Jazeera.
The US-backed Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed at least 39,550 people, razed large parts of the territory and pushed its more than two million inhabitants to the brink of famine.
Gaza and the elections
Although foreign policy is not usually a major factor in American elections, the war in Gaza has increasingly become a decisive issue in the presidential race.
Arabs, Muslims, young people and progressives have all expressed anger at Biden's support for the war. And while it is unclear how the issue will play out following the US president's withdrawal from the race and his support for Harris, some communities have shown a willingness to break with Democrats when it comes to Gaza.
Predominantly Arab neighborhoods in places like Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, voted overwhelmingly for Biden against former President Donald Trump in 2020, helping him win in Michigan.
But with the war in Gaza raging, support for Biden has fallen sharply in Arab-American communities, according to public opinion polls.
The US administration has approved at least $14 billion in additional military aid for Israel and vetoed three UN Security Council proposals that would have called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The White House has said Harris has been a “full partner” in shaping Gaza policy. Still, the vice president has expressed greater empathy for Palestinian suffering, while continuing to pledge an “unwavering commitment” to Israel.
Harris, who will become the Democratic nominee to face Trump in November after securing enough delegates to win the nomination, has not chosen a running mate.
But Palestinian rights advocates are pushing back against a perceived front-runner for the post: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who earlier this year compared Gaza solidarity protesters on college campuses to the Ku Klux Klan.
In 2021, Shapiro, as Pennsylvania attorney general, also backed sanctions against Ben & Jerry's after the ice cream company decided to stop doing business in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over ethical concerns.
Opposition to Shapiro grew this week after The Philadelphia Inquirer unearthed a 1993 college newspaper op-ed in which Shapiro downplayed the prospect of resolving the conflict after White House talks between then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
“The Palestinians will not coexist peacefully,” Shapiro wrote in the article. “They do not have the capacity to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the help of Israel and the United States. They are too militant to be able to establish a peaceful homeland on their own.”
Why run?
As Democrats rally around Harris, they have portrayed Trump as an existential threat to American democracy.
Democratic officials have also accused Stein of helping the former president by drumming up progressive votes despite having no realistic chance of winning.
Stein ran for president in 2012, 2016 and 2020, but never ran a competitive campaign.
Luqman, Ayoub and Zahr said Stein's proposal was intended to give voters a choice and challenge the two major parties' monopoly on American politics.
“We do not participate in the voting rights… we only vote for candidates who are guaranteed to win,” Luqman told Al Jazeera.
“We are supposed to exercise that right as we wish. And if the two major parties have offered nothing to the people, then the people should have the right to cast their vote for candidates they believe reflect their values.”
Ayoub echoed that comment.
“We cannot continue with politics as usual in this country. We cannot allow Democrats and Republicans to continue playing games with our communities, making false promises, enabling genocide, and keeping things the same. [they are]“Ayoub told Al Jazeera.
Zahr, for his part, said Stein's campaign can raise awareness and help boost support for third-party candidates in the future.
“As long as we keep saying, ‘Hey, third parties are a wasted vote,’ we will perpetuate this system,” Zahr told Al Jazeera. “By the way, this system with a liberal Democrat president brought us a US-funded genocide, not even with a right-wing president.”
