Arab Americans are angry.
And they made it known to the President of the United States, Joe Biden, when they rejected his campaign manager when she visited Michigan to reach their communities this week.
Many Arab-American elected officials, including municipal leaders and state legislators, refused to meet with Julie Chávez Rodríguez, arguing that as long as there are mass killings in Gaza, they will not discuss the elections.
“It's incomprehensible right now that we're trying to talk electoral politics while a genocide is going on,” said Abdullah Hammoud, mayor of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb.
“This is not a time to talk about politics. This is a time for our humanity to be recognized and for us to sit down with decision makers and policymakers to talk about a change of course in what is developing abroad. And that doesn't happen with campaign staff.”
Local Arab-American officials in southeastern Michigan told Al Jazeera that their constituents are angry and frustrated with Biden's policies in Gaza, anger that could prove detrimental to the president's re-election chances.
Dearborn – home to large Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni and Iraqi communities – is known as the capital of Arab America. Hammoud noted that the four countries are being bombed by the United States and its Israeli allies.
The mayor added that Arab Americans and the broader Dearborn community feel “betrayed” by Biden's unwavering support for Israel.
“I have residents who have had to dig their grandmothers out from under the rubble after Israeli warplanes bombed their homes,” Hammoud told Al Jazeera.
“We have residents who come from Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem, which is being ethnically cleansed. What I tell them? What is the message for them?
The importance of Michigan
The meeting that was being organized between Arab-American leaders and Chávez Rodríguez was later canceled due to community rejection, several officials told Al Jazeera.
Arab Americans in Dearborn and other Michigan cities could play a huge role in the US presidential election, where the system is based on winning individual states.
Michigan, home to more than 10 million people, is a key “swing state” – it is not guaranteed to vote Republican or Democrat – and is often won by narrow margins.
In 2016, former President Donald Trump defeated his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in the Midwestern state by fewer than 11,000 votes. So the estimated hundreds of thousands of Arab Americans in Michigan could influence the outcome of the election.
In recent election cycles, presidential candidates, particularly Democrats, have begun to recognize the importance of the Arab vote: running ads in Arabic, meeting with community advocates, and addressing the specific concerns of Arab Americans.
In 2020, Biden launched a platform for Arab-American communities, promising to recognize the equality of Palestinians and Israelis and protect civil rights at home. He also sent his wife Jill Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris to Dearborn to reach out to the Arab community there.
Despite complaints about his strong support for Israel, Arab voters appeared to overwhelmingly back Biden. For example, in Dearborn's predominantly Arab polling places, Biden won more than 80 percent of the vote, city data shows. That support helped him win back Michigan for the Democrats.
But as we approach the November 2024 election, which will likely be a rematch between Biden and Trump, Biden's popularity among Arab Americans is collapsing..
An Arab American Institute poll in October showed that Arab-American support for Biden plummeted to 17 percent after the war, and some activists suspect it may have sunk even further since then.
While Arab-American advocates emphasize that their communities are not driven by a single issue, they say the scale of the carnage in Gaza and Biden's uncompromising role in it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to support the president again. 81 years old.
“Arab Americans will not vote for Joe Biden, no matter what. That's all. They’re done with Biden,” Sam Baydoun, a Wayne County commissioner who also declined to meet with Chavez Rodriguez, told Al Jazeera.
“That's the bottom line. “Joe Biden will not be able to regain the trust of the Arab-American community.”
Biden's support for Israel
Biden has provided unconditional political and financial support to Israel since its war in Gaza began on October 7. The president is requesting more than $14 billion in additional aid for America's ally, and the White House is still working with Congress to secure the funds.
Furthermore, Palestinian rights advocates have accused him of contributing to the dehumanization of Palestinians. In October, Biden described the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza as “the price of fighting war.”
In a statement marking the 100th day of the conflict earlier this month, the US president focused on Israeli captives in Gaza, making no mention of Palestinians at all.
The Biden administration also vetoed two United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a reduction in tension in Gaza, where more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed.
This week, the Biden administration also suspended funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) based on unconfirmed Israeli allegations that some UNRWA workers participated in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
At the same time, Washington has categorically ruled out suspending or conditioning aid to Israel, even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly defied Biden by rejecting the two-state solution.
Still, the Biden administration maintains that it is pressuring Israel to minimize civilian casualties and trying to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where the population is on the brink of famine according to human rights groups.
Abraham Aiyash, the majority leader of the Michigan House of Representatives, dismissed Washington's claims that it is trying to help the people of Gaza.
“'Trying' has led to nearly 30,000 deaths, massive destruction of civilian infrastructure, and an more emboldened far-right fascist government in Israel. So if the US is 'trying', I would be afraid of what would happen if it wasn't trying,” Aiyash, of Yemeni descent, told Al Jazeera.
Biden's campaign did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment at the time of publication.
'War criminal'
Osama Siblani, the editor of the Dearborn-based newspaper Arab American NewsHe met with Chávez Rodríguez this week to deliver a scathing message to his face, he said.
“Biden is saying to Israel: 'Here's the money; here is ammunition; here is the political power; Here's what you need, go and kill. That's a war criminal. “That's how we see it,” Siblani told the campaign director.
He added that he had received dozens of phone calls urging him to cancel the meeting, but that he felt it was necessary to confront the Biden campaign.
“I told you that I wanted to meet with you, but I wanted to convey a very strong message to you: if this man wants our vote, he has to do more than Jesus Christ: resurrect many more dead people. He has the blood of thousands of people on his hands,” Siblani told Al Jazeera.
Beyond the crisis in Gaza, Siblani said Biden has failed to deliver on his broader promises to the Arab community.
In his 2020 platform, the US president said he would reopen a consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem. That hasn't happened.
He also promised to protect freedom of expression despite his opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. But his administration has done little to address state-level repression against supporters of Palestinian rights.
Siblani said Arab Americans were also promised a seat at the table, but have largely been sidelined by the administration. “That's exactly why people are angry. They are angry because he didn't respect our vote. He didn't even care. “He still doesn’t care.”
Aiyash, one of the highest-ranking Arab and Muslim officials in the country, said neither the White House nor the Democratic Party has approached him for opinions since the war began.
The lawmaker said the White House's disregard for those calling for a ceasefire in Gaza is “reckless” and “disrespectful.”
“It's just shocking to me, given the importance of Michigan and the great work that the Arab and Muslim communities did in 2020 to ensure President Biden's victory,” Aiyash told Al Jazeera.
What's wrong with Trump?
When asked about the Arab and Muslim vote, Biden and his advisers raised the prospect of Trump's return to the White House, suggesting that the US president remains a much better choice than his predecessor, who imposed a travel ban. to several Arabs and Muslims. majority countries. They have also argued that by November, Gaza might not be an important issue.
Biden described that reasoning earlier this month, saying: “The former president wants to ban Arabs from entering the country. We'll make sure we understand who cares about the Arab population, number one. Number two, we have a long way to go in terms of resolving the situation in Gaza.”
Baydoun, the county commissioner, rejected both arguments. “We will not forget. This is genocide,” he said. “We can no longer accept the lesser of two evils.”
Traditional Democrats, including liberal commentators, members of Congress and governors, have been emphasizing the need to vote for Biden to stop Trump, whom they say is a threat to democracy.
“Donald Trump is a threat to democracy,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told CNN earlier this month. “That's why we need to re-elect Joe Biden, and that's exactly what we're doing,” he added.
However, Mayor Hammoud said the question of preserving democracy against Trump should be raised with the White House, not with those who oppose the war in Gaza.
“Some people are wondering, 'How come Arabs don't vote for Biden?' Trump is on the list,'” Hammoud said. “But my question is: If American democracy is threatened by Trump's re-election, why is America's alignment with Benjamin Netanyahu worth threatening American democracy?”
Aiyash echoed that argument, noting that large segments of the Democratic base, including young voters and people who care about human rights — not just Arabs and Muslims — are frustrated with Biden's position on Gaza.
“If democracy is so important – and I believe it is – why does this administration allow Benjamin Netanyahu and the extremist ideologies and the genocidal army of Israel to take priority over protecting democracy, over preserving the Republic?”
