ARAB AMERICANS USE PRIMARY POLL TO CHALLENGE GAZA POLICY
▶ Michigan residents cast protest votes in response to Biden administration’s support for Israel
Wearing a keffiyeh and a sweatshirt with a watermelon – a fruit that has re-emerged as a popular symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian cause – Mohammad Qazzaz makes his way to the booth to cast his vote in Michigan’s primary election.
On his Democratic ballot, President Joe Biden is joined by two other candidates – seen to have little chance of winning the party’s nomination – and a fourth option: “uncommitted”.
“I voted ‘uncommitted’ to send a message to Biden: don’t take our vote for granted,” Mr Qazzaz told The National.
“There’s a genocide happening in front of the whole world and the United States is supporting most of the weapons.
“How is he allowing this to happen?”
About 97,000 protest votes were believed to have been cast in the primary after a campaign by Listen to Michigan.
With 84 per cent of Democratic votes tallied, 13.8 per cent of ballots were “uncommitted”.
Four years ago, Mr Qazzaz, like many residents of Dearborn, the capital of Arab America, came out overwhelmingly in support of Mr Biden, helping him to clinch victory in a mustwin state and deny Republican Donald Trump a second term in office.
Residents of Michigan, home to about 500,000 Arab Americans, say they feel betrayed by Mr Biden over his support for Israel in the war in Gaza.
“The word you often hear is betrayal,” Dearborn’s Democratic Mayor Abdullah Hammoud told The National after casting his own “uncommitted” vote.
“We were promised a president in 2020 who wanted to bring back decency, who wanted to lead with humanity – that’s not what we currently have in the White House.
“For us, this is a protest vote to demonstrate that Mr Biden has to change course or he risks losing the election.”
Mr Biden has expressed his support for Israel and bypassed Congress twice to approve emergency weapons sales to the country.
He has also questioned the number of Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza and his administration has vetoed three resolutions at the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Campaign group Listen to Michigan aimed to get more than 10,000 uncommitted votes cast – the margin of votes that Mr Trump won in the state back in 2016 – to protest against Mr Biden’s Gaza stance.
In 2020, Mr Biden won Michigan by about 154,000 votes.
Mr Trump defeated Nikki Haley in the state’s Republican presidential primary.
For most Arab Americans, voting for Mr Trump is not an option, as he has promised to reintroduce and expand a ban on the entry of citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, and increase surveillance of Muslim Americans.
“I was proud today to walk in and pull a Democratic ballot and vote ‘uncommitted,’” said Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American Democratic Congresswoman from Michigan.
Fatima Alsoufi, 19, went with her parents to vote. All three of them filled in the “uncommitted” option.
“I don’t usually vote,” Ms Alsoufi, a Yemeni American said.
“But since I saw what’s happening in Palestine it hurts. If I vote ‘uncommitted’, President Biden will see that our votes matter and hopefully this genocide will stop.”
The White House has so far yet to comment directly on the “uncommitted” campaign, but yesterday National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Biden administration was willing to adjust their approach to the Gaza war.
“We take these conversations very seriously,” Mr Kirby said at a media briefing.
“We are we are willing to adjust the way we’re approaching the conflict and the way we’re talking about it to reflect those concerns.”
On Monday, Mr Biden said he hoped a ceasefire in Gaza would be announced soon.
A pause in the fighting would allow for more hostages to be released and more aid to be taken into Gaza.
Dozens of Palestinian-American residents of Dearborn have lost loved ones in Israeli air strikes.
Support for a ceasefire and discontent over Mr Biden’s handling of the war extends beyond Muslim and Arab Americans and is being expressed across the country.
“We want to stop all the senseless killing in Gaza,” said Jamel Ridgenal, who flew from Virginia to support the campaign.
“I’m a religious and spiritual guy, and I don’t believe in senseless killing.”
Some residents of Dearborn said they would never vote for Mr Biden again.
“I voted ‘uncommitted’ because what is happening in Palestine is really sad – I don’t want to vote for someone with blood on their hands,” said Hassan Balhas, a Lebanese American.
“I always voted Democrat but I am done.”
Protest votes were believed to account for 97,000 votes with slightly less than a fifth of ballots still to be counted