New York.- Uncommitted, the national group of Arab-Americans, Muslim-Americans and Palestinian rights activists that emerged from primary season voters in protest of President Biden’s Middle East policy, took a big step Tuesday to encourage your followers to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a video detailing Trump advisers’ plans and suggestions to expel or displace Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, Lexi Zeidan, a Dearborn, Michigan resident and co-founder of the group, stopped short of endorsing Mrs. .Harris. But he concluded: “We have to focus less on who is the best candidate and more on what is the best anti-war approach to building our collective power.”
The message, posted on major social media platforms, marked a marked shift for the group, which has made significant demands on Harris with little results. Such demands have included an arms embargo against Israel, prominent spaces for Palestinian rights groups at the Democratic convention and a change in the party platform that would shift American foreign policy away from Israel.
But in the video, Ms. Zeidan, a Palestinian American, bluntly said that a second term for former President Donald J. Trump would be worse than a Harris victory. It detailed how Mr. Trump tilted US foreign policy heavily toward the Israeli government in his first term and presented plans that “effectively dismantled any path to Palestinian self-determination.”
The video takes particular aim at Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a Republican presidency, drawn up in part by allies of Trump, who has sought to distance himself from his proposals, which include eliminating humanitarian aid to Gaza and the West Bank and repression of pro-Palestinian protests in the country. The video includes clips of David Friedman, Mr. Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, who have proposed expulsions from Gaza and the annexation of occupied territories by Israel. It also shows a major Trump donor, Miriam Adelson, pledging that the former president would pursue the political goals of the Israeli far-right without regard to world opinion.
“It is clear that Netanyahu will do everything in his power to get Trump elected,” Zeidan concluded, referring to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister. “And we have to do everything in our power to stop him.”
Uncommitted’s shift could be significant in a key swing state, Michigan, which has more than 300,000 residents of Middle Eastern or North African descent. Polls among these voters are sparse, but anecdotal information indicates that many are reluctant to vote for Harris, and some are turning to third-party candidates like the Green Party’s Jill Stein.
The Michigan Democratic Party and Harris’ campaign have worked to appeal to those voters, but the Trump campaign has also quietly courted them.
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