United States – Arab American Political Action Committee on Monday announced it will not vote for the Democratic Party’s Vice President Kamala Harris or the Republican’s former President Donald Trump, claiming that the latter has been supporting blindly for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
No Endorsement for First Time in AAPAC History
The Nov. 5 U.S. elections will be the first time AAPAC has failed to endorse a candidate since the organization’s establishment in 1998. It most often supports Democrats, as reported by Reuters.
The polls that exist show that the Harris and Trump race is very close. For instance, Arab and Muslim Americans voted overwhelmingly for President Joe Biden in 2020, but they supported Israel, hence dropping their support for Democrats.
Trump has traditionally received low approval from that community because of previous sentiments and his travel ban on Muslim-dominated countries as a president. Harris, like Biden and Trump, has also been known to support the Israeli regime in this southern part of the Middle East.
According to political analysts, this could dilute her fortunes in the event that Arab and Muslim Americans did not turn out to vote or vote for a third-party candidate. Some of those people have family members in Gaza and Lebanon and have called upon followers not to elect Trump or Harris. Some, such as the advocacy group Emgage Action, support Harris, stating Trump is worse.
Criticism of Both Candidates’ Middle East Policies
“Both candidates have endorsed genocide in Gaza and war in Lebanon,” AAPAC said in a statement. “We simply cannot give our votes to either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump, who blindly support the criminal Israeli government.”
Middle East Conflict a Central Issue
Israel has denied genocide allegations at the World Court and said it is defending itself after an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that it estimated killed about 1,200 people and in which around 250 were kidnaped, as reported by Reuters.
Gaza has been attacked by Israel, with more than 5.000 killed every month, and the health ministry in the area reports that almost 42,000 people have now died after the Israelis bombed the area that Hamas governs; the population has been driven out and almost starved. In Lebanon, the reported state where Israel is aiming to attack Iran-backed Hezbollah, the death toll is over 2,000, according to the Lebanese government.