FAST DOWNLOAD
Iman Beydoun El-sayed has “always been a Democrat,” but “is not so sure anymore.” Like her, many Arab-American voters who are keeping an eye on the Middle East conflict are tempted to punish Kamala Harris for the Biden administration’s unwavering support for Israel.
In Michigan, one of the battleground states between the Democratic candidate and her Republican rival Donald Trump, Iman Beydoun El-sayed, wearing a sweatshirt decorated with a cedar tree, leaves her grocery store in Dearborn Heights, near Detroit, to collect donations for Lebanon.
In their case, blankets. The UN has counted 800,000 displaced people since the Israeli attacks against Hezbollah intensified in late September, causing more than 1,500 deaths.
“We all have friends and relatives among the victims in the country,” says the 37-year-old, of Lebanese origin, born in Detroit. “The fact that none of the candidates are really talking about a ceasefire or an arms embargo is quite frustrating,” she adds.
If he does end up voting in the presidential elections on November 5, he will “probably” vote for the environmental candidate Jill Stein.
In 2020, Detroit and its suburbs voted 68% for Joe Biden, contributing to his narrow victory in Michigan: 150,000 more votes than Donald Trump.
“Trump had angered them with his anti-Muslim and pro-Israeli policies,” he explains.
– “Slap” –
Dearborn’s history is closely tied to that of the automobile industry and the waves of immigration that accompanied its growth in the 20th century. Henry Ford’s hometown elected its first Muslim mayor in 2022, and the automaker’s factories stand next to the largest mosque in the United States.
Two weeks before the election, anger is palpable against the Biden administration, accused of blindly supporting Israel with its financial and military aid, and with its vetoes at the United Nations to protect its ally.
For Marwan Faraj, a 51-year-old Lebanese businessman, the Democrats have ignored the message of the February primaries, when more than 100,000 voters cast blank ballots to protest their Middle East policy.
“It’s a slap in the face and we’re going to slap them back,” he vows, sitting in Qahwah House, a trendy Yemeni café. “They have supported this ethnic cleansing and genocide from day one, with our tax money,” he adds.
Unlike in 2020, when it supported Joe Biden, the Arab American Political Action Committee, an influential local political organization, has called on the community not to vote “for either Harris or Trump,” who “blindly support the criminal Israeli government led by right-wing extremists.”
For Ronald Stockton, anger extends beyond the Arab-American community, which is why “this war is very dangerous for Democrats.”
– “Broken Heart” –
However, some voices are warning of the “risk” of Donald Trump being elected, as he recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel when he was in the White House.
“We have no choice but to vote for Kamala Harris,” wrote Ismael Ahmed, a veteran of the local Democratic Party and the Arab-American cause, in an op-ed for the Detroit Free Press.
“Kamala Harris has called for a ceasefire and a two-state solution,” while Donald Trump “refuses to recognise the occupation of the Palestinian territories, opposes an independent Palestinian state and resolutely supports” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he recalled.
For Dearborn Heights imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, voters are “so heartbroken that they don’t make those kinds of calculations anymore.”
“They wonder if it could be worse” in Gaza and Lebanon, explains the cleric, originally from Iran.
A sentiment echoed by Micho Assi, a 40-year-old Democratic activist.
“Normally, I go door to door to encourage people to vote,” he explains. “But here, if I say ‘go vote’, they say ‘I don’t care, it’s not going to change anything about the genocide’.”
For her, too, the conflict is everywhere. Last week, she greeted her parents, who had fled southern Lebanon, at Detroit airport, with a face full of emotion and a bouquet of flowers and welcome signs in her arms.
