Muslim-American coalition urges support for pro-Palestine candidates in US presidential election

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - A coalition of Muslim-American groups announced Friday that it will not endorse Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the November presidential election.

Instead, the coalition encouraged Muslim voters to support pro-Palestine candidates such as Green Party nominee Jill Stein, Justice for All nominee Cornel West, or others who back a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.

"After extensive consultation, discussion, and deliberation, the American Muslim 2024 Election Task Force has decided to encourage American Muslims to vote for any presidential candidate of their choosing who supports a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a U.S. arms embargo on the Israeli government, such as candidates Jill Stein, Cornel West or Chase Oliver," it said in a statement.

It also noted a recent community poll show many American Muslims plan to vote Stein while some others still plan to vote for Harris "to advance various policy issues or help prevent former President Trump from returning to the White House".

The task force also condemned former President Donald Trump for his rhetoric toward Haitian and Latino migrants and for using "Palestinian as a racist slur," recommending that no American Muslim voters support his candidacy.

American Muslim 2024 Election Task Force is a newly formed coalition that includes several prominent Muslim organizations, such as Americans for Justice in Palestine (AJP), CAIR, the ICNA Council for Social Justice, and the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO).

Explaining the reason why they cannot endorse Harris' candidacy, the group cited her refusal to consider imposing an arms embargo on Israel amid its ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,300 people, mostly women and children.

It added that the "ongoing genocide in Gaza remains a top priority" for the Muslim-American communities, and praised Jill Stein, Cornel West, and Chase Oliver for showing "moral clarity".

On the other hand, the group accused Harris of failing propose "any actual changes to US policy".

"As a matter of principle, we simply cannot support a presidential candidate who participated in enabling a genocide and then refused to lay out any concrete plans to end that genocide, all while refusing to even acknowledge that a genocide is occurring," the statement said.

The Uncommitted National Movement, an organization that is mobilizing "uncommitted" primary votes in protest of the Biden administration's policy in the Gaza Strip, also announced Thursday it would not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

Although Muslim-Americans represent just one percent of the US population, their votes in key swing states such as Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania could sway the election.

In the battleground state of Michigan, over 300,000 individuals of Middle Eastern and North African descent reside, accounting for about 3.1% of the state's population.

In February, more than 100,000 Democratic voters in Michigan chose "uncommitted" in the state's presidential primary election after the uncommitted campaign urged voters to protest President Joe Biden's Gaza policy as he sought reelection.

In 2020, Biden defeated Trump in Michigan by a margin of just over 150,000 votes, a significant contrast to 2016, when Trump won by less than 11,000 votes against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.