Arab and Muslim Americans on how U.S. support for Israel could affect their votes in 2024

Amna Nawaz:

President Biden's response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war has angered Muslim and Arab Americans. Those voters represent a key voting bloc for Democrats that helped Biden to win in the swing state of Michigan in 2020.

Here's Laura Barron-Lopez with more.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Amna, the Biden administration has vowed unequivocal support to Israel and refuses to call for a cease-fire, as more than a reported 11,000 Palestinians have been killed.

Biden has repeatedly called for extended humanitarian pauses to aid civilians in Gaza and recover hostages. But Arab and Muslim voters say it's not enough.

Suehaila Amen, Michigan:

My name is Suehaila Amen, and I live in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and I work in education.

Lexis Zeidan, Michigan:

Lexis Zeidan, 31 years old. I was born and raised in Dover, Michigan, and I currently reside in Detroit, Michigan.

Raisa Faatimah, Michigan:

My name is Raisa Faatimah, and I am a law student at the University of Michigan.

Ali Abazeed, Chief Public Health Officer, City of Dearborn, Michigan: My name is Ali Abazeed. And the founding director of health and chief public health officer for the city of Dearborn.

When you cast aside the numbers of Palestinians in Gaza being killed, when, in response to a question around a cease-fire, which, in my view, is the most bare minimum request that can be made at this point, and the response being none, no possibility of a cease-fire from the president of the United States, we have no choice but to think about our reconsideration of our vote going into 2024.

Raisa Faatimah:

A group of us have been phone-banking at the University of Michigan Law School, and we have sent in hundreds of calls to our local representatives, our state senators, our U.S. House of Representatives, and we haven't received any callbacks.

Lexis Zeidan:

They feel betrayed, they feel dehumanized, they feel demoralized by our administration right now. And what we're seeing and what we're witnessing is that their loyalty to the Arab American community is dispensable to them.

Ali Abazeed:

For us in Dearborn, a lot of us come from backgrounds of war. My family is in Southern Syria. They know war far too well. A lot of folks in Dearborn have lived through war in Lebanon, in Yemen, Palestinians themselves, who's connected to Gaza and the West Bank is well-documented.

And so this community knows war all too well, knows the traumas of war.

Raisa Faatimah:

I don't think our elected officials are doing enough to address the harm of the type of rhetoric they're using. And we're seeing very real consequences, even just within the United States.

There's a 6-year-old boy who was killed in Chicago. There's been a rise in Islamophobia. But this hasn't been given equal weight or even nearly enough weight as it should be.

Suehaila Amen:

I don't feel that there is any weight in walking back from this. Rolling out a strategy to combat Islamophobia, a little too late, Mr. President.

Raisa Faatimah:

There's these gestures towards ending Islamophobia. And on the other hand, there's conflation of Muslim activism with antisemitism and hate speech. The language being used by the White House and the Democratic Party really is rooted in Islamophobic comments.

The censure of Rashida Tlaib, it's emblematic of the censorship of Muslim voices in America.

Suehaila Amen:

There has always been a push post-9/11 to have us sitting at the table so that our voices were heard, but yet we're seeing today, especially, that all of those conversations and all of the opportunities that we have had to have our voice heard hasn't — has only fallen upon deaf ears.

Why are we even bothering to have a seat at the table and bothering to share our voices, when no one's actually listening to anything that we have to say and then continue to misinterpret, misconstrue or misuse the words that we do share? And it's putting us in a position where you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Lexis Zeidan:

The sad reality of what we're facing as voters in this country is that we are no longer voting for the lesser of two evils. In November, we will remember.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Muslim and Arab leaders are warning the Democratic Party that if President Biden doesn't change his approach, he may lose their support in 2024.

A recent "NewsHour"/Marist poll found that 34 percent of Democrats disapprove of Biden's handling of the conflict, up from 19 percent of Democrats last month.

Joining me now to discuss the political ramifications is Wa'el Alzayat, CEO of the Muslim advocacy group Emgage.

Wa'el, thanks so much for being here.

What are you hearing from Muslim and Arab voters about President Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict and especially as the death toll continues to rise in Gaza?

Wa'el Alzayat, CEO, Emgage:

We're hearing deep frustration, anger, sadness and a feeling of betrayal.

The Muslim American community in 2020, according to the Emgage impact polling that we conducted following the elections, found that 85 percent of Muslim voters, those who actually cast a ballot, said that they voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Many of them organized, many of them contributed, certainly cast their votes in protection of our democracy and, quite frankly, to get rid of Donald Trump. And now they feel that betrayal, that having, supported an administration that said that they value democracy and will confront authoritarianism, uphold human rights, is essentially giving a carte blanche to someone like Bibi Netanyahu to commit war crimes, and which have produced incredible carnage and devastation.

Beyond the 11,000 killed, the concerns are that Gaza become uninhabitable and burden not only the region, but the international community for generations to come.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

The administration, Biden himself will say that they have tried to stress to Netanyahu to abide by the laws of war.

But in a state like Michigan, in a population where there is a large population of Muslim voters, Biden won, President Biden won that state by a margin of 154,000 votes. Do you think that the president could lose that state next year?

Wa'el Alzayat:

Absolutely.

And, in fact, we really assess, given the polling that we're seeing showing the president behind in some of the swing states, including Michigan, that the elections will probably be closer to what we saw in 2016, when Donald Trump won that state by 11,000 votes.

And according to the Emgage data of voters who are registered and casting ballots, there are 205,000 registered Muslim American voters. It doesn't take a math genius to realize that they could absolutely have an impact.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Are Muslim and Arab voters going to vote for the Republican nominee, which, at this point, it looks like it will be former President Donald Trump? Will they stay home? Or are they going to vote third party?

Wa'el Alzayat:

Well, look, I think we need to understand that Muslim American voters, like American voters of all backgrounds and ethnicities and religions, understand what's at stake next year.

We have lived through this. Through four years of Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans. We have experienced the Muslim ban and really the outright bigotry and racism against Black, brown, disabled, LGBTQ, Arab, Muslims, immigrants, people of all backgrounds.

So, therefore, I think we are way ahead of the elections next year. Where the community is today, according to our polling, only 5 percent are telling us they would vote for Joe Biden, which is way down from that 85 percent I mentioned.

However, what we're focused on right now is getting that cease-fire, getting the humanitarian assistance in. And, really, it's up to the voters next year to make that decision.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

I wanted to ask you about those stakes that you mentioned, because you mentioned Trump — Trump's Muslim ban.

He has said that he would extend that if he wins reelection in 2024, and he has specifically said that he would bar refugees in Gaza. So, are the voters that you're talking to aware of that potential consequence if they vote third party or if they decide to stay home?

Wa'el Alzayat:

They absolutely are, which is really what's so frustrating about this situation we find us in as Americans.

Look, Joe Biden and the Democrats built a big tent party, right? And, essentially, this policy is risking fracturing that coalition, not just for Muslim voters, but for young voters, for Black voters, for progressive voters, for people of decency who are just not OK with Israel bombing its way out of a problem that it's partly responsible for, which is the occupation and the siege of Gaza for the last 17 years.

This is being forced upon us. And my fear is that this misguided policy driven by, quite frankly, a neocon approach that takes us back to the ugly days of the war on terror that is fracturing this coalition and could possibly hand this country and our future to the dark forces of MAGA Republicans.

This is not on Muslim voters. This is on this administration.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Well, I have to ask, because the president has said that he doesn't think a cease-fire is realistic because he thinks that Hamas has to be vanquished because of the fact that they said that they will continue to attack Israel.

So, because the president doesn't appear ready to support a cease-fire anytime soon, what exactly do Muslim and Arab voters that you talk to want to see from him? Is there something else that he could potentially do to win back their support?

Wa'el Alzayat:

He can call for a cease-fire, but also he can absolutely not give $14 billion to Bibi Netanyahu to spend as he pleased.

We can condition the support. We can make sure that they are abiding by Leahy vetting, which ensures that U.S. weapons and money is not ending up harming or killing civilians. We can absolutely increase humanitarian delivery. Right now, only a few trucks are getting in, which includes the lifting of the siege on the civilian population.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Wa'el Alzayat of Emgage, thank you for your time.

Wa'el Alzayat:

Thank you so much.