Leading American Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian organizations claim Harris’ Middle East outreach did not include them.

Washington — The Pro-Palestinian movement groups and major Muslim and Arab American organizations have claimed that they were not included in the outreach that Vice President Kamala Harris’ office conducted to community leaders regarding the administration’s efforts to contain the escalating violence in the Middle East.

Phil Gordon, Harris’ national security advisor, reportedly met electronically with “Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian American community leaders from across the United States,” according to a statement released by the White House on Wednesday. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the administration’s attempts to bring a stop to the warfare in Gaza.

As stated in a statement released by the White House, Gordon “expressed concern for civilians in Lebanon,” as well as Israeli “actions that undermine peace, security, and stability in the West Bank.”

It would appear that the meeting was an attempt to repair relations with Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim communities that are outraged by the administration’s continued support for Israel in the war against Hamas. This war has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and has left Gaza in a state of ongoing humanitarian crisis.

On the other hand, an invitation was not extended to any of the main community organizations, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations or the Muslim Public Affairs Council. In addition, neither the Uncommitted National Movement nor Abandon Harris, two pro-Palestinian movement groups that have been advocating for a shift in the policies that the administration has been implementing regarding Gaza, existed.

A number of significant community leaders from the Washington region, such as those from Make Space, the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Centre, the Mustafa Centre, and the Diyanet Centre of America, were not asked to attend the event.

There were eight people involved in the engagement with Gordon, and James Zogby, the head of the Arab American Institute, was one of them. Because there were no representatives from the community present at the conference, he described it as “irritating.”

An Arab American meeting was mentioned to us. A Muslim gathering was mentioned to us. As Zogby explained to VOA, “it was none of the above.” No Palestinian leaders were there at the time. It was true that there were some Palestinian Americans, but there were no organizations that represented Palestinian Americans.

Zogby described the event as a “check the box” engagement with the community and stated that he felt “blindsided” by anything that had happened. The government, according to him, failed to take advantage of a chance by failing to invite the individuals on the list that the community had suggested included.

“There were only two of us out of the eight who headed any organization at all,” he replied in response.

The president of the American Task Force on Lebanon, Edward Gabriel, stated that the office of the vice president has given him the opportunity to participate in “nearly a dozen” meetings, one of which was with Gordon this week.

“Our meetings continue to be positive,” he stated in a letter to the Voice of All America. “We have expressed to the Vice President and her team the importance of now providing our community with a clear message on the need for ending this war and helping those Lebanese citizens most affected by the conflict.”

Israel’s military operation in Lebanon towards Hezbollah fighters supported by Iran has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people, injuries to thousands of others, and the displacement of more than a million people over the course of the past two weeks. Kamel Ahmad Jawad, an American and a resident of Dearborn, Michigan, is one of the victims.

Biden’s stance on the expansion of Israel’s war to Lebanon to this point, according to Gabriel, “has not been well received by the Lebanese American community, as there was no sense of compassion expressed for the loss of life of innocent citizens, especially women and children.” Gabriel claimed this has been the case.

VOA’s inquiries were not met with a response from either the White House or the President’s Office. The campaign spokeswoman for Harris, on the other hand, stated that Harris is “committed to work to earn every vote, unite our country, and to be a president for all Americans.”

“Throughout her career, Vice President Harris has been steadfast in her support of our country’s diverse Muslim community, ensuring first and foremost that they can live free from the hateful policies of the Trump administration,” the spokeswoman told the news organization VOA. “She will continue working to bring the war in Gaza to an end in a way where Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

Almost as close as

The outreach efforts of Harris come at a time when a recent poll suggests that the support of Arab Americans for the Democratic presidential contender is almost identical to that of Donald Trump, the former president and the nominee of the Republican Party.

Support for Trump is at 42%, while support for Harris is at 41%, according to a countrywide poll that was released on Wednesday by the Arab American Institute. The poll was conducted with 500 Arab American registered voters.

There is a 46% to 42% gap between Trump and Harris among those who say they are very likely to vote.

It appears from the poll that the community’s support for Democrats, whom they have traditionally supported, has decreased as a result of the administration’s handling of the crisis in Gaza. There is currently a balance of 38 percent between the two parties in terms of Arab Americans.

There are around 3.5 million Arab Americans living in the United States, as indicated by the most recent census. However, a number of estimates indicate that there are between four and six million Muslim Americans. The United States Census Bureau does not tally the population based on religious views.

That is a very small percentage of the total population of the United States, which is 337 million people. It is possible that Arab Americans may play a disproportionately large role in the election that will take place the following month because they are concentrated in a few states, such as California and Michigan.

Especially in Michigan, a battleground state with the highest concentration of Arab Americans, which Biden won in 2020 with only 154,000 votes more than Trump, this may be considered as a particularly significant phenomenon. After a margin of just under 11,000 votes, Donald Trump became victorious in the state election of 2016.

As a form of protest against the Biden administration’s support of Israel’s military campaign, more than 100,000 people in the state of Michigan cast “uncommitted” ballots in the Democratic primary election. These votes put Trump in a position to win the election.

A courtship of the community by Trump

The support of Amer Ghalib, the Yemeni American mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, has been earned by Trump, who has been aggressively pursuing Arab and Muslim votes. It is the only city in the country to have a city council that is comprised entirely of Muslims, and it’s home to 30,000 people, over half of whom are Muslim.

“Endorsing President Trump was a combination of disappointment and hope,” Ghalib explained to VOA. “Disappointed at the current administration’s policies domestically and internationally, and in hope that President Trump will come to fix things up, end the chaos in the Middle East and restore peace everywhere, as well as preventing our economy from further deterioration.”

In the month prior, Ghalib met with Trump, who was holding a campaign event in the neighboring city of Flint. This meeting led to Ghalib’s endorsement of Trump.

Many of Ghalib’s constituents, including himself, are more in line with the Republican Party when it comes to cultural issues such as the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals and the right to abortion. It is a decision that has infuriated supporters and members of the LGBTQ+ community that he has supported conservative policies passed by his city council, including a ban on Pride banners on city property in 2023. However, he has supported these measures.

“The cultural issues are important to some,” Zogby made the statement. The community is also motivated by the desire to “punish Democrats” for their actions over Gaza, he added.

“I don’t think that there’s anyone actually very seriously considering that Donald Trump is better than Kamala Harris on the Middle East,” he stated in response. There is a possibility that both of them are unsatisfactory. My opinion is that this is the more common viewpoint.