Monday | October 28, 2024
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday invited several Muslim leaders onstage with him at a campaign rally in Michigan as he courts Arab American and Muslim voters disillusioned or angry over US policy on Israel and Gaza in the critical battleground state.
About 30 minutes from Dearborn, which last year became the first Arab-majority city in the United States, Trump stated in the Detroit suburb of Novi that “they could turn the election one way or the other.”
Trump mentioned in his speech that he had met with Muslim leaders earlier in the day. “Prominent leaders of Michigan’s Muslim community,” including Imam Belal Alzuhairi, who referred to Trump as the “peace” candidate, joined him onstage.
Alzuhairi stated, “As Muslims, we support President Trump because he promises peace—not war.” “We are backing Donald Trump because he pledged to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.”
On the basis of public relations, Trump has denounced Israel’s war in Gaza, stating that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his troops must “get it over with fast.” Although the current administration and Harris’ campaign have mostly refrained from criticizing Israel or considering stopping arms shipments to the nation, he has also attacked President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for not providing Israel with enough support.
Trump pondered real estate opportunities in troubled Gaza, which is home to approximately 2 million Palestinians, during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on the first anniversary of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks within Israel.
“As a developer, you know, the weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate, it could be the most beautiful place,” Trump remarked. “It could be really lovely.”
In 2017, during his first month in office, Trump issued an executive order prohibiting people of seven Muslim-majority nations—Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—from entering the country for 90 days. The order barred all Syrian refugees from entering the United States for four months and prohibited them from doing so indefinitely. (After a lengthy court battle, the “travel ban” survived in part. Biden revoked the orders in 2021 immediately after being sworn in.)
However, by attacking Harris and Biden from both sides, the Trump campaign and its allies have attempted to capitalize on Arab American and Muslim ire over the US’s ongoing support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and, more recently, Lebanon. They have told anti-war voters that Trump would bring about peace and have told pro-Israel voters that the Democrats are not on their side.
Trump has often said that Jewish Democrats “should have their head examined” and has questioned why Jewish Americans would vote for Harris. He even threatened that “the Jewish people would have a lot to do” with his possible defeat in November during a September event intended as a protest against antisemitism.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-war activists have criticized Harris more for her support of a two-state solution in the region and for calling for a truce in Gaza. They have urged her to buck Biden and say she is in favor of restricting military aid to Israel.
Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of Muslim American advocacy group Emgage Action, told CNN that a group of Arab American leaders and advocates urged Harris “to show distance between how she would govern on this matter with the current administration policies, which we don’t agree with” during a brief meeting three weeks ago in Flint, Michigan.
“Jews, Catholics, evangelicals, Mormons, and Muslims are joining our cause in larger numbers than ever before and now the most wonderful thing is happening,” Trump asserted during his rally on Saturday.
“Middle Eastern peace and an end to the never-ending wars are what the Muslim and Arab voters in Michigan and throughout the nation desire.” They only want that,” Trump stated.
Trump also made use of Harris’s most recent campaign tour with former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, whose father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, was a key figure in the planning of the US invasion of Iraq and the ensuing protracted conflict. Harris has received the support of both Cheneys.
A few hours later, Harris was campaigning in Kalamazoo, Michigan, when a protester interrupted her early with the chant, “No more Gaza war.”
Regarding Gaza, we need to put a stop to that conflict. As the crowd attempted to muffle the protester, Harris added, “And we must end the war and bring the hostages home.”