Arab Americans in Dearborn say their goal is for Biden to lose

This election year, an angered community is focused on punishing the President over his Gaza policy, even if it means voting for Donald Trump

Since the Israel-Gaza war began, Michigan resident Alaa Ali has lost 128 members of his family, including his younger brother.

Four of his siblings and their families are now scattered throughout the strip, most living in tents where they struggle to meet their basic needs.

Dr Ali, an emergency physician, is one of many Arab Americans in Michigan who say this year's elections are not about who they want in the White House, but who they want out.

Many in the community blame President Joe Biden for what they see as his complicity in the tens of thousands of deaths and the suffering of loved ones in Israel’s months-long war on Gaza.

More than 100,000 voters in Michigan cast “uncommitted” ballots in the Democratic primaries in February in protest against Mr Biden's leadership.

As the November election date approaches – and with the President wavering little in his support for Israel – some are considering voting for a third-party candidate, such as Jill Stein from the Green Party. Others plan on not voting at all.

But some are so angry with Mr Biden that they are considering – albeit reluctantly – to cast a vote for Donald Trump, the former president who passed bans on the entry of people from several Muslim countries and who has used the term “Palestinian” as a slur.

“The goal is for Biden to lose,” Dr Ali tells The National from his clinic. “If that includes voting for Trump, I wouldn't hesitate. Trump, his hands are not soaked in blood.”

Dr Ali is one of dozens of Americans in Michigan who have lost loved ones in Gaza, southern Lebanon and other conflicts in the Middle East in recent months.

Since the war started, he has joined the group Doctors against Genocide and taken part in protests against Mr Biden's policies.

There are signs that Mr Trump is making plans to seize on anger towards Mr Biden in Michigan, a critical swing state that is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the country.

The former president has sent a former official in his administration, Richard Grenell, and his son-in-law Michael Boulos and his father Massad, who are of Lebanese descent, to reach out to Michigan’s Arab Americans.

This month, Dr Ali was contacted by the group. He and others have agreed to a discussion with the Trump team, though they remain sceptical amid concerns over his vow to reinstate the so-called Muslim ban and his lack of clarity over what he will do in Gaza, should he win.

“This is just a conversation – we're not promoting them, we're not having a meeting with them,” he says.

“It's just an off-the-books conversation to see what they can do.”

In 2020, Arab Americans, who have historically leaned Democrat, rallied around Mr Biden, helping him to clinch Michigan and denying Mr Trump a second term in office.

But since October 7, many in the community have been furious over Mr Biden’s staunch support for Israel as it continues its punishing military campaign in Gaza after the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures.

Arab Americans take issue with Mr Biden’s refusal to back a permanent ceasefire and object to having their tax dollars used to fund the billions in weapons shipments and military aid to Israel.

Mr Biden’s position, they say, has dehumanised Palestinians and Arabs, contributing to a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Arab sentiment and racist attacks in the US – all while the death toll in Gaza, which has exceeded 38,600, continues to mount.

Yahya Basha still keeps an old framed picture of Mr Biden in his conference room. In it, the two men are standing close together, smiling.

Dr Basha, a physician and long-time community leader in Michigan, donated to Mr Biden’s previous campaign and voted for him.

But for the past several weeks, Dr Basha, 78, who was born in Syria, has been attending and helping to organise meetings with the Trump team.

More meetings are expected later in July, when he and other Arab Americans will hear what Mr Trump’s team has to say.

Dr Basha believes that unlike the Biden administration, there is room to “soften” Mr Trump’s stance on major issues, including on Gaza.

“The voting is not today or tomorrow or the day after,” he tells The National.

“There is time for us to go and seek other people and improve their position on our issues. We are never going to have somebody 100 per cent on our side.”

Mr Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Mr Trump last month, when his frailty and reported cognitive decline was on full display, only further caused his image to deteriorate among Arab Americans.

Dr Basha says the President came off as “unelectable”.

Dearborn, Michigan, is home to more than 100,000 Arab Americans. Together with the wider Wayne County, the area is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the country.

The sprawling suburb, on the outskirts of Detroit, has Arab and Muslim institutions and traditional and modern Arabic restaurants and pastry shops, shisha lounges and trendy Yemeni cafes.

“We definitely don’t want Biden, but at the same time Trump is hardly an ideal candidate,” Sumaya, a Dearborn resident, tells The National while sipping a coffee with her mother, a Palestinian refugee from southern Lebanon who came to visit.

“We cannot accept what is happening in Gaza and Trump said he is going to deport people who are here illegally, so we can’t have that either.”

She explains she is going to either vote third party or not at all.

Imad Hamad, director of the Dearborn-based American Human Rights Council, who took part in several meetings with the Trump team, says disillusionment with the two candidates could discourage people from voting in the election, undoing years of hard work.

Should this happen, it would also affect Arab-American candidates further down the ballot, most of whom are running as Democrats.

Mr Hamad says that much of the support for Mr Trump among Arabs comes from a desire not to be left out, should he win.

“Many believe that we cannot afford to totally disown the Republican campaign or being part of a Trump administration,” he tells The National.

“If he is going to win, we would rather have a foot in the door, rather than being totally left out.”

Imran Salha, the outspoken young imam of the Dearborn Islamic Centre, says there is little the Biden administration can do to win back the Arab and Muslim vote in his congregation.

Still, a vote for Mr Trump is not something he and others can easily come to terms with.

“I don't know if I'm comfortable specifically signing off on a vote for Trump, because I do not trust him either – I think he's unpredictable,” Mr Salha tells The National.

“But if the vote for Trump ensures that Biden does not win, then that's a discussion I'm willing to consider.”

Some Arab Americans, though, have decided to fully back the Republican presidential hopeful.

Bishara Bahbah, who is Palestinian American and a long-time Democratic voter, is the founder of the group Arab Americans for Trump.

He says they are not affiliated with the Trump campaign, although Massad Boulos has joined the group.

Mr Bahbah says the two-party system in the US means that a vote for a third-party candidate would be a “waste”, as they have virtually no chance of winning.

“I decided to throw in my support behind Trump and begin lobbying essentially, or working on getting some concessions out of the Trump camp prior to the elections,” he said.

But after the debate, Mr Bahbah said in a statement that he was “sad and bewildered” by Mr Trump's use of “Palestinian” as a slur against Mr Biden.

Still, he says he has joined forces with different segments of the Arab-American community in Michigan, including Lebanese Catholic Maronites and Chaldeans from Iraq, who have long supported the Republican Party and largely voted for Mr Trump in 2020.

Community leaders also say some Pakistani and Yemeni Americans have expressed support for him this year.

The most recent polls show that Arab-American voters in four swing states – Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia – have turned sour on Mr Biden, with only 18 per cent saying they would vote for him. This is a huge drop from 60 per cent in 2020.

Meanwhile, 32 per cent said they would vote for Mr Trump. A quarter of respondents said they were still undecided.

Amer Zahr, a Palestinian-American comedian and activist, says Michigan voters are examining voting for Mr Trump, not from a policy point of view, but as “the sharpest tool” to beat Mr Biden.

He thinks there is little that Arab Americans could gain by directly negotiating with his campaign.

“We want to beat Biden,” he tells The National. “And we want to take the credit for beating Biden, but the meeting the next day will be with the Democrats, not with the Republicans.”

At a shawarma shop in Dearborn, Sam, the restaurant's Lebanese-American owner, says he would consider voting for another Democratic candidate, if Mr Biden were to withdraw from the race.

He says that as a Democrat, he would never consider voting for Trump.

But if Mr Biden insists on running, Sam says, he will not vote.

“This is the first time in my 33 years living in this country that I have decided not to vote,” he tells The National. “I don’t think either of them deserve to be president.”