Dearborn's grieving Arab-American community votes for US president

Community has largely soured on Kamala Harris but cannot stomach voting for Donald Trump, instead rallying around third-party candidate Jill Stein

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Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan, will head to the polls on Tuesday as the nation chooses its next president. Like most voters, they care about the high costs of food and housing, as well as immigration and reproductive rights.

But also weighing heavily is the raging conflict in the Middle East, as well as US policy towards the region. Since the start of the Gaza war, which has killed more than 43,300 people, dozens of residents of the capital of Arab America have lost family, friends and property, or have seen their relatives displaced.

Many blame the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden for supporting Israel and supplying it with weapons.

They say Mr Biden has not done enough to end the war and is now supporting its expansion, after Israel invaded Lebanon early last month. About 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes there and more than a million have been displaced.

Vice President Kamala Harris is seen as likely to continue the Biden administration’s policy of strong support for Israel.

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, a Lebanese American and a Democrat, did not endorse Ms Harris. He said everybody in the city knows someone who has been killed, injured or displaced. His wife has lost relatives in the south of Lebanon.

But the alternative to Ms Harris is Donald Trump, the former president who passed the so-called Muslim travel ban, enabled the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, and moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

There is concern that should he win, he would enact another Muslim ban, cut US humanitarian aid to Palestinians and crack down on anti-war protests.

In the months leading up to the election, the Trump campaign has increased its engagement with the Arab-American community. He has since won the endorsements of the mayor of Hamtramck, Amer Ghalib, and the mayor of Dearborn Heights, Bill Bazzi.

Mr Trump has enlisted the help of Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman whose son is married to the former president's daughter. Mr Trump has promised to bring an end to war in the Middle East, should he win – although he has not gone into details.

In previous elections, Arab Americans had leaned towards the Democratic Party. In 2020, Dearborn residents young and old raced to volunteer for the party, to prop up Arab voter registration and turnout for Mr Biden.

Now, they say they feel betrayed by the President they helped to elect four years ago. During the Democratic midterms, the Uncommitted anti-war movement gathered more than 740,000 protest votes in a show support for a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.

Leaders in the movement say Ms Harris has refused to meet them or listen to their demands. She has also shut down anti-war protesters during her campaign events and continued to push Mr Biden's messaging on Gaza.

The group, which has not officially endorsed Ms Harris, put out a video this week urging Michigan's Arab and Muslim communities not to vote for Mr Trump.

Dearborn is the epicentre of Arab-American culture and presence. The city has an has an English/Arabic newspaper as well as an Arab-American museum.

Homes and businesses have large Lebanese and Palestinian flags waving outside, and signs calling for an end to the wars. The city has famous restaurants serving traditional and modern Middle Eastern cuisine, trendy Yemeni coffee shops, shisha bars and grocery stores.

About 400,000 Arab Americans live in Michigan, a large enough population to affect the results of the swing state that Democrats have often relied on to win presidential elections.

On Sunday night, in a final appeal to Arab Americans, Ms Harris vowed to end the Israel-Gaza war. She said this year “has been difficult” for people in Gaza and in Lebanon, and the effects have been “devastating”. She vowed to end the war on Gaza, and work on a diplomatic resolution to end the war in Lebanon.

“She thinks we're naive,” an Arab American who has always voted Democrat told The National.

Many in Dearborn and the wider Wayne County region say they will vote for third-party candidate Jill Stein, in a largely symbolic gesture aimed at sending a message about their displeasure to the Democrats.

But in the nation's two-party system, there is concern that a protest vote by Arab Americans will further alienate them from the Democratic Party should Ms Harris win, possibly undoing years of work to make their voices heard.