Until a month ago, Arab American voters were convinced they were reaching a dead end with President Joe Biden as they pleaded with him to end the war in Gaza.
But with Kamala Harris now at the top of the ticket, there’s new hope for a reset.
On Wednesday night, ahead of a rally in Detroit, Harris met briefly with two Arab American leaders of the “uncommitted” movement, Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed. The duo pleaded with her for a longer meeting to discuss arms restrictions on Israel and the larger situation in Gaza. And while Harris didn’t immediately commit to that meeting, the leaders said they were grateful to Harris in a statement released shortly after their brief encounter.
Both “thanked the Vice President for her openness to engaging with the demands of Uncommitted voters,” read a statement from the Uncommitted National Movement. “Elabed also thanked Governor Walz for recognizing and supporting Uncommitted Democratic primary voters.”
Others in the community also responded positively, though cautiously.
“Good they met,” Warren David, president of the Arab America Foundation, told NOTUS. “A start.”
Hatem Natshah, who leads a grassroots movement in Texas, told NOTUS he “was glad to read” about the meeting.
And Mustapha Hammoud, a councilman in Dearborn, Michigan, texted NOTUS that it was “great that she expressed openness.” Within seconds, however, he tempered his enthusiasm.
“Wouldn’t even say great,” he followed up. “LOL it’s a small step in the right direction. I am still waiting for her and her campaign to meet with officials here. I would chuckle if they think Arab Americans are a monolith.”
Alawieh and Elabed were part of a group invited to welcome Harris and her new running mate prior to their rally in Detroit, The New York Times first reported. Harris spoke with both of them and “expressed an openness to a meeting with Uncommitted leaders to discuss an arms embargo,” the statement from Uncommitted National Movement said, and she “shared her sympathies.”
Elabed, the statement added, was tearful during the exchange.
“Michigan voters want to support you, but we need a policy that will save lives in Gaza right now,” the statement recounted her exchange with Harris.
Moments after, Harris gave her remarks onstage and was interrupted multiple times by anti-war protesters who yelled, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide” and “We won’t vote for genocide,” according to the Times. At first, Harris brushed them off and defended their democratic right to free speech. When the chants didn’t end, she talked back.
“If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,” she said to raucous cheers from the crowd. “Otherwise, I am speaking.”
Arab American leaders weren’t as amused as the crowd.
“Sad. She should listen to them,” Burhan Ghanayem, who leads a grassroots movement in North Carolina, told NOTUS. “They are her base. It is not going to work to scare us that if we don’t stay silent and vote for her, we will get Trump.”
Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News who has participated in talks with both Biden’s and Trump’s campaigns, had similar feelings.
“My response is that people are tired of the lip service of Democrats and Republicans,” Siblani said.
The Abandon Biden Campaign also responded by mocking Harris.
“And now, we are speaking, Madam Vice President,” read a statement from the organization. “What Harris did show us last night, with her actions, was disdain for citizens of this country who are pleading for an end to a genocide. The Vice President could have taken it as a moment of empathy and acknowledgment of grievances but instead chose to conflate being anti-genocide with supporting Donald J. Trump.”
Others already began to cast doubt on the effectiveness of even meeting with Harris at all.
Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, was direct: “Terrible — not going to play out well,” he told NOTUS.
Hanna Hanania, who sits on the board of the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine, recalled the feelings he and his colleagues had toward Biden’s campaign.
“I hope it works and they have the meeting,” he told NOTUS.
On Thursday, the vice president’s National Security advisor Phil Gordon posted on X that Harris “does not support an arms embargo on Israel.”
Harris “has been clear,” he wrote. “She will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law.”
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Tinashe Chingarande is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.