By Nandita Bose, Andrea Shalal and Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON/REDFORD TOWNSHIP, Michigan (Reuters) -Vice President Kamala Harris met with Arab American and Muslim leaders in Flint, Michigan, on Friday, as her presidential campaign seeks to win back voters angry at U.S. support for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon, two sources said.
The meeting is one of several attempts in recent days to mend fences with Muslim and Arab voters, who resoundingly backed Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 but could withhold their votes from Harris in numbers that would cost her the key state of Michigan.
Harris met with Emgage Action, which recently endorsed her, the American Task Force on Lebanon, and a long-standing friend of Harris, Hala Hijazi, who has lost dozens of family members in Gaza, said the sources, who did not wish to be named.
Jim Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute and a longtime member of the Democratic National Committee, said he declined the invitation. Leaders from the Uncommitted National Movement protest campaign said they were not invited to the meeting.
A campaign official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Harris discussed the election and conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon during the meeting.
She expressed her concern on the scale of suffering in Gaza, civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon and discussed efforts to end the war, the official said. She also discussed efforts to prevent a regional war, the official added.
Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of Emgage Action, said he and other participants used the meeting to share their deep disappointment on the U.S. handling of the crisis and called on her to do everything in her power to end the war and reset U.S. policy in the region.
“Emgage Action asked Vice President Harris to impress upon President Biden the urgency of bringing an immediate end to the violence” in Gaza and Lebanon, Alzayat said.
On Wednesday, Harris’ national security adviser, Phil Gordon, virtually met with leaders from the Arab and Muslim community and said the administration supports a ceasefire in Gaza, diplomacy in Lebanon and stability in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the vice president’s office said.
On Thursday night, Harris’ vice presidential pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, promised on a Muslim voters Zoom (NASDAQ:) call that Muslims would have an equal role in a Harris administration.
Harris, a Democrat, faces Republican former President Donald Trump on Nov. 5 in what opinion polls show to be a tight presidential race.
Some Arab Americans believe Harris’ refusal to distance herself from President Biden’s policies in the Middle East, as Israel escalates its attacks, will cost her in November.
“Harris is going to lose Michigan,” said Ali Dagher, a Lebanese American attorney and community leader. “I will not be voting for Kamala Harris. No one I know will vote for her. I cannot find a single person in the community who supports her.”
A poll published this week by the Arab American Institute found Harris and Trump at roughly even levels of support among Arab Americans.
In Redford Township, Michigan, outside of Detroit, Harris celebrated the union deal that ended a major port strike. She spoke at a fire station whose workers are represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters, which on Thursday declined to make a presidential endorsement. The event was designed to show Harris has support among the union’s rank-and-file members, an aide said.
Later, in Flint, she appeared with United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain and vowed support for Michigan’s auto industry.
A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign said Harris is “putting a minimum of 37,000 auto jobs at risk by refusing to tell Michiganders if she still supports her proposed plan to ban all internal combustion engine cars by 2035.”
Critics say Biden and Harris have done too little to stop Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave, while continuing to supply Israel with weapons to carry it out.
The Israeli military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, Palestinian health authorities say.
Israel responded to an Oct. 7, 2023, incursion by Hamas gunmen, who Israel says killed around 1,200 people and abducted about 250 hostages. Gaza has suffered a humanitarian crisis with nearly all its over 2 million people displaced and widespread hunger in the enclave.
In Lebanon more than 1,900 people have been killed and 9,000 wounded during almost a year of cross-border fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, with most of the deaths in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government statistics.
Both Israeli and Hamas leaders are being investigated by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes committed in the Hamas attack and the subsequent Israeli response. Israel denies the accusations.
