Arab American and Muslim voters in Detroit weigh Gaza and climate in presidential race

Arab American and Muslim voters across the Detroit area say they feel deeply betrayed by the Biden-Harris administration’s support for the Israeli military amid the staggering death toll in Gaza and the escalation of the war into Lebanon and Syria. 

And as Vice President Kamala Harris embarks on her presidential campaign, she has yet to signal a significant policy shift that could address these concerns. 

However, many of these same voters are concerned with climate change and are struggling to reconcile their desire for a pro-climate agenda with what they see as Harris’s betrayal on Gaza.

During the primary elections, 100,000 Michigan voters checked the box for “Uncommitted” as a protest to Biden. But last week, the Uncommitted organization shared a not-quite endorsement video on social media encouraging supporters to vote for Harris. Co-founder and Dearborn resident Lexi Zeidan said a Trump presidency would be worse than a Harris win. 

“We have to orient less toward who is the better candidate and more toward what is the better antiwar approach in building our collective power,” Zeidan announced in the video. 

Zeidan went on to outline the goals of Project 2025 – developed by the Heritage Foundation, a hard-right think tank and Trump ally – which include eliminating humanitarian aid to Gaza and the West Bank and suppressing domestic pro-Palestinian protests. 

Project 2025 also aims to reduce the EPA’s funding, eliminate climate programs and environmental justice initiatives, expand oil and gas drilling, and challenge PFAS rules. 

This shift in messaging from the Uncommitted group weeks before the election is notable in Michigan, a swing state with more than 300,000 residents with Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. 

An August poll from The Council on American-Islamic Relations found that 29.4% of Muslim voters supported Harris, while 29.1% favored the Green Party’s Jill Stein. Trump garnered 11.2%, and 16.5% of Muslim voters remain undecided.

Meanwhile, a Detroit Imam joined 25 other imams from around the country in a letter endorsing Harris. Mayor Amer Ghali of Hamtramck, a city with the most immigrants in Michigan, announced his support for Trump last month. In Dearborn, Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said in a Mother Jones interview that he is still undecided, though he said he plans to vote and will hold the “new administration accountable” on November 6. 

Planet Detroit spoke with several Detroit voters with ties to the Middle East. Many are weighing Gaza and climate in their voting calculations weeks before the election. Here’s what we heard.

Toxic environmental toll

Layla Taha, a field director for Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s campaign, says she is still undecided on the presidential race. She highlights the broad implications of the Middle East conflict, including environmental damage and long-term health effects. 

“This is a genocide, and it’s an ecocide,” Taha said. “People right now in Gaza are not only being bombed, people are having a hard time breathing.” 

A June assessment from the UN Environmental Programme reports an estimated 39 million tons of debris scattered across Gaza, threatening human health and the environment. Toxic dust clouds contain remnants of asbestos and industrial waste. Over 281,000 tons of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere, surpassing the annual carbon footprints of over 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations.

“It’s going to have ramifications further down the line…this is the opposite of what we need to be doing to slow down and stop climate change,” Taha said. 

Done with a ‘lesser of two evils’ 

Zackariah Farah, a first-year medical student at Wayne State University from Rochester, agrees that climate change is an “existential threat.” He plans to vote for the Green Party, viewing both a Harris and a Trump presidency as “disasters” for his Muslim family. 

“If Donald Trump is elected again, he’s going to speed up fossil fuel production even more than Biden has,” Farah said. “But at the same time, when it comes to Palestine, he’s laid it out very clearly what he’s going to do. He said, ‘finish the job.’”

Farah said he has voted for Democrats his entire life, serving as a Democratic Party precinct delegate in 2020. He helped knock on doors for Joe Biden in the general election. But now, he said he’s reached his breaking point. Although Farah feels closer to Harris on some policy issues, he remains unconvinced.

“When it comes to Kamala Harris, domestically, she is clearly better. On abortion, for example,” he said. “On climate change, I think she will be somewhat better, but simply not enough.” 

Farah believes that as long as he maintains his Democratic voting record, the party will disregard his views on any issue, whether it’s the war and genocide in Gaza or climate change.

“It’s not just disillusionment or that I’m disenchanted with the system. I’m furious with it,” Farah said. “I’m done with a game of lesser of two evils. That’s not how we improve things.”

He emphasized the need for a new political organization and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, advocating for third-party nominee Jill Stein.

“I’ll be frank, she’s not going to win the election,” Farah said. “My vote is mostly going to be a protest of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and the two-party system. I think that’s where I’m at right now. I can’t vote for genocide.” 

‘Equally complicit’

Jibril Abdrabboh, a Palestinian and second-year engineering student at Wayne State University, has consistently voted third party in elections due to his opposition to both major parties’ support for the Israeli military. An estimated 41,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ground and air strikes on Gaza. 

He said he hopes that third-party candidates will continue to challenge the major parties by making voters’ support earned instead of “assuming it’s automatically deserved.” 

Abdrabboh said his family in Palestine views both major political parties as equally complicit in the ongoing conflict, making them indifferent to which party is in power.

“I’m hoping that the Uncommitted party shows that our votes have to be earned, and I think that the presidents are forgetting that, assuming it’s automatically deserved,” Abdrabboh said.  

What first-time voters are thinking

First-time voter Mais Al Hamad is a freshman neuroscience major at Wayne State from Detroit. She is still undecided, though she cited concerns about Gaza as one of her top issues. 

Ghadir Mustafah, a biology major from Syria, plans to vote for Trump. She cited inflation as her top issue and said she’s unconvinced by the concerns raised by the Uncommitted movement that Trump would be worse for Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon. 

“He was a great president, so why not continue?” Mustafah said. 

Down-ballot races still matter

Taha said, “our democracy can’t afford” to have another Trump presidency. Her 10-year-old brother, a U.S. citizen, has not been evacuated from Beirut, where her family fled from south Lebanon. 

“I know at any moment’s notice, they could all just be gone, and that’s my tax dollars funding that,” she said. “I have never been a single issue voter in my life. I’m a public health professional. I want universal health care. I want affordable housing. I want a Green New Deal. But right now, that is the issue that’s holding me back.” 

Taha is looking at races below the top of the ticket, such as Michigan’s Supreme Court. 

“I understand what’s at stake, but when you’re talking about the Arab community right now, we’re hurting, we’re grieving, we’re devastated, and there is no other issue bigger than the survival of our loved ones,” Taha said.