Ann Arbor, Michigan — Hind Omar is a Palestinian-American mother from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She and her husband Andrew are longtime Democrats and feel let down by the party and President Biden.
“We looked for Biden,” Omar said. “We showed up for Biden. And this experience during his reign under his watch was a betrayal.”
Since the October 7 attack More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Hamas militants against Israel – who, according to Israeli authorities, have killed around 1,200 people. during the Israeli attack aimed at eliminating Hamas, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which says the majority are women and children but does not distinguish between civilian and fighter victims.
Seeing the ongoing war in Gaza has prompted Hind and her entire family to consider leaving the presidential ballot box blank.
“Where the Democratic Party used to be the weak spot that we would go to, now it has become the aggression against our community,” Hind said.
It’s a major vulnerability for Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been criticized for his lack of community outreach. Her speech this week in Ann Arbor was interrupted by a group protesting against the war.
“We all want this war to end as quickly as possible and for the hostages to get out,” Harris told the crowd Monday. “And I will do everything I can to make that happen.”
While the Biden administration pushed For a ceasefire in the war, the country has also maintained its steady support for Israel, and in August approved $20 billion in arms sales for the Israeli military.
In an interview on “60 Minutes” last month, Harris said that “Israel has the right to defend itself,” but added that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. This war must end.”
Four years ago, President Biden won Michigan by just over 150,000 votes. Now the battleground state’s more than 200,000 largely disillusioned Arab and Muslim American voters could hand the election to former President Donald Trump, who has said Israel must “finish what they started.”
Hind said she is uncomfortable with the fact that an uncommitted vote could lead to a Trump victory because “that administration will be much worse for our community.”
However, she feels betrayed by the Biden administration.
“No one saw this level of betrayal coming, and that is what people are now coming to terms with,” Hind said.
Among those reconciling is Joshua Feinstein, a Jewish American Democrat who has family in Lebanon, where the militant group Hezbollah is based. Israel and Hezbollah have been too busy regularly in missile and rocket attacks since last year, but the situation escalated in September, when Israel began launching strikes about Beirut, before starting a limited ground invasion to Lebanon.
“I talk to them every day,” an emotional Feinstein said of his family. “They are being bombed.”
The Israeli invasion of Lebanon prompted Feinstein to vote for the Green Party’s Jill Stein over Harris.
“I’m not voting to punish anyone,” Feinstein said. ‘I’m not protesting. I say my vote is not deserved.’
Now this group of powerful voters is sending what they call a final message.
“You’re not committed to us,” Feinstein said. “We will not commit ourselves to you.”
Shanelle Kaul
