With the clock ticking, Harris risks losing support of Michigan’s 200,000-strong Arab Americans, who denounce the US handling of Israel’s war.
In her closing pitch for the presidency of the United States, Democrat aspirant Kamala Harris has promised to end the war in Gaza.
Campaigning in the swing state of Michigan, home to many Arab Americans, Harris, 60, on Sunday tried to reach voters disgruntled by the ongoing genocide, which has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians and displaced almost the entire 2.3 million residents of Gaza.
“This year has been difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon, it is devastating. And as president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure, and ensure the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination,” Harris said to applause during a rally in East Lansing city of Michigan, home to 200,000 Arab Americans.
She did not elaborate on how she planned to end the Gaza war, which critics say is backed by the US, the largest military supplier to Israel.
Both Harris, the current US vice president, and her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, 78, are making their final appeals with less than 36 hours left until polls open for Tuesday’s election.
Israel’s ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon have been a contentious issue in the campaign, with many voters condemning the US’s continued support for Israel amid mounting deaths, displacement and destruction in both places.
Since Israel began bombing Gaza following a rare Hamas attack inside Israel in October last year, Harris, like her boss, President Joe Biden, has repeatedly stated that Israel had a right to defend itself against its enemies. That, despite expressing concerns over disproportionate Palestinian civilian deaths due to Israel’s military campaign.
Harris, who has also promised to continue arming Israel if elected, badly needs to secure a majority in the seven pivotal battleground states in this year’s election amid a virtual dead heat with Trump nationally. A compilation of opinion polls by the RealClearPolitics website has Trump ahead by just 0.1 percent nationally, with five polls indicating they are locked in a tie.
Michigan, with a vibrant Arab and Muslim community and 15 Electoral College votes at stake, is crucial to Harris’s prospects. It, as well as Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, are considered this year’s swing states.
Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – once considered reliably Democratic – are crucial this year. Known as the “blue wall”, these states fell to Trump in 2016, only to be secured by Biden in 2020.
Trump on Friday visited Dearborn, Michigan, the heart of the Arab American community, and promised to end the conflict in the Middle East, also without saying how.
Ahead of Election Day, more than 78 million Americans have already cast early ballots, including about 700,000 more Democrats than Republicans, according to data published by the University of Florida Election Lab.