DEARBORN, Mich. — Bowls of labneh and platters of za’atar bread covered the tables in a Lebanese restaurant near Detroit, yet no one seemed to have much of an appetite.
On one side were Kamala Harris’ top emissaries to the Arab American community. On the other were local leaders who were explaining—once again—why many in the community couldn’t vote for the vice president because of the war in Gaza.
“I love this country, but I’ll tell you, we have never been so disappointed in this country as we are now,” said Nabih H. Ayad, chairman of the Arab American Civil Rights League. “We wanted to give the Democratic Party the opportunity to do something, and they haven’t.”
“The one line we can’t cross,” Ayad said, “is genocide.”
Read More: How U.S. Policy on Gaza Could Change Under Kamala Harris—or Donald Trump
Nasrina Bargzie and Brenda Abdelal, who were hired by Harris’ campaign to spearhead Arab and Muslim outreach, listened intently but said little in response.
If Harris loses Michigan and the presidential election next week, it’s conversations like this one that could explain why. The Detroit area has the country’s largest concentration of Arab Americans, and Democrats fear that Harris will pay a steep political price for U.S. support for Israel, which rejects allegations that its military operations in Gaza constitute a genocide.
Community members who normally back Democrats said they face an impossible decision. Either they punish Harris for what they view as complicity in the deaths of at least 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, or they endure Donald Trump’s return to the White House, which they fear would revive discrimination toward their community.
A reminder of the situation’s complexity came in Ann Arbor on Monday night, when Harris held a campaign rally. Assad Turfe, one of the few Arab American elected officials in Michigan to endorse the vice president, said his community needs someone “who…
