Farhat said the Democratic Party “missed several key opportunities” to reassure Arab-American voters concerned about Gaza. According to him, one of the notable points is the decision to supply weapons to Israel for its military campaign in the enclave. He also points out how the Democratic National Convention A Palestinian affected by the war refused to allow America despite speaking, he gives the chair to his parents Hersh Goldberg-PaulinKilled Israeli-American kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
“It’s time to listen – we’re beyond that,” Farhat said. “We’re at a stage where constituencies like mine are demanding not just a change in rhetoric, but action in the form of policy change to see a party that this community has been loyal to for years, that they’ve stood up for.”
Maryam Hasanein, 24, left her post at the Biden administration’s Interior Department this summer in protest at the US handling of the war in Gaza. He believes nothing will change if Democratic voters are pressured to support the party, adding that it is up to the candidates to win the vote.
“Putting people away from voting how they want to vote in terms of independents and third parties is not what we should be doing,” Hassanein said. “If we sit here and say that change will not come, change will not come. If we accept everything as it is, of course there will be no change.”
Activist Linda Sarsour, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, but was in Dearborn for ArabCon, has a broader view that echoes those of others who spoke to NBC News. He said the concerns of the Arab American community go beyond the conflict in Gaza and reflect the complex nature of their struggles, including internal issues.
“We care about health care, we care about economic issues, we use transportation systems, we have property taxes, we worry about our electricity bills being monopolized by big corporations,” Sarsour told NBC News at ArabCon. “So I want this administration and those running for office to know that yes, the war in Gaza is a priority for us, but they also want to hear what your other plans are.”
Not just Gaza
While Gaza weighs heavily on the minds of many Arab darlings, it is not the only conflict they care about. The war in Yemen, supported by the United States and led by Saudi Arabia, has brought millions of people to the brink of starvation. iraq war now widely criticizedleft 200 thousand civilians were killedHe pursues numerous refugees seeking safety in Dearborn. Syria and LibyaIt was destroyed as a result of American airstrikes, further increasing mistrust of US foreign policy in the region.
Mona Mawari, a 39-year-old Yemeni American, lost her uncle in a missile attack during the war in Yemen. Her family’s story reflects a trauma shared by many, and inspired her to quit her job as a pharmacist to work full-time as a community organizer.
“He was attending a funeral when the shells hit the event hall,” Mawari told NBC News at a packed Yemeni coffee shop on Schaefer Road. “He was like a father to me.”
Seyed Saleh Ghazwini, who heads the majority-Arab community at the American Muslim Community Center for Education (MECCA) in nearby Canton, said the community has watched the destruction of their country unfold in stages over the years. As an Iraqi American, he said his family has “already paid the price” for US foreign policy.
“Why does our government, which calls out other countries for violating human rights, say nothing?” Ghazvini spoke about the war in Gaza. “Why are they supplying these bombs that kill children and innocent people?”
19-year-old Lebanese American students said they did not want to vote for Harris or Trump because of the foreign policies supported by the administrations of Zena Alzein and Zahraa Bahsoon in the Middle East.
“We want to feel like we didn’t have a hand in allowing things like this to happen,” Bahsoon said, agreeing with Alzein.