Black Muslim leaders urge voters to ditch Harris over "red line" Gaza genocide
Washington DC - Nearly 50 Black Muslim leaders in the US have called on voters not to cast ballots for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris due to the White House's continued support for Israel's genocide in Gaza.
"As Muslims and Black Americans who care deeply about justice for all, we recognize that the 2024 election is a pivotal moment for our nation and for many people around the world impacted by our nation's policies, including Palestinians facing genocide in Gaza," dozens of imams, scholars, and activists wrote in a letter, first reported by the Middle East Eye.
"For over a year, we have watched in horror as the openly racist Israeli government uses our taxpayer dollars to brutally slaughter, torture and starve our Palestinian brothers and sisters," the signatories lamented.
The letter goes on to say that President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris have continued to provide diplomatic cover and at least $18 billion in military aid to Israel over the last year, despite documented reports of gross human rights violations and overwhelming evidence of genocide.
Israel's bombing and ground invasion of Gaza have killed at least 42,603 people since October 2023, according to data from the territory's health ministry. The British medical journal Lancet and other experts believe the true death toll to be far greater, potentially upwards of 186,000 as of July 2024.
"Due to the long history of solidarity between Black and Palestinian communities, we know that the genocide in Gaza is only the latest crime that the Israeli apartheid government has committed throughout 76 years of systemic oppression," the letter continues.
"Black communities here and around the world easily recognize the injustice of what Palestinians have experienced given our similar experiences, from the Jim Crow South to Apartheid South Africa."
"Genocide must be our red line"
In their letter, the Black Muslim leaders note that Harris has refused to signal any planned policy shift toward Israel and Palestine since accepting the 2024 Democratic nomination for president
Instead, the vice president has repeatedly voiced her commitment to what she calls Israel's "right to defend itself" and opposed an arms embargo to protect Palestinian lives.
The White House's unflagging support for Israel may cost Democrats at the ballot box come November. Polling data released last month by the Council on American-Islamic Relations pits Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein ahead of Harris among Muslim voters in several key swing states.
Stein's vocal opposition to the Gaza genocide has earned her recent high-profile endorsements from the Abandon Harris Campaign and the American Arab and Muslim Political Action Committee.
"As Muslims obliged to uphold justice and as Black Americans whose ancestors experienced the worst of crimes, genocide must be our red line," the new letter states. "We simply cannot support a candidate who participated in a genocide and now refuses to lay out any plan to end that genocide."
"We call on Muslim voters to support only a pro-ceasefire and pro-arms embargo presidential candidate, as well as candidates down the ballot who support other just policies, including economic justice, religious freedom, healthcare for all, humane immigration policy, reforming the criminal justice system, and racial equality."
Cover photo: Ting Shen / AFP