The Charity Commission, the regulator of charities in England and Wales, issued the “official warning” after finding the trustees of Jewish charity, the Chabad Lubavitch Centre, had acted “outside the charity’s purposes” and “failed to safeguard its best interests and its reputation.”

The charity was found to have set up a fundraiser page in October 2023 to raise funds for a soldier of the IDF stationed in northern Israel.

The page, which was eventually removed in January 2024 following complaints by pro-Palestine activists, still managed to raise around £2,280. Of those monies, £937 was sent directly to an individual soldier.

According to the Charity Commission, the Chabad trustees were unable to account for how those funds were spent. The remaining funds were spent on “non-lethal military equipment” purchased by the trustees and sent to the same soldier in Israel.

The Director for Regulatory Services at the Charity Commission, Helen Earner, said: “It is not lawful, or acceptable, for a charity to raise funds to support a soldier of a foreign military. Our official warning requires the charity to set things right and is a clear message to other charities to stay true to their established purposes.”

In UK law, charities with appropriate purposes can raise funds to promote the efficiency of the UK armed forces. However, providing aid or military supplies to any foreign armed force is not a charitable purpose, and no charity can legally undertake such activity.

The Charity Commission listed the charity’s actual purposes as “to advance the orthodox Jewish religion, advance orthodox Jewish education, and to relieve poverty and sickness.”

The official warning imposes a number of requirements on the charity’s trustees to remedy the misconduct and/or mismanagement. Any failure by the charity to implement the requirements in the official warning may lead to further regulatory action.

In a statement, the Redbridge Palestine Solidarity Network (RPSN), a group made up of local residents who lobbied the authorities to act on this issue, welcomed the formal warning but admitted concerns still remain over the center.

“We welcome the formal warning issued to Chabad Lubavitch Centres North East London and Essex for their unacceptable fundraising activities. However, we believe tougher action is necessary, as supporting efforts tied to an ongoing genocide is deeply troubling.

It is alarming they acted so openly, and despite raising concerns with local leaders like Jas Athwal and Wes Streeting, our warnings were not adequately addressed.”

Other Examples

This is not the first Jewish charity that has fundraised for the IDF.

Earlier in 2024, Middle East Eye reported that the Charity Commission had been urged to investigate the UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (UK-AWIS), which was also asking for donations to support forces taking part in Operation Swords of Iron.

In a post on its Facebook page on November 17, UK-AWIS said: “Each generous donation allows us to better provide essentials for our frontline soldiers in Operation Swords of Iron.”

Since then, the website and social media content belonging to the British charity under scrutiny over its fundraising activities is “no longer accessible online.”

The number of people killed in Gaza is significantly higher than the figure reported by Gaza’s authorities, a peer-reviewed study by researchers from a leading health research university in the UK has found.

According to findings announced by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and published in The Lancet journal, there were an estimated 64,260 “traumatic injury deaths” in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza put the figure at 37,877 at the time.

This means the ministry has under-reported the death toll due to violence by approximately 41%, the researchers found.

As of October, the number of Gazans killed by violence was thought to exceed 70,000, the study said, based on the estimated underreporting rate.

The IDF has been widely accused of committing war crimes, and even genocide, by human rights organizations.

Israel says it must wipe out Hamas which poses an existential threat to the Jewish state.

Source: 5Pillars

A group of activists in New York City spread the messages of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement during this holiday season, to remind shoppers of Israel’s ongoing war and destruction in Gaza.

In a video posted on the social media platform Instagram by the New Jersey Palestine Action channel, entitled “Tis the season to end genocide”, activists are seen hitting BDS target companies such as Starbucks, McDonald’s and Zara with stickers across neighborhoods in Manhattan.

BDS is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. The movement takes its inspiration from the boycott movement against Apartheid South Africa and seeks to pressure Israel into ending its occupation and violations by peaceful means.

Activists caught the attention of shoppers with colorful stickers and coupon codes, offering discounts and free items.

But upon scanning the QR codes, customers are confronted with images from Gaza where Israel’s war continues to kill, starve and displace Palestinians, in a war that has been going on for over a year and a half and has been called a genocide by leading human rights organizations.

Activists hoped to remind people that these brands are complicit in Israel’s continuing war on the Palestinian enclave, and called on them to boycott the brands.

Activists end the video by calling for an “arms embargo, an end to the siege of Gaza and an end to the 76 years of displacement, occupation and apartheid in Palestine”.

“Americans, particularly in big cities like New York, are extremely tunnel-versioned and consumer-driven. It can feel like screaming into the void despite hundreds of demonstrations. This was an action that was designed to bring the genocide right to their periphery where they can’t avoid it: to the complicity corporations that they refuel from daily,” New Jersey Palestine Action said about the campaign.

“Everything we do is for those in Gaza. We want the Palestinian people to know we will never forget them,” the movement added.

On 16 December, the movement posted a reel showing an autonomous group tagging 68 storefronts in Manhattan that are currently being boycotted.

They have also translated stickers into Spanish due to the amount of requests to do so. The group told Middle East Eye that they have received offers from people to translate them into other languages, such as German and French.

The group told MEE the sticker movement has travelled to major countries such as Spain, France, Germany, Canada, New Zealand and many states in the US such as California, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Florida.

The activist group said they have set a deadline to receive content from those who have ordered the stickers, and expect to receive and release a mashup of footage of stickers being posted all over the world.

The movement attracted support from many grassroots organizations around the world in raising awareness about Israel’s war on Gaza and the complicit institutions.

According to reports in the past year, both Starbucks and McDonald’s have reported declines in sales and profits, and both corporations have blamed international boycotts by supporters of Palestine amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.

In December 2023, the fashion company Zara removed a controversial advertising campaign from the front page of its website after pro-Palestine activists called for a boycott of the retailer.

The advertisement featured mannequins that were missing limbs and statues wrapped in a white shroud. Activists said the photographs resembled images from Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Source: The Middle East Eye

The “European Islamophobia Report 2023”, which examined anti-Muslim sentiment in 28 European countries, revealed that Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza have contributed to a significant rise in Islamophobia across Western Europe.

Edited by Enes Bayrakli of the Turkish-German University in Istanbul and Farid Hafez of William & Mary University in the U.S., the report highlights how the Gaza conflict intensified Islamophobic rhetoric. It notes that pro-Palestinian solidarity has increasingly been framed as extremism, prompting protest bans and restrictive measures in countries such as Germany, France, and Denmark.

“No other political development has shaped the life of Muslims in 2023 as much as the war in Palestine,” the report said. “With the rising voices against the genocide in Gaza also coming from Muslims in European countries, the political response by various governments has put Muslims into an even more securitized position.”

Key highlights of the 2023 report include:

• Neglect of the International Day to Combat Islamophobia: Apart from Spain, no European government recognized this UN-designated day in 2023.
• Mainstream and far-right media, along with social media platforms, amplified anti-Muslim narratives, dehumanising Muslims and fostering disinformation.
• Hate crimes against Muslims increased significantly, especially in Norway, Spain and Greece.
• Legal and educational systems perpetuated biases against Muslims, with France and Denmark enforcing controversial policies targeting Muslim communities.

The report also focused on Islamophobia in several European countries:

United Kingdom

Aristotle Kallis, a professor at Keele University, UK, said that the UK witnessed a significant increase in Islamophobia in 2023, with a 600% surge in reported cases following the Hamas attack on Israel in October.

Mainstream Islamophobia saw a surge with the government’s anti-radicalization program, Prevent, continuing to focus disproportionately on “Islamist extremism” despite evidence of more significant threats from far-right ideologies.

Muslims faced workplace discrimination, underrepresentation, and hostility. In education, there were issues with teacher recruitment, student discrimination, and the influence of Prevent on Muslim students. The justice system showed biases with higher Muslim incarceration rates.

Media portrayal often vilified Muslims, contributing to Islamophobia. The internet, especially post-conflict, saw a surge in anti-Muslim content, with platforms like X (formerly Twitter) under scrutiny for poor moderation.

Suella Braverman’s role as Home Secretary in 2023 is highlighted for promoting anti-Muslim sentiments through policy and rhetoric.

France

The report noted that in France, President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-Israel statements following the attacks in Gaza by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, have exacerbated institutional racism against Muslims.

Kawtar Najib, who authored the France section of the report, pointed out that the government’s ban on headscarves in schools has led to significant concern for Muslim students and their families. The move has been viewed as a sign of the institutionalization of anti-Muslim sentiment in France.

Najib referenced the police killing of Nahel Merzouk, 17, in June 2023, and the subsequent lack of an immediate arrest of the officer involved, which fueled protests and fears for the Muslim community.

Germany

Fabian Goldmann, a journalist focused on improving media coverage of Islam and immigration, said that the war in Israel and Palestine marked a significant escalation in violence, discrimination, and hostility towards Muslims in Germany in 2023, reaching unprecedented levels in recent history.

Police records showed a 140% increase in Islamophobic crimes, totaling 1,464 incidents, the highest since records began. The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency noted a record 10,772 consultation requests.

Migration policies became more restrictive, mirroring demands previously associated with far-right politics, with the AfD gaining significant support in polls.

German media coverage of Islam was predominantly negative, focusing on themes of violence, crime, and cultural clash. Notable outlets like Bild and Die Welt were highlighted for their role in shaping anti-Muslim discourse.

The AfD remained a key producer of Islamophobia, with individuals like Ahmad Mansour and Susanne Schröter influencing public discourse.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, researcher Nadia Lahdili found that increasing anti-immigrant sentiment has directly contributed to rising Islamophobia.

There were 1,058 Islamophobic incidents reported in 2023, including 876 involving racial discrimination and 62 instances of anti-Muslim attacks.

Lahdili noted that Muslim women, particularly those wearing headscarves, face significant discrimination in the workplace, where they are often blocked from career advancement.

The report also discussed the political exploitation of Islamic dress by politicians during election campaigns, which has contributed to increasing institutional Islamophobia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hikmet Karcic from Sarajevo University highlighted the rise of radical anti-Muslim rhetoric in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly by Serbian nationalists.

It has led to tensions that mirror the situation in France and Switzerland, with hostile language used to weaken the multicultural fabric of Sarajevo.

The report noted that the closure of several mosques and the construction of hotels on land intended for mosques are part of efforts to erase the country’s cultural heritage and foster anti-Muslim sentiment.

Austria

Farid Hafez drew attention to Austria, where the United Arab Emirates has been implicated in funding anti-Muslim groups.

Anti-Muslim rhetoric surged after the outbreak of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, and schools in Austria held workshops against radicalization, which, in some cases, propagated Islamophobic sentiments.

The report also highlighted how protests against the Gaza violence were suppressed by police, with Austria voting against a UN General Assembly resolution that urged a cease-fire.

To address these challenges, EIR 2023 calls for:

• Full recognition of Islamophobia as a systemic issue by European governments.
• Strengthened legal frameworks to combat discrimination and hate crimes.
• Increased efforts by civil society and international organizations to promote inclusivity and counter anti-Muslim narratives.
• Enhanced monitoring and accountability for media and social media platforms to prevent the spread of hate speech and disinformation.

Source: 5Pillars 

The 64-page document, which maps out more than 100 executive branch actions, comes weeks before the inauguration of former President Donald Trump, who imposed a travel ban on people from some majority Muslim countries during his first term that Biden rescinded on his first day in office.

It mirrors a comprehensive strategy to fight antisemitism released by the White House in September 2023, and comes more than a year after death of six-year-old boy Wadea Al-Fayoume, stabbed by a man who targeted him and his mother because they were Palestinian-American.

In a foreword to the strategy, Biden called the attacks on the Chicago boy and his mother “heinous acts” and noted a spike in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate crimes, discrimination and bullying that he called wrong and unacceptable.

“Muslims and Arabs deserve to live with dignity and enjoy every right to the fullest extent along with all of their fellow Americans,” Biden wrote. “Policies that result in discrimination against entire communities are wrong and fail to keep us safe.”

The Council on American Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, called the strategy “too little, too late” and faulted the White House for not promising any changes to a federal watchlist and “no-fly” list that includes many Arab and Muslim Americans, and for failing to end the war in Gaza, which has been driving Islamophobia.

Jim Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, predicted the incoming Trump administration would disown the strategy, but welcomed the White House’s expansion to include anti-Arab hate instead of focusing solely on acts directed against Muslims.

The Trump transition team had no immediate comment on the strategy or whether it would support it.

Trump, who won support from some Muslim voters angry about Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, has said he will ban entry to the U.S. of anyone who questions Israel’s right to exist and revoke visas of foreign students who are “antisemitic.”

Tensions between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups surged on some U.S. campuses after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, with human rights advocates warning of rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate.

Source: Reuters

Opinion by Zara Mohammed

The reverberations of the Israel-Gaza conflict have been felt acutely by British Muslims in the year since the attacks of 7 October. As I travel across our communities, I’ve witnessed first-hand how the conflict has challenged once again our sense of security and our place within British society.

The human cost is staggering. I’ve spoken with British Palestinians who have lost dozens of family members in Gaza. Parents call me, distraught after their children have been arrested for their pro-Palestinian advocacy. University students fear deportation for criticizing Israel.

The calls for peace and justice for Palestinians echo far beyond the Muslim community. People of all faiths and none have taken to the streets in diverse, impassioned marches. With each passing day, as the civilian death toll in Gaza and beyond mounts, the case against Israel for having committed war crimes grows stronger. This is not a Muslim issue; it’s a human rights issue that concerns us all.

Yet British Muslims find themselves caught up in this, thrown into “culture wars” not of their choosing. While we stand in solidarity with those facing mortal suffering, we are confronted by an alarming surge in Islamophobia. The conflict has been cynically manipulated to stoke hatred against Muslims, orchestrated not only by far-right elements, but also by those who deploy harmful tropes to silence peaceful advocacy for Palestine.

The racist riots we witnessed in England in the summer were, in part, a reflection of this – fueled by false narratives of “two-tier policing”. Just this summer, we saw leading politicians make calls to ban the sacred Muslim affirmation “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) and declare that “Not all cultures are equally valid” when talking of recent immigrants who apparently “hate” Israel. Muslim politicians face accusations of being controlled by Islamists or pursuing “sectarian” agendas.

In workplaces across the country, Muslims struggle to process the horrors they are witnessing while navigating difficult conversations with colleagues. Even longstanding inter-faith relationships have been strained. While many Jewish and Muslim colleagues have reached out to support one another, the polarization has taken its toll. There has been a concerted effort to frame this as a Muslim-Jewish issue, disregarding the millions of others who oppose the violence on humanitarian grounds.

Communities have turned to us for guidance on how to help, how to challenge harmful narratives, and how to maintain hope as the violence continues. Mosques, seeking to provide spiritual solace, have faced vandalism and attacks. Schools grapple with students wearing Palestinian badges, leaving many young people confused and conflicted.

The physical manifestations of hate are impossible to ignore. I myself experienced a hate crime on the London Underground, where someone shouted at me: “You lot are all taking over.”

Yet despite these challenges, there is hope. We can build common bonds that would bypass the urge to “choose sides”, while adhering to our deeply held view that the unfolding genocide in Palestine must stop.

Source: The Guardian

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has quit the Tory party because, she believes, it has become too right wing and toxic. I know and like Baroness Warsi. She’s feisty and smart and speaks her mind. But I can’t abide her deeply held, low tax, small state, pro-austerity conservative values. Nor can I comprehend how she reconciles that ideology with her passionate commitment to Muslims in Britain, many of whom suffered horribly under successive Tory governments.

Here you see two highly politicized female Muslims, whose views, at times, converge, but mostly diverge.

Twenty years ago, barely any Muslim voted for the Tories. That changed. Some, like Warsi, became prosperous business people and avid Conservatives. The rest kept faith in Labour, faith that is breaking over Keir Starmer’s response to Israel’s illegal war. Now we have Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s chair, whose Muslim parents emigrated here from Sri Lanka. Times change.

Warsi’s new book, Muslims Don’t Matter, is out today. Cover quotes include this by the multiple award-winning actor Riz Ahmed: “Burns with righteous anger. An urgent read for our times.”

While she was working on the book, riots exploded across the country. Far-right extremists tried to set fire to places housing asylum seekers; black and brown people were assaulted, mosques damaged. Warsi holds right-wing journalists, politicians and intellectuals responsible for fostering that burning hostility. I am with her on that. As is the veteran journalist Peter Oborne, who writes: “Over the past 14 years, the Tory government has established a coercive architecture of control and surveillance over British Muslims, while granting legitimacy to what would traditionally have been regarded as the far right.’”

I also salute her for taking a brave stand against Britain’s inaction over Israel’s punitive violence in Gaza. However, I cannot go along with Warsi and other prominent Muslims who believe Islamophobia defines our lives.

Anti-Muslim prejudices sting us often. On Sunday, at a wedding party, a white guy noticed I was drinking water and asked loudly if I was a Muslim. I replied: “Have you questioned others swigging water?” “No,” was the gruff response. I was the only brown guest there. The encounter made me feel like an outsider. These moments happen a lot.

Across Europe, the demonisation of Muslims has led to a frightening political project which could lead to the religious and ethnic cleansing we saw in Bosnia. Robert Jenrick wants to arrest us for saying “God is Great” in Arabic, a phrase I incant every day. But panicked Muslims should remember the dark past.

Back in 1988, when The Satanic Verses divided the nation, I felt isolated and torn as the only Muslim working in the mainstream media. I was a lover of the arts, a believer in free expression, a Salman Rushdie devotee. But I also felt an obligation to oppose the attacks on believers by the intelligentsia. Tony Blair’s obsession with Muslim enemies within led to serious human rights violations. Muslims back then had no agency, no real influence. They have both now.

Four pro-Palestinian, independent Muslims defeated sitting MPs at the last election. Tory leadership contender Kemi Badenoch fears they have “alien ideas which have no place here”. And Jonathan Ashworth, the toppled MP for Leicester South, moaned about the result. They now resent those who campaigned and won on an issue that matters to millions of Britons of all backgrounds.

In the last election, 25 Muslim heritage MPs got into parliament, mostly for Labour. Two are independents and two Tories. Talented Muslims are rising high in the City, in the arts and sciences and other spheres. Muslim migrants yearn to come here because they see what is possible in spite of Islamophobia. Innumerable white Britons came out to protect the riot victims and thousands march every week for Gaza. We are friends and lovers. These are big, irreversible changes.

I come to my most serious disagreement with Baroness Warsi. Her intense focus on Islamophobia distracts attention from the harm and damage we cause to ourselves or the oppression of young Muslims, particularly females and young people, who crave freedoms and choices. Progressive Muslims need to confront conservative Islam as ferociously as they do Islamophobia.

Our continuing advancement depends on honesty, cultural liberation and productive alliances with human rights activists of all races. That is harder than simply fighting Islamophobia. And as crucial, in my view.

Source: iNews

Sheikh Qaradaghi said: “We must not leave Lebanon or Gaza easy prey for targeting and division, for the sake of a sectarian or political disagreement, as the enemy does not differentiate between Muslims in its genocide against them, as anyone who is not with them is against them.

“What is required by Shari’ah is to stand as one against the Zionist project and against the Zionist genocide in any country. What we are witnessing today in terms of attacks on Lebanon and Gaza is an attack on the dignity of our peoples and our lands, and we cannot allow it to continue.”

The International Union of Muslim Scholars was founded by Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradhawi and is headquartered in Qatar, but is comprised of leading scholars from around the globe.

Sheikh Qaradaghi is a renowned Kurdish scholar who is now based in Qatar.

Here is a translation of his statement from the original Arabic:

“In the name of God, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. What is happening in Lebanon today is a blatant aggression on land and people, the destruction of people’s homes, the killing of civilians including children and women, and part of the policy of Netanyahu and his extremist right-wing group to expand the State of Israel to include Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and parts of Lebanon and Jordan. The annexation of the Golan has actually been achieved.

“It is not just a disagreement with a political or partisan faction. Distinguishing between problems of a sectarian nature and issues that affect the Ummah as a whole is a duty upon all Muslims and free people of the world. We must not leave Lebanon or Gaza easy prey for targeting and division, for the sake of a sectarian or political disagreement, as the enemy does not differentiate between Muslims in its genocide against them, as anyone who is not with them is against them.

“What is required by Shari’ah is to stand as one against the Zionist project and against the Zionist genocide in any country. What we are witnessing today in terms of attacks on Lebanon and Gaza is an attack on the dignity of our peoples and our lands, and we cannot allow it to continue.

“Our disagreement with the partisan policies of some Lebanese or Palestinian parties does not give us the right to support any aggression targeting peoples. We must not rejoice when the Lebanese or Palestinian people are attacked under any pretext. This aggression is a blatant assault, and Muslims and their governments must work to prevent it.

“As the President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, I call upon our Islamic and Arab nation to do their duty in the face of the Zionist aggression and genocide, and I also urge that an urgent Arab-Islamic summit be held to discuss and stop this rampant Zionist madness that targets not only Gaza and Lebanon, but also extends to all Arab and Islamic capitals and countries.

“Our responsibility requires us to take immediate action to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, and to demand an end to the brutal bombing of Gaza. We also call for providing our people in Gaza with everything they need to confront the siege, whether on the military, food, or economic level, or any type of support necessary for their continued steadfastness.

“Arabs and Muslims have many cards, including announcing the cutting off of oil and gas until the aggression stops, as well as the political and economic boycott of the Zionist entity, and the severing of diplomatic relations. Our silence in the face of this aggression deepens the tragedies of our peoples, and we must work according to the jurisprudence of priorities and awareness of the present and realise the meaning of God’s saying: ‘And hold fast, all of you together, to the rope of God,’ and His saying: ‘And do not dispute and [thus] lose courage. God is the helper.’”

Source: 5Pillars 

The endorsement comes as the 2024 race between Harris and Trump remains very tight ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Arab American and Muslim voters may play a decisive role in the outcome in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and other battleground states. These voters helped President Joe Biden defeat Trump in 2020 by thousands of votes.

Many Muslim groups, including Emgage Action, have criticized the Biden administration, where Harris serves as vice president, for its support of Israel’s war in Gaza. Harris has urged an immediate ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, saying she supports Israel’s right to defend itself as well as the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

“While we do not agree with all of Harris’ policies, particularly on the war on Gaza, we are approaching this election with both pragmatism and conviction,” Emgage CEO Wa’el Alzayat said in a statement, adding it sought to provide “honest guidance to our voters regarding the difficult choice they confront at the ballot box.”

Emgage Action, which endorsed Biden in 2020, said it mobilized 1 million Muslim voters in that election. The group said the Harris endorsement reflects a “responsibility to defeat Trump and defend the community against what would be a return to Islamophobic and other harmful policies.”

Trump’s campaign had no immediate comment. His campaign has held dozens of events with Arab Americans and Muslims in swing states and plans another event this weekend in Michigan, Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, said last week.

Trump has said he will reinstate the “travel ban” that restricts entry into the United States of people from a list of largely Muslim-dominant countries. Biden rolled back the ban shortly after taking office in 2021.

The Harris campaign welcomed the endorsement a week after another big voting bloc, the pro-Palestinian grassroots organization Uncommitted National Movement, said it would not endorse Harris, Trump or a third-party candidate.

Harris has already won the backing of smaller Muslim groups, including the Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund and the American Muslim Democratic Caucus.

The U.S., Israel’s biggest ally and weapons supplier, has sent Israel more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound (900-kg) bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles since the start of the Gaza war in October, U.S. officials told Reuters in June.

The war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s military has leveled swaths of Gaza, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing more than 41,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Source: Reuters

A late August poll conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group showed that in Michigan, home to a large Arab American community, 40% of Muslim voters backed the Green Party’s Stein. Republican candidate Donald Trump got 18%, with Harris, who is President Joe Biden’s vice president, trailing at 12%.

The poll, conducted by text message more than two weeks before the Harris-Trump Sept. 10 debate, showed Harris leading Trump 29.4% to 11.2%, with 34% favoring third-party candidates including Stein at 29.1%.

Harris was the leading pick of Muslim voters in Georgia and Pennsylvania, while Trump prevailed in Nevada with 27%, just ahead of Harris’ 26%, according to the CAIR poll of 1,155 Muslim voters nationwide. All are battleground states that have swung on narrow margins in recent elections.

The Green Party is on most state ballots, including all battleground states that could decide the election, except for Georgia and Nevada, where the party is suing to be included.

Stein also leads Harris among Muslims in Arizona and Wisconsin, battleground states with sizable Muslim populations where Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by slim margins.

Biden won the 2020 Muslim vote, credited in various exit polls with from 64% to 84% of their support, but Muslim backing of Democrats has fallen sharply since Israel’s nearly year-long action in Gaza.

The Uncommitted National Movement said on Thursday it would not back Harris even though it opposes Trump and won’t recommend a third-party vote. It said Trump would accelerate the killing in Gaza if reelected but Harris had not responded to its request she meet with Palestinian Americans who lost loved ones in Gaza and had not agreed to discuss halting arms shipments to Israel.

A campaign spokesperson said Harris was committed to earning every vote and uniting the country, while continuing to work to end the war in Gaza. The campaign earlier declined to comment on the shifting dynamics; officials tasked with Muslim outreach were not available for interviews.

The Uncommitted movement rallied over 750,000 voters to cast uncommitted ballots in the Democratic nominating contests early this year to protest Biden’s policy in support of Israel’s war. Biden left the race in July and endorsed Harris, who then launched her campaign.

Harris has gone further than other Biden administration officials to voice sympathy with the Palestinians and has forcefully criticized Israel’s conduct while adhering to Biden administration policy, disappointing Arab American and Muslim voters.

About 3.5 million Americans reported being of Middle Eastern descent in the 2020 U.S. Census, the first year such data was recorded. Although they make up about 1% of the total U.S. population of 335 million, their voters may prove crucial in a race that opinion polls show Harris and Trump neck and neck.

On Tuesday, Harris called for an end to the Israel-Gaza war and the return of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. She also said Israel must not reoccupy the Palestinian enclave and backed a two-state solution.

But at closed-door meetings in Michigan and elsewhere, Harris campaign officials have rebuffed appeals to halt or limit U.S. arms shipments to Israel, community leaders say.

“Decades of community organizing and civic engagement and mobilizing have not manifested into any benefit,” said Faye Nemer, founder of the Michigan-based MENA American Chamber of Commerce to promote U.S. trade with the Middle East. “We’re part of the fabric of this country, but our concerns are not taken into consideration,” she said.

Stein is aggressively campaigning on Gaza, while Trump representatives are meeting with Muslim groups and promising a swifter peace than Harris can deliver.

Stein’s 2016 run ended with just over 1% of the popular vote, but some Democrats blamed her and the Green Party for taking votes away from Democrat Hillary Clinton. Pollsters give Stein no chance of winning in 2024.

But her support for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, for an immediate U.S. arms embargo on Israel and for student movements to force universities to divest from weapons investments have made her popular in pro-Palestinian circles. Her running mate Butch Ware, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is Muslim.

This month Stein spoke at ArabCon in Dearborn, Michigan, an annual gathering of Arab Americans, and was featured on the cover of The Arab American News under the headline “The Choice 2024.” Last week in an interview with The Breakfast Club, a New York radio program, she said, “Every vote cast for our campaign is a vote against genocide,” a charge that Israel denies.

Trump team campaigns for Arab American votes

At the same time, the Trump team has hosted dozens of in-person and virtual events with Arab Americans and Muslims in Michigan and Arizona, said Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting Director of National Intelligence.

“Arab American leaders in Detroit know this is their moment to send a powerful message to the Democrat party that they shouldn’t be taken for granted,” Grenell said. Trump has said he would secure more Arab-Israeli peace deals.

Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by just thousands of votes in some states, thanks in part to the support of Arab and Muslim voters in states where they are concentrated, including Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes in 2020, but Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton there by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2016. The state is home to overlapping groups of more than 200,000 registered voters who are Muslim and 300,000 who report ancestry from the Middle East and North Africa.

In Philadelphia, which has a large Black Muslim population, activists have joined a national “Abandon Harris” campaign. They helped organize protests during her debate with Trump last week.

Philadelphia CAIR co-chair Rabiul Chowdhury said, “We have options. If Trump pledges to end the war and bring home all hostages, it’s game over for Harris.” Trump has said the war would never have erupted if he were president. It’s unclear how he would end it. Trump is a firm supporter of Israel.

Source: Reuters

Article by Dalia Mogahed and Saher Selod

As the United States presidential election approaches, the race to attract voters has intensified. Among the different constituencies the Democrats and Republicans are battling over, there is one that stands out: the Muslim community.

Although Muslims constitute roughly 1 percent of the American population, they are an important voting bloc because they are concentrated in swing states, which are often narrowly won in elections.

In this election cycle, the Muslim community seems more united than ever over a single political issue: the war in Gaza.  Any candidate hoping to win over large segments of Muslim voters would have to address community demands for an end to the bloodshed in Palestine.

This is according to a new study published by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) in partnership with Emgage and Change Research. It is based on a survey conducted in late June and early July focused on how Muslims in three swing states – Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan – intend to vote in the 2024 presidential election.

What we found is that President Joe Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza has turned Muslims, who in 2020 were some of his biggest supporters, into his sharpest detractors.

In 2020, about 65 percent of Muslim voters in these states showed up to cast their ballots for Biden. This support was vital to his electoral victory because he won key swing states by small margins. He won Georgia by just 12,000 votes, a state where more than 61,000 Muslims voted, and Pennsylvania by 81,000 votes, where 125,000 Muslims voted.

By contrast, in our survey, conducted before Biden dropped out of the presidential race, only 12 percent of respondents said they would vote for him, marking a dramatic drop in support not seen among any other group studied. While this impacts the presidential race, it has also manifested in a broader disillusionment with the establishment of the Democratic Party.

The war on Gaza has unified Muslim voters in a way that no other issue has in recent memory. According to the 2020 American Muslim Poll conducted by ISPU, healthcare (19 percent), the economy (14 percent) and social justice (13 percent) were the top voting issues for Muslim voters.

Compare that with 2024: Across the partisan spectrum, the top priority of Muslim voters in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan is the war in Gaza (61 percent), followed by keeping the US out of foreign wars (22 percent).

Reduction of military aid to Israel also garnered the support of the vast majority of Muslim voters in our study, who, regardless of partisan sentiments, all overwhelmingly see this policy as a reason to vote for a candidate. While a war overseas may seem far from the daily concerns of American Muslim voters, many see the US role – providing unconditional aid and diplomatic cover to Israel – as complicity in the continued oppression of Palestinians.

The importance of the war in Gaza for Muslim voters was made clear months before we conducted our survey. The Muslim community played a leading role in the Uncommitted National Movement, which urged Democratic voters to vote “uncommitted” in presidential primaries in their states. The initiative managed to get more than 700,000 Democrats to do so, making clear their demand for a change in the Biden administration’s tone and policy on Israel and Palestine.

This dramatic Muslim migration away from Biden is not a wholesale leap to the other side of the aisle, however. Muslim support for Trump inched up from 18 percent in 2020 to 22 percent in 2024 in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Overwhelmingly, former Muslim supporters of Biden are moving to third parties or are still undecided. Our study found that nearly a third of Muslim voters will either vote a third-party candidate (27 percent) or write in a candidate (3 percent). About 17 percent of Muslims said they have yet to decide on a candidate compared with 6 percent of the general public.

This means there is still room and time for candidates to win over this vital constituency. And it seems they are trying.

Not only has Biden pulled out of the race, but Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has signaled she is distancing herself from his unflinching support for Israel’s war on Gaza. In July, the vice president did not attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, said she will not be silent about the suffering in Gaza and made clear her support for a ceasefire.

In August, she picked as her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is widely regarded as more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than short-listed Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. This year, Walz praised uncommitted voters in Minnesota, calling them “civically engaged” and saying, “This issue is a humanitarian crisis. They have every right to be heard.”

And while Muslims were cautiously optimistic at best, the Harris campaign’s refusal to allow a Palestinian American to speak at the Democratic National Convention last week has soured this hope.

Third-party candidates Jill Stein and Cornel West have both been vocal in their support for the people of Gaza. West chose Melina Abdullah, a Black Muslim woman as his running mate. Stein chose Muslim activist and academic Rudolph “Butch” Ware.

Even Republican candidate Donald Trump’s campaign is reaching out to Arab American voters – a surprise given the anti-Muslim rhetoric he used when campaigning in 2016. People associated with his campaign have been trying to woo Arab voters in swing states. Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany, married the son of a Lebanese American businessman, Massad Boulous, who has been trying to persuade Arabs in Michigan to vote for the former president due to the current administration’s failed policy in Gaza.

The Muslim community’s mobilization on Palestine has come at a heavy cost for many. The Council on American Islamic Relations reported an unprecedented spike in incidents of bias: a 56 percent increase in reports of Islamophobia in 2023. Anti-Palestinian racism has also skyrocketed, a worrying trend reflected in the shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont who were wearing the keffiyeh scarf. Thousands – many of them Muslim students – were arrested at campus protests, and many were threatened with expulsion or faced criminal charges for their pro-Palestinian activism at colleges and universities across the US.

And yet even with the consequences of taking a public stance on Palestine, Muslim voters appear to be undeterred this time around. Solidarity with the people of Gaza has emerged as the single most important issue for American Muslim voters, a group no candidate can afford to ignore.

Source: Al Jazeera English