The Uncommitted National Movement, a grassroots effort in the United States that is seeking to pressure the Democratic Party to shift its policy towards Israel amid the Gaza war, has announced that it cannot endorse Kamala Harris for President.
While it cannot endorse US Vice President Kamala Harris for President, it isn’t in support of Trump either.
“At this time, our movement opposes a Donald Trump presidency, whose agenda includes plans to accelerate the killing in Gaza while intensifying the suppression of antiwar organising,” Abbas Alawieh, one of the Uncommitted National Movement’s leaders, said during a virtual news conference Alawieh said.
“And our movement is not recommending a third-party vote in the presidential election, especially as third-party votes in key swing states could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency, given our country’s broken Electoral College system.”
Abbas Alawieh
The leaders of the group clarified they were not appealing for voters to check out of the presidential race completely.
Nonetheless, political analysts believe that the non-endorsement could spell trouble for Harris, who needs to turn out a broad base of Democratic voters in an election that is expected to be decided by a razor-thin margin.
It also underscores the alienation of not only Arab and Muslim voters in must-win, battleground states, but also progressive activists with a proven ability to get people to the polls.
The group said that Harris’s team had failed to respond to its request for a meeting with representatives and families of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip by a September 15 deadline.
Trump Touts Himself As Best Bet For Jewish Americans
Meanwhile, at a donor event, entitled “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America,” Trump vowed to support Jewish Americans
“My promise to Jewish Americans is this: with your vote I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House. But in all fairness, I already am.”
Donald Trump
He criticised Harris over the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, and for what he branded antisemitic protests on college campuses and elsewhere.
He said, “Kamala Harris has done absolutely nothing. She has not lifted a single finger to protect you or to protect your children.”
He repeated a talking point that Jewish people who vote for Democrats “should have their head examined.”
“I will put it to you very simply and gently. I really haven’t been treated right. But you haven’t been treated right because you’re putting yourself in great danger and the United States hasn’t been treated right.”
Donald Trump
He claimed that Israel “will cease to exist” within two or three years if he does not win the election.
“I have to tell you the truth and maybe you’ll be energised because there’s no way that I should be getting 40% of the vote. I’m the one that’s protecting you. These are the people who are going destroy you and you have 60% of Jewish people essentially voting for that.”
Donald Trump
Trump claimed that a recent poll in Israel was 99% favourable towards him, though it was unclear what poll he was citing.
He stated, “Everybody loves me. I could run for Prime Minister but I’d have to learn your language. That’s a tough language to learn … I’m the most popular person in Israel. But here it doesn’t translate. It is a strange thing.”
Concluding his remarks, the former President reiterated, “I believe that Israel will be wiped off the face of the earth if I don’t win.”
He described, without evidence, Harris as “anti-Israel” and “anti-Jewish”, even though the Vice President is married to a Jewish man, Doug Emhoff.
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