For the reason that struggle in Gaza started, the specter of a protest vote — during which voters would select to abstain from the presidential election or vote for third-party candidates who had no shot of successful — hung over Democrats’ heads due to President Joe Biden’s unconditional assist for Israel and its right-wing authorities. When Vice President Kamala Harris turned the nominee, her lack of willingness to distance herself from Biden on this subject didn’t assist alleviate that menace. In the meantime, Donald Trump accused Democrats of not being sufficiently pro-Israel.
All through the election, pro-Palestinian voters tried to place strain on President Biden to vary course, organizing protests on school campuses throughout the nation and forming varied campaigns to punish him on the poll field. One group, the Uncommitted Nationwide Motion, requested Democratic voters to forged their ballots for “uncommitted” as an alternative of Biden in the course of the primaries, and so they amassed a whole bunch of hundreds of votes — sufficient to safe delegates on the Democratic Nationwide Conference.
However regardless of how a lot pro-Palestinian voters pushed candidates to present them a greater imaginative and prescient for find out how to finish the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, none had been keen to meaningfully tackle the issues of pro-Palestinian voters. And for Individuals who regarded Gaza as one in all their prime issues, their selection boiled right down to both punishing Democrats or stopping Trump. The end result was an election during which neither consequence would have been a win for Palestinians.
Whereas it’s unimaginable to level to any single subject to clarify why Harris misplaced to Trump, it’s clear that Harris misplaced at the very least some voters due to the Biden administration’s stance on Gaza. And now Trump, who vowed to ban Palestinian refugees from getting into america and stated he would revoke visas from international college students who’re deemed antisemitic, is the president-elect.
Voters needed an precise plan to cease the struggle. Candidates weren’t .
When it got here to which candidate had a greater imaginative and prescient for find out how to finish the struggle in Gaza, neither Biden, Harris, nor Trump provided a compelling message.
President Biden provided Israel unqualified assist, sending billions of {dollars} in navy assist. His administration defended Israel even because it dedicated horrific struggle crimes, together with hospital bombings. As a substitute of reckoning with the quickly rising demise toll in Gaza, he forged doubt on the numbers that the Gaza Ministry of Well being had put out — numbers that humanitarian teams and even the US authorities had deemed dependable prior to now.
At occasions, Harris, after she turned the Democratic nominee, tried calling out Israel for the staggering demise toll, saying that “far too many” civilians had been killed and emphasizing that how Israel carried out itself throughout this struggle mattered. She known as for an finish to the struggle, however after having served within the administration that financed Israel’s struggle with just about no circumstances, it wasn’t a very convincing message.
Harris additionally muddied her outreach — or lack thereof — to Arab Individuals by coupling any sympathetic assertion about Palestinians with a staunch protection of Israel. At her DNC speech, for instance, she stated the demise toll in Gaza was “heartbreaking” and acknowledged that Palestinians’ proper to self-determination must be realized — reiterating long-held US speaking factors — but in addition prefaced that assertion by once more justifying the struggle itself. When she was requested whether or not she was apprehensive about shedding Arab American voters due to Israel’s conduct, she stated, “There are such a lot of tragic tales coming from Gaza,” however that “the primary and most tragic story is October 7.”
For his half, Trump didn’t attempt to say that he could be any higher than Biden on Gaza. Earlier this yr, he stated Israel ought to wrap up the struggle and “get again to peace and cease killing folks.” However he stated it not within the context of sympathy for Palestinians, however out of concern that Israel was making itself look unhealthy. “And the opposite factor is I hate — they put out tapes on a regular basis. Each night time, they’re releasing tapes of a constructing falling down. They shouldn’t be releasing tapes like that,” he stated. “That’s why they’re shedding the PR struggle.”
Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, additionally appeared extra involved concerning the misplaced alternative for growth in Gaza than the human struggling, saying that the strip’s waterfront properties may very well be very invaluable. “There was no ocean so far as that was involved. They by no means took benefit of it,” Trump stated. “, as a developer, it may very well be essentially the most lovely place — the climate, the water, the entire thing, the local weather.”
As to how Trump would take care of Netanyahu, he indicated that he would let the Israeli prime minister be much more unrestrained, saying that Netanyahu was “doing a superb job” and that Biden was holding him again.
All through the election, Palestinians had been a goal
Finally, whether or not Trump would find yourself being worse than Biden or Harris on this subject didn’t essentially resonate with pro-Palestinian voters. For them, what’s been taking place over the past yr already represented the worst. Israel, in any case, has already been credibly accused of genocide on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice. As one Georgia voter advised me within the week earlier than the election, “On no account do I think about Trump is healthier for Palestine … [but] I can’t think about it worse.”
That helps clarify why so many Arab Individuals got here out towards Harris final Tuesday. In Dearborn, Michigan, an Arab-majority metropolis, Trump gained 43 p.c of the vote in comparison with Harris’s 36 p.c. In 2020, Biden gained the town with 69 p.c of the vote, and although Harris misplaced there, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American, gained her reelection to Congress with 62 p.c of the vote.
As a lot as this subject resonated with many citizens, America’s politicians weren’t able to rethink the nation’s relationship with Israel, even because the struggle escalated to the purpose the place now over 44,000 Palestinians have been killed. In July, when Netanyahu gave an tackle to Congress, he was met with a standing ovation.
From the beginning, Palestinians had been a goal on this election. Through the Republican primaries, candidates received on the talk stage and competed over who could be essentially the most pro-Israel president. At that time, it had been a month since Hamas’s October 7 assault, and Israel’s struggle on Gaza had already killed over 10,000 Palestinians, 40 p.c of whom had been kids. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stated he would inform Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “end the job as soon as and for all with these butchers,” referring to Hamas. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott stated, “You can’t negotiate with evil.” Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley repeated a line she had already examined out on the marketing campaign path: “End them.” She would later write that on an artillery shell throughout a go to to Israel. As for Trump, he even hurled the phrase “Palestinian” as an insult.
At every flip, regardless of how devastating the struggle turned, Palestinians had been humiliated. Professional-Palestinian protesters had been denigrated. And voters who sympathized with Palestinians in Gaza had been scolded.
That left voters with no tangible choices to enhance the scenario in Gaza on the poll field, prompting many to imagine that the easiest way to be heard is by sending a message that reckless international coverage will value incumbents votes. Whilst some voters tried to show the election right into a referendum on Biden’s Gaza coverage, the truth was that no candidate was keen to vow something past the established order. So Palestinians and their supporters discovered loads of purpose to imagine that regardless of the election consequence could be, it might solely vary from unhealthy to worse.
That feeling of hopelessness paved the way in which for a protest vote to take maintain. Whereas Biden’s Israel coverage, ultimately, won’t have been the deciding issue for a lot of the citizens, in some pockets of the nation, voters tried to indicate that they shouldn’t be ignored in the one approach they may: by voting towards the occasion that allowed Gaza to show right into a “graveyard for youngsters.”
It’s onerous to know what the subsequent few months, or subsequent 4 years, will appear like for Palestine. However there aren’t many indicators of hope — if there are any in any respect. Because the election drew to an in depth, Israelis introduced that they’re nearing a “full evacuation” of northern Gaza and that “there isn’t a intention” to permit Palestinians to return. That seems like solely the start of a brand new section within the struggle.
