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Arab American Newspaper Won’t Endorse Kamala Harris After Decades of Backing Democrats

October 17, 2024

Kamala Harris interview with Bret Baier

The Arab American News newspaper will not be endorsing Kamala Harris in next month’s presidential election, despite always endorsing Democratic candidates over the past decades.

In an interview with CNN’s John Berman, Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani said that neither Harris nor Trump would be receiving their endorsement because of their support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza that has since expanded to other areas of the Middle East.

He explained:

We did not see anything that brings to our attention the interest of our community and what’s happening overseas. Our homes, our friends’ homes, our families overseas are being killed by American-made bombs. And we should — we have been trying to say to them, please stop this war for 12 months. And 43,000 right now dead in Gaza, 2,200 in Lebanon.

Thousands have been injured, 100,000 in Gaza and over 11,000 in Lebanon. Total destruction of homes and properties. And every facet of life in Gaza and now in Lebanon. What are we going to vote for? Who are we going to vote for? The two main candidates have been ignoring our need. And therefore, we have decided to ignore them and not to vote for them.

Siblani went on to say that although the paper had endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, he had betrayed them by refusing to hear or act upon their concerns:

Let’s remember one thing. President Joe Biden, when he was running for president in 2020, we voted for him. He got almost 70% of our votes in this state. And we have given him all the support. And when his wife, Jill Biden, showed up in here and him and his Vice-Presidential candidate at that time, Kamala Harris, we supported them.

We have interviewed Kamala Harris. We’ve interviewed people from his campaign. And they said, we will have a seat around the table. We don’t have a seat around the table. We don’t have a seat in the room. We don’t have a seat in the building, in the neighborhood, in the city, in the country. And therefore, why would we?

While the paper’s non-endorsement of Harris may not swing the election one way or the other, such a refusal is an indication of her precarious position in states such as Michigan, where Arab-Americans are refusing to support her because of the conflict in Gaza.

Having been founded in 1894, The Arab American News remains America’s oldest and largest Arab-American newspaper.

The paper has traditionally backed Democratic presidential candidates. The last time that it endorsed a non-Democratic was in 2000, when the paper supported Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, citing his positions on the Middle East.

While the paper has not endorsed a candidate in this cycle, its X page has retweeted various posts in support of Green Party candidate Jill Stein, including through a cover piece promoting her candidacy.

The post Arab American Newspaper Won’t Endorse Kamala Harris After Decades of Backing Democrats appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.