Because the struggle in Gaza started, the specter of a protest vote — by 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 grew to become the nominee, her lack of willingness to distance herself from Biden on this difficulty didn’t assist alleviate that risk. 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 faculty campuses throughout the nation and forming numerous campaigns to punish him on the poll field. One group, the Uncommitted Nationwide Motion, requested Democratic voters to solid their ballots for “uncommitted” as an alternative of Biden in the course of the primaries, they usually amassed lots of of 1000’s of votes — sufficient to safe delegates on the Democratic Nationwide Conference.
However regardless of how a lot pro-Palestinian voters pushed candidates to provide them a greater imaginative and prescient for the way to finish the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, none had been prepared to meaningfully handle the considerations of pro-Palestinian voters. And for Individuals who regarded Gaza as certainly one of their high considerations, their alternative boiled right down to both punishing Democrats or stopping Trump. The outcome was an election by which neither end result would have been a win for Palestinians.
Whereas it’s inconceivable to level to any single difficulty to clarify why Harris misplaced to Trump, it’s clear that Harris misplaced a minimum of some voters due to the Biden administration’s stance on Gaza. And now Trump, who vowed to ban Palestinian refugees from getting into the US and mentioned he would revoke visas from overseas 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 the way to finish the struggle in Gaza, neither Biden, Harris, nor Trump supplied a compelling message.
President Biden supplied 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 dying toll in Gaza, he solid 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 previously.
At instances, Harris, after she grew to become the Democratic nominee, tried calling out Israel for the staggering dying toll, saying that “far too many” civilians had been killed and emphasizing that how Israel performed 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 situations, 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 mentioned the dying 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 nervous about dropping Arab American voters due to Israel’s conduct, she mentioned, “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 can be any higher than Biden on Gaza. Earlier this 12 months, he mentioned Israel ought to wrap up the struggle and “get again to peace and cease killing folks.” However he mentioned 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 evening, they’re releasing tapes of a constructing falling down. They shouldn’t be releasing tapes like that,” he mentioned. “That’s why they’re dropping the PR struggle.”
Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, additionally appeared extra involved concerning the misplaced alternative for improvement in Gaza than the human struggling, saying that the strip’s waterfront properties may very well be very worthwhile. “There was no ocean so far as that was involved. They by no means took benefit of it,” Trump mentioned. “You recognize, as a developer, it may very well be probably the most stunning place — the climate, the water, the entire thing, the local weather.”
As to how Trump would cope with Netanyahu, he indicated that he would let the Israeli prime minister be much more unrestrained, saying that Netanyahu was “doing an excellent job” and that Biden was holding him again.
All through the election, Palestinians had been a goal
In the end, whether or not Trump would find yourself being worse than Biden or Harris on this difficulty didn’t essentially resonate with pro-Palestinian voters. For them, what’s been taking place over the past 12 months already represented the worst. Israel, in any case, has already been credibly accused of genocide on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice. As one Georgia voter advised me within the week earlier than the election, “Under no circumstances 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 in opposition to 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 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 difficulty 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 handle 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 bought on the controversy stage and competed over who can be probably 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 mentioned 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 mentioned, “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 grew to become, 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 state of affairs in Gaza on the poll field, prompting many to consider that one of the simplest ways to be heard is by sending a message that reckless overseas 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 prepared to vow something past the established order. So Palestinians and their supporters discovered loads of purpose to consider that regardless of the election end result can 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, in the long run, may not have been the deciding issue for a lot of the voters, in some pockets of the nation, voters tried to indicate that they shouldn’t be ignored in the one manner they might: by voting in opposition to the get together that allowed Gaza to show right into a “graveyard for youngsters.”
It’s arduous to know what the following few months, or subsequent 4 years, will appear to be for Palestine. However there aren’t many indicators of hope — if there are any in any respect. Because the election drew to a detailed, 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 appears like solely the start of a brand new part within the struggle.