As Kamala Harris courts Arab and Muslim communities ahead of the U.S. presidential election, her strong support for Israel in its current conflict with Gaza and Lebanon is raising questions about her appeal among these voters. Although Harris and her team have held private meetings with selected Arab and Muslim community leaders, critics argue that without a shift in Middle East policy, her efforts may fall flat.
Harris has doubled down on supporting Israel’s actions and aligning with President Joe Biden’s policy of unwavering military aid to Israel, despite calls from some within her party to reconsider the U.S. role. Critics like Palestinian American activist Laura Albast see Harris’s outreach as superficial, pointing to the closed-door meetings with select representatives as lacking genuine engagement with community concerns. “Such groups and faceless individuals are mere tokens for the Democratic Party,” Albast told Al Jazeera, adding that the strategy amounts to “checking off a box” rather than making meaningful policy changes.
With many voters deeply opposed to U.S.-backed military actions in Gaza and Lebanon, Harris’s approach has sparked debate over whether symbolic gestures will be enough to earn Arab and Muslim support, especially as frustration grows with the administration’s foreign policy in the Middle East.
