As the presidential election looms very close, with the prospect of a Trump victory rightly terrifying millions of us, Palestinians and our co-strugglers are being criticised and vote shamed for persisting in our rejection of Kamala Harris, as we are told that Palestine cannot be the single determining issue as we consider the future of this country.
Yet, I know I am not speaking only for myself as I say I simply could not sleep at night if I were to vote for the presidential candidate who has repeatedly refused to address the genocide she is funding. In her capacity as vice president she has repeatedly refused to listen to the concerns of Arab Americans, and continues to pander debunked accusations of “the pattern of systematic gang rapes of Israeli women by Hamas militants.”
I believe that supporting this genocide is revealing of an entire, complex disposition…
US complicity
Yes, Palestine is the absolute first concern on my mind, as well it should be, when Israel is engaging in a genocide of the Palestinian people. And even if Palestine were a “single issue” in this election, I cannot imagine dismissing it for the sake of other issues. Because genocide isn’t exactly a negligible issue, and yes, we are facilitating it.
This astronomical figure translates into a host of domestic issues within the US, from the crisis of homelessness to the reality that, in this supposedly “developed” country, most Americans are one medical bill away from bankruptcy.
Palestine may be two continents away, but it is very much an American issue, as Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people is funded and facilitated by the US.
A report by Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs documents how the US has spent $22.76 billion in military aid to Israel since 7 October, 2023. As such, this genocide matters and should be cantered in US politics. Yes, there are other genocides going on right now, in other parts of the world, but none are directly enabled by our tax dollars, and cheered on by our politicians. And the genocide in Palestine encompasses so many facets that anyone with any concern for justice should prioritise it, as they try to act morally, ethically.
Connected struggles
It is hard for me to prioritise issues, to say “first and foremost, one should think of sexual violence. One should then think of education. Then there’s the environment.” So I will simply name some of the issues, and this list is neither comprehensive, nor ranked. But it is an illustration that Palestine is not a “single issue.”
Feminism. So many Harris fans see her as a feminist, because she’s a woman, and supports reproductive freedom-to a certain degree. A yard sign in my neighbourhood reads “Vote as if your daughter’s future depends on it.” Obviously, the daughters whose lives are better off with Harris than they would be with Trump are a select few. Nor is the argument that I can’t think of Palestinian women when voting for a US president valid, when that US president funds the genocide of Palestinian women, of entire Palestinian lineages.
There is nothing feminist about genocide, only racism in denying its magnitude because the dead are not white.
Sexual violence. It is unconscionable for Harris to continue to pander accusations that have been proven to be manufactured lies. In doing so, she is no different from Trump himself. Months after these rape accusations were debunked, she spoke at a screening of Screams without Words, the movie based on the infamous New York Times article that first circulated the lies.
The accusations against Hamas echo accusations Harris should be familiar with, from American history close to her own ancestry, namely the accusations by racist whites of black men violating the purity of the white race. These false accusations then led to lynching.
The accusations of Hamas fighters gang raping Israeli women are exactly that: trumped up, relying on old racist tropes, intended to rally support for genocide. Harris is weaponising feminism to exterminate the most vulnerable.
Beyond feminism, if it can be separated from other social justice issues, we could look at disability rights. In November 2023, 15% of the population in North Gaza had one or more disabilities. That figure has no doubt increased significantly by now. When it stood at 15%, the people with disabilities made up 70% of the casualties, because they have mobility issues, they cannot walk, let alone run, they cannot see, they cannot hear.
Double standards
And shall we speak of the flaunting of international law? Harris issued a statement calling Israel’s assassination of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah a “measure of justice.” That assassination flattened four buildings, killing hundreds of civilians, in violation of international law. Yet in that very same, brief statement, she mentions the importance of “protecting civilians.” I guess she, like Netanyahu, cannot view any Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, as a “civilian.”
And what about freedom of speech? Has anyone noticed the violence of repression and the muzzle of censorship here, in the US, under the present administration? We don’t need to fear that Trump as president will equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism, this administration already does that. We don’t need to fear that our social media posts critical of our government will disappear under Trump, they are disappearing now.
I will not be shamed into voting for a presidential candidate who fully backs genocide, with all the means available to her: military, political, and financial. I will not heed the cautious warning “yes, we know she is funding genocide, but she is the lesser evil.” If ever there was a time to break away from the American duopoly, it is now.
If Harris loses, it is not because some of us voted for a third-party candidate. It is because of Harris’s unconditional support for Israel, as it engages in a genocide we are all fully aware of. And because this support can only be considered a “lesser evil” if one believes the people being exterminated are lesser.
Nada Elia is Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Western Washington University, and author of Greater than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Inter/Nationalism, and Palestine.
Follow her on Twitter: @nadaelia48
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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.