Arab American leaders urge Harris to ‘show distance’ from Biden’s Israel policy during private Michigan meeting

(CNN) — In a side room backstage at a Friday campaign rally in Flint, Michigan, Arab American advocates asked Vice President Kamala Harris to break from President Joe Biden’s Israel policy and push harder for an end to the war in Gaza.

The conversation, scheduled to last 10 minutes, ended up going 20, according to Wa’el Alzayat, the CEO of Emgage Action, a group aimed at boosting the Muslim American vote. Harris did not make any promises, he said, but told them “that she also wants the war to end and that she will do all she can to work in this regard.”

“She pledged to work with our community, include our community, and (said) that she completely understands what we’re saying. She is hopeful that if she wins, she’ll be able to deliver on all of this once she’s president,” Alzayat told CNN.

Alzayat said he and other Arab American leaders in the room had been contacted and invited within the previous 48 hours. Their message to Harris was simple, he said. She needed “to show distance between how she would govern on this matter with the current administration policies, which we don’t agree with.”

The meeting came amid increasing frustration over Harris’ response to Israel’s recent escalations in Lebanon and concerns that her campaign was not willing to hear from critical voices. Harris is hamstrung, in part, because of her position: Vice presidents do not set US foreign policy. But as the ongoing Israel-Hamas war has expanded to a multifront conflict involving Iran, which launched missiles at Israel this week, and Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon and Yemen, prominent Arab American groups have been pushing for more.

Leaders at the meeting told Harris there is a critical need for both expanded evacuation efforts from Lebanon and immediate humanitarian aid for US citizens and the displaced families, one of the attendees told CNN.

Assad Turfe, a Lebanese American and the deputy executive of Wayne County, said the recently announced $157 million in US humanitarian aid relief for Lebanon is not enough — but that it is better than nothing.

“While this is still a drop in the bucket compared to what is truly needed, it’s a start, and this $157 million can make a difference if directed properly,” Turfe told CNN in a statement.

Turfe also shared his deeply personal connection to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

“In 2006, I lost both of my grandmothers to Israeli bombs during the conflict in Lebanon. Today, as the violence rages on in Lebanon and Gaza, my family is once again facing the horrors of war, with my uncle, his wife, and their children fleeing for their lives,” Turfe said.

Michigan, which Biden narrowly won in 2020, will be a crucial battleground again this November and is home to a large Arab American population. Emgage Action endorsed Harris last month while acknowledging “strong disappointment” with the Biden administration’s stance on Gaza.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez were among the prominent Democrats in the room for Friday’s meeting, according to Alzayat, along with local elected officials and Edward Gabriel, the former US ambassador to Morocco who now runs the nonprofit American Task Force on Lebanon.

“We want her to push the president to end the war. We want her to commit to ending the war if she becomes president. We want her to speak directly to our communities about the pain and suffering,” Alzayat said he and other outside advocates told the vice president. “We want her and we want the administration to do a better job in providing assistance to American citizens who are trapped in Lebanon.”

The Harris campaign has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.

According to pool reports of the Friday gathering, a campaign official said that Harris “discussed her efforts to end the war in Gaza, such that: Israel is secure, hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, self-determination.”

“On Lebanon, the vice president expressed concern about civilian casualties and displacement, and reiterated the administration’s position that, ultimately, a diplomatic solution is the best path to achieve stability and protect civilians. The vice president also discussed efforts to prevent regional war,” the official said.

Absent from Friday’s guest list were leaders of the “Uncommitted” movement, which sprung up during the Democratic primaries this year in opposition to the Biden administration’s policy on the war in Gaza. Harris interacted with leaders of the group in early August during a photo line at the Detroit airport.

The group has called on the vice president to hold meetings with families affected by the war after her campaign and national Democrats denied the group’s previous request for a Palestinian American to speak during the Democratic convention in Chicago this summer.

Uncommitted leaders have since announced that their group will not endorse Harris, though they also warned against a vote for Donald Trump or, in states where they might appear on the ballot, third-party candidates.

Uncommitted movement co-founder Abbas Alawieh, a former Capitol Hill staffer, confirmed Friday that his group was not invited to the meeting with Harris.

In a social media post, Alawieh said he was “glad our pressure is helping yield more engagement. What we need right now is for the @VP to specifically say that as president she will respect international humanitarian and U.S. law and stop sending the Israeli military weapons for war crimes.”

James Zogby, a co-founder of the Arab American Institute and a Democratic National Committee member for more than 30 years who addressed the Uncommitted movement during the Chicago convention, told CNN he turned down an invitation to Friday’s meeting with Harris. He cited growing frustration with what he described as a campaign more concerned with optics than addressing the anger and anxiety among Arab American voters.

Zogby was part of a Wednesday call with Harris national security adviser Phil Gordon that the White House described as a virtual gathering with “Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian American community leaders” to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East.

“There was no ground broken. I wasn’t quite sure what the intent was other than to just say … that they met with leaders. There were no leaders,” Zogby said of the Wednesday conversation.

That call and other communications with the Harris campaign, and Biden’s before that, have irked the longtime Democratic pollster. And Israel’s escalation in Lebanon has also turned up the heat in states like Michigan, where Lebanese Americans have made up a major part of the Democratic coalition.

“With Lebanon in flames, they’ve got a bigger job. And I don’t think they’re ready to handle it,” Zogby said of the Harris campaign. “It’s sort of like trying to sell a car to somebody with terminal cancer. ‘What’re you talking for? I have bigger things on my mind right now.’”

Abed Ayoub, the national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said there have been “many meetings with both the campaign and administration. They know our concerns and demands.”

“Our position and work is focused on bringing an immediate ceasefire, and an end to the genocide in Palestine and the war on Lebanon,” said Ayoub, who noted that his group has nearly 130,000 active voters as members, including 7,500 in Michigan.

This week, Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, took the campaign’s pitch to Emgage Action’s “Million Muslim Votes: A Way Forward” summit.

“I know the pain of this community is deep. Our hearts are broken. The concern of the vice president and Harris and I – it’s on our minds every day. The scale of death and destruction in Gaza is staggering and devastating. Tens of thousands of innocent civilians killed, families fleeing for safety, over and over again,” Walz said at the virtual event.

Harris has occasionally been disrupted at campaign rallies by pro-Palestinian protesters. In those moments, the vice president, who has spoken about the devastation in Gaza, has stressed that the administration is working toward a ceasefire deal.

Zogby said Friday he “desperately” wants Harris to win but is concerned about the campaign’s efforts to stage-manage the issue.

“They have to say something about the issue that’s on people’s minds,” Zogby said, “and they just don’t seem able to bring themselves to talk about it.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Brian Rokus contributed to this report.

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