Michigan: A vote for Jill Stein is a vote for Donald Trump
There are reports that a lot of Arab Americans in Michigan are planning to vote for Jill Stein.
See,
Thom Hartmann, “Jill Stein: The Grifter Who May Hand Trump the White House Again; Not only is she helping Trump win—she’s destroying a once-noble party that could be doing good in this country,” The New Republic, October 10, 2024.
They need to think very carefully before casting a vote that would help Trump win Michigan and perhaps the presidential election.
I have studied Arabic at the University level, speak conversational Arabic, and have worked in the Middle East. I am deeply sympathetic to the victims of Israeli war crimes in Gaza and elsewhere. I am equally sympathetic to the Israeli victims of the war crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and to the victims of illegal rocket attacks on the population of northern Israel by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The policy of Joe Biden toward Israel and Gaza has been an abomination. By fully supporting Israel’s commission of war crimes in Gaza, the United States has become complicit in the commission of those war crimes.
By pressuring the International Criminal Court not to issue the international arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense minister Yoav Galant for the commission of war crimes in Gaza, as requested by Karim Khan, the Court’s Prosecutor, the United States has acted to undermine the principal international institution for the prosecution of war crimes.
So long as the U.S. supports and enables Israel (through its military and economic aid) to continue its war crimes in Gaza, the U.S. will never be able to assume the leadership of the nations of the world to maintain international peace and security. This reality was brought home this last week by the BRICS summit in Moscow, hosted by arch war criminal Vladimir Putin.
There are two nations acting in flagrant violation of international law today.
One is Russia, continuing its war of aggression against Ukraine and its commission of war crimes in that country.
The other is Israel, continuing its war crimes in Gaza, and now extending the commission of those crimes to the West Bank and Lebanon.
No one disputes Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon.
However, under international law and the United Nations Charter, exercise of the right of self-defense is subject to the twin requirements of necessity ad proportionality. Israel has not respected the requirement of proportionality, resorting to grotesque arguments in attempts to justify its actions.
All of this is true. None of it justifies a vote for Jill Stein.
A vote for Stein would amount, in fact, to a vote for Donald Trump. Such a vote could lead to his election as president.
Kamala Harris is not running against some ideal candidate who would protect the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. She is running against Donald Trump, who has a track record in the Middle East.
While Harris may not be the strongest candidate in theory, we are not living in a theoretical universe. Moreover, the election on November 5 is about much more than a choice between her and Donald Trump,
The election is fundamentally about whether the Democrats should run the country or the Republicans. The Republicans have become fascists under the leadership of Donald Trump who today exercises absolute control over what has become the fascist Republican Party.
Many of the Republican congressmen and senators who are candidates for reelection voted on January 6, 2021 to overthrow the 2020 election and the Constitution of the United States.
A vote for Stein is a vote for Trump.
What would be the policy of Donald Trump toward Israel and Gaza if he is reelected as president?
He would not be a friend of the Palestinians. Look beyond the propaganda and at the actual facts.
See
1) Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey, John Hudson and Michael Birnbaumm “Trump signals support in call with Netanyahu: ‘Do what you have to do’; Trump offers Israel his backing in wars with Hamas and Hezbollah even as his campaign seeks Arab American votes,” Washington Post, October 25, 2024 (Updated at 6:25 p.m. EDT);
2) NPR,”How Trump handled Israel while in office,” WBUR, October29, 2024 (06:59).
At this turning point in our nation’s history, in Michigan and elsewhere, Arab Americans, who are among the most patriotic of all Americans, need to pay careful attention when voting for a president and also for senators and congressmen in the November 5 elections.
Before voting, Arab-American voters in Michigan need to ask themselves:
Which candidates (president, senator, and congressman) will be best for the Palestinians, for the Arab-American community, and for the country they now owe allegiance to, the United States of America?
James Rowles is a former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and professor of international law at other universities.
He is the author of The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (September, 2024, now available on Amazon and soon to be available from IngramSpark).
His most recent book, Don’t Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump, will be available on Amazon and IngramSpark in late October, 2024.
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