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Rashida Tlaib Refuses to Endorse Kamala Harris for President Due to Gaza Policy
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) refused to issue an explicit endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Thursday, instead encouraging voters to throw their support behind candidates who support a ceasefire in Gaza.
While speaking on a panel at the Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, DC, an event sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Tlaib expressed dismay over Harris’s unwillingness to adopt policies advocated by the pro-Palestinian movement. The Michigan congresswoman suggested that the Harris campaign was taking a “risk” in angering voters by continuing to support Israel’s defensive military operations against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Tlaib told moderator Mehdi Hasan, a progressive journalist and prominent critic of Israel, that some of her constituents in Michigan did not want to cast a ballot for Harris, the incumbent US vice president, because they “don’t want blood on my hands.”
“I tell them, ‘OK, but there’s other people on this ballot that support a ceasefire. There’s other people on this ballot that can protect our community,’” Tlaib said.
“I always ask, consistently, the Harris campaign and everybody, you hear us loud and clear. Don’t risk it. Don’t risk it. Why are we afraid of [Republican presidential nominee Donald] Trump becoming president more than our own party, when the majority of us are saying, ‘We’ve got your back Harris. We’ve got you?’” Tlaib continued.
Hasan then asked Tlaib if she planned on endorsing Harris’s presidential bid. Tlaib would not confirm whether she supports the Democratic nominee, smirking and turning in her seat away from the moderator.
The entire conference room burst into laughter.
Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian American state representative from Georgia, questioned whether the Harris campaign would “want” an endorsement from the Arab American community. The lawmaker stated that she “wanted to give” her endorsement to Harris at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), but was rejected by the party establishment.
Anti-Israel activists mounted a last-minute, high-pressure campaign to secure Romman a spot on the DNC stage. Their efforts ultimately failed, as the DNC refused to platform a Palestinian American during the event. Though the DNC has not issued an official justification for allegedly snubbing Romman, many observers speculated that the party feared she would use her stage time to lob unsubstantiated accusations of “genocide” against the Jewish state.
Tlaib has not publicly endorsed Harris in the 2024 presidential race. The Michigan congresswoman also did not issue an endorsement during US President Joe Biden’s now-shuttered re-election campaign.
Earlier this year, Tlaib helped spearhead the “Uncommitted” movement in Michigan — an initiative which encouraged voters to withhold their support for the Democratic nominee until they adopted anti-Israel policies. Tlaib argued that the initiative was necessary because Arab Americans have supposedly felt “neglected” and “unseen” by the federal government.
The “Uncommitted” movement has urged Harris to throw her support behind a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo against Israel. The Harris campaign has repeatedly stated that she as president would remain committed to Israel’s defense and refused to back an arms embargo.
Tlaib, the only Palestinian American woman in Congress, has often accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza and of orchestrating a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” and erecting an “apartheid” regime in the West Bank.
In the months following the Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7 slaughter of roughly 1,200 people throughout southern Israel, Tlaib has grown more vocal in her condemnations of the Jewish state. Tlaib received heavy condemnation after she initially hesitated to condemn the Oct. 7 massacre and voted against legislation which would have banned participants in the terrorist attacks from entering the United States. The House voted to censure Tlaib in November 2023 over her rhetoric on the Israel-Hamas war.
In February, Tlaib was the only voting member of the House to refuse to back a resolution condemning the Oct. 7 mass rapes of Israeli women. In May, she stoked outrage after attending an anti-Israel, terrorist-connected conference in Michigan.
The post Rashida Tlaib Refuses to Endorse Kamala Harris for President Due to Gaza Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.