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‘Uncommitted’ Group Won’t Endorse Kamala Harris, Muslim Voters Also Look Elsewhere Over Gaza Despite Overtures
US Vice President Kamala Harris. Photo: Erin Schaff/Pool via REUTERS
A prominent anti-Israel political group announced that it will not endorse Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in the 2024 US election despite Harris’s extensive outreach to the Arab American community.
In a statement released on Thursday, the “Uncommitted National Movement” criticized the Harris campaign for not agreeing to meet with Palestinian American families to discuss the possibility of implementing an arms blockade on Israel and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza if elected to office in November. The group claimed that its decision not to issue an endorsement of Harris came after months of pleading with the Democratic nominee and current US vice president to adopt anti-Israel positions on her policy platform.
“For months, we have urged Vice President Harris to shift her Gaza policy so we could mobilize voters in key states to save lives and our democracy,” the group wrote.
The group also griped about the Democratic National Convention’s (DNC) refusal in August to allow a Palestinian American to speak from the event main stage.
“The DNC and the vice president’s campaign fumbled even a small gesture to unite our party ahead of November by rejecting the simple request for a Palestinian American speaker. Now, the vice president’s campaign is courting Dick Cheney while sidelining disillusioned anti-war voices,” Uncommitted wrote.
Despite refusing to throw its support behind the Democratic nominee, the group also warned about the dangers of electing former US President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee, back into the White House, suggesting that he will intensify the so-called “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. The organization also asserted that Trump will persecute “pro-Palestinian activism in the US.” The movement also urged its supporters to refrain from voting for a third party candidate, arguing that it would assist Trump in his quest to regain the Oval Office.
“We must block Donald Trump, which is why we urge Uncommitted voters to vote against him and avoid third-party candidates that could inadvertently boost his chances, as Trump openly boasts that third parties will help his candidacy,” the group wrote.
The Uncommitted movement’s decision to formally withhold support from Harris came on the heels of US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian American woman in Congress, publicly refusing to endorse the Democratic nominee while speaking to a crowd at the Congressional Black Caucus annual convention last week. During the event, Tlaib claimed that her constituents “don’t want blood on my hands” and believe Harris will continue the policies that have allowed the war in Gaza to persist.
Recent polling suggests that Muslim American voters are increasingly flirting with the possibility of casting a ballot for Green Party candidate Jill Stein over Harris, in part due to frustration over US policy toward Israel and Gaza. A new poll from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) revealed that 40 percent of Muslim voters in Michigan plan on voting for Stein. Harris trailed Trump with Muslim voters in Michigan, 18 percent to 12 percent, the poll found.
Stein, a far-left political figure, has aggressively courted the Arab American vote since launching her campaign. During public appearances, she frequently dons the keffiyeh — a traditional Arab headdress that, since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October, has become a sign of support for the Palestinian cause — and refers to the conflict as a “genocide.” Stein has also claimed that Hamas’s Oct. 7 slaughter of 1,200 people throughout southern Israel was justified as an act of so-called “self defense.”
In lieu of supporting a candidate for the upcoming presidential election, the Uncommitted movement encouraged the public to engage in “anti-war organizing.”
The refusal of the prominent pro-Palestinian group to endorse Harris was the latest blow to the Democratic nominee’s efforts to court Arab American voters. On Tuesday, the Harris campaign unveiled a set of new digital ads targeting the heavily Arab American town of Dearborn, Michigan. The ads included clips of Harris expressing sympathy with the suffering civilians in Gaza and vowing to “not be silent.”
The DNC, where Harris officially became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, hosted a panel on “Palestinian Human Rights” for the first time in history, in which activists accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Though Harris has voiced support for the Jewish state’s right to existence and self defense, she has also expressed sympathy for far-left narratives that brand Israel as “genocidal.” The vice president has additionally often criticized Israel’s war effort against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
The post ‘Uncommitted’ Group Won’t Endorse Kamala Harris, Muslim Voters Also Look Elsewhere Over Gaza Despite Overtures 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.