Des Moines, Iowa – Nationwide media, political pundits and United States presidential hopefuls all converged on the state capital of Des Moines this week, because it performed host to the ultimate Republican debate earlier than the Iowa caucuses.
However simply miles down the street from the place Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis traded barbs on Wednesday night time, native businessman Mohamed Ali was unfazed.
“Actually, we don’t care about them,” Ali advised Al Jazeera, blowing smoke from his hookah pipe in a packed cafe exterior Des Moines. “With all of the debates, all of them struggle and compete over who helps Israel extra.”
Whereas detached in direction of the race for the Republican nomination, the 46-year-old Palestinian American father of three mentioned one factor was sure: He wouldn’t again Democratic President Joe Biden for a second time period in November.
Israel’s conflict in Gaza had been a turning level for Ali, who beforehand supported Biden in 2020.
Wearing a white button-up shirt with a lightweight blue blazer over it, he alternated between anger and stoicism — voicing rage over Biden’s help of Israel and apathy in direction of the 2024 elections.
“The Arab and the Muslim neighborhood, they aren’t voting for Biden. I didn’t discuss to a single one that mentioned he’s going to vote for Biden,” Ali advised Al Jazeera, as Arabic pop music blared within the background of the cafe.
He added that even the prospect of Donald Trump’s return to the White Home was not sufficient to spur Arab Individuals to vote Democrat within the presidential race.
Ali was born in Lebanon to Palestinian refugee mother and father. He studied in Tunisia earlier than shifting to New York and ending up in Iowa — the agricultural, sparsely populated state the place the primary Republican major contest will happen on Monday.
However Ali, like many Arab and Muslim Individuals, has discovered himself disillusioned with mainstream US politics because the conflict in Gaza unfolds. Biden has articulated “unwavering” help for Israel, and his rivals within the Republican area have all tried to outdo one another with their advocacy for the US ally.
All of the whereas, worldwide outcry has mounted over the rising demise toll in Gaza, the place an Israeli army marketing campaign has killed over 23,700 Palestinians. Israel itself confronted genocide accusations this week earlier than the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice.
So in Iowa, because the election approaches, many Arab Individuals really feel caught between Biden and a tough place.
For now, many are spending their power on native activism for Gaza. Ali himself has organised a number of Palestine solidarity protests, drawing tons of of individuals in Des Moines.
‘Litmus check’
Though overwhelmingly white, Iowa is house to sizable Arab and Muslim communities: One grassroots mission estimated Iowa’s Arab American inhabitants to incorporate upwards of 17,700 folks, in a state of three.2 million.
One of many nation’s oldest mosques is within the jap Iowa metropolis of Cedar Rapids, an space that elected its first Arab American state legislator in 2022.
South of Cedar Rapids, within the school city of Iowa Metropolis, there’s additionally a rising Sudanese American neighborhood. In Des Moines, in the meantime, there are clusters of Arab and Muslim Individuals from the Center East, South Asia and Bosnia.
Whereas US Arabs and Muslims aren’t any monolith, greater than a dozen activists interviewed by Al Jazeera echoed the identical sentiment: They really feel alienated by Republicans, however they won’t vote for Biden.
Ending the conflict in Gaza is now the central difficulty for a lot of of Iowa’s politically lively Arab Individuals. They’ve organised protests, met with representatives and pushed ceasefire resolutions on the native stage to make their voices heard.
“I discover it very tough to abdomen anyone who can’t name for a ceasefire at this level, it doesn’t matter what social gathering they’re in,” mentioned Maria Reveiz, a Lebanese American yoga teacher who owns a jazz membership in Des Moines.
“I’ve left the Democratic Occasion. I’ve no affiliation. Palestine from right here on out is my litmus check for anyone to get my help ever once more.”
That sense of disenfranchisement amongst Arab and Muslim Individuals in Iowa has been amplified by a scarcity of outreach from campaigns throughout this yr’s presidential race.
Whereas Democrats made headlines in 2020 for organising caucuses in Iowa mosques, Republican candidates haven’t reached out particularly to Arab and Muslim Individuals, including to these communities’ lack of concern with Monday’s race.
Reveiz, a curly-haired mom of three, campaigned for Bernie Sanders throughout the 2020 Democratic caucuses, however she has since lined a sticker of a mittened Sanders on her laptop computer with a Palestinian flag.
Sanders has not known as for a everlasting ceasefire in Gaza.
When she spoke to Al Jazeera, Reveiz’s home regarded like a shrine for Palestine: a keffiyeh above the fireside, a portray by a Palestinian artist on the wall, a shawl with the colors of the Palestinian flag on a shelf. Reveiz herself wore a pendant that mentioned “Palestine” in Arabic round her neck.
Even a Buddha statue within the nook of her front room was draped with a Palestinian flag.
Reveiz had visited Gaza a number of instances up to now years with an assist group to guide yoga courses designed to assist tackle trauma. Israeli shelling has since killed considered one of her pals within the Palestinian territory.
“Ahmad Ismail,” Reveiz mentioned, whispering his title however stopping wanting crying. “Great human.”
With Israel proscribing entry to meals, medication and water in Gaza, Ismail had been on his roof amassing rainwater when he was hit by shelling in Deir el-Balah.
Reveiz mentioned she has now contacted the workplaces of her representatives in Congress so usually that staffers recognise her. She has additionally written to the White Home demanding a ceasefire. However she has not heard any optimistic responses to her requests. “It’s futile,” Reveiz advised Al Jazeera.
Iowa Metropolis decision
About two hours east of Des Moines, ceasefire activists in Iowa Metropolis turned their consideration to their metropolis council to advance their trigger.
On January 2, the Iowa Metropolis metropolis council adopted a decision calling for a ceasefire in a 4-3 vote. Though municipalities have little energy over overseas coverage, Deema Totah, a Palestinian American professor on the College of Iowa, mentioned the measure was essential.
“We’d like some kind of mechanism for democracy, for our voices to be heard. And on this giant nation, this mechanism is thru native authorities,” Totah advised Al Jazeera.
“Native authorities has the power to amplify these voices, has the power to be on the best aspect of historical past, has the power to placed on the document that there have been residents towards this — that this wasn’t the view of the US to fund the army marketing campaign that Israel is participating in.
“We would like future historical past books to say that this was a unilateral choice by a authorities whose folks didn’t agree with them.”
Tarweeh Osman, a Sudanese American neighborhood organiser who advocated for the decision, mentioned she felt recognised after the measure handed.
Nonetheless, she mentioned, as an Arab American, she feels “unheard” and “alienated” by each Biden and the Republican presidential candidates vying for victory in Iowa.
She famous that politicians’ staunch help for Israel is translating into efforts to crack down on pro-Palestinian advocacy within the US. By the use of instance, she pointed to DeSantis, one of many Republican hopefuls competing on this yr’s Iowa caucuses: As governor of Florida, he ordered a ban on a Palestinian rights scholar group at state universities.
“It’s terrifying that we’re seeing legit political dissent that’s protected by the First Modification being systematically delegitimised by our political representatives to appease pro-Israel curiosity teams,” Osman advised Al Jazeera.
However she added that one other 4 years of Biden may additionally show detrimental for Palestinian rights supporters, given the president’s unconditional backing of Israel.
For her half, Totah mentioned she feels “erased and discarded” by rhetoric that dehumanises Palestinians from each main events.
In October, Biden questioned the conflict’s Palestinian demise toll, dismissing the killing of civilians because the “value of waging a conflict”.
“I’ve voted Democrat up to now. However this yr, I can not vote for Biden. And I’m third-party candidates proper now,” Totah advised Al Jazeera.
Ceasefire calls
Sami Scheetz, a Democrat who represents neighbouring Cedar Rapids within the Iowa State Legislature, spoke in favour of the Iowa Metropolis ceasefire decision when it was being debated earlier this month.
Scheetz mentioned his election because the state Home’s first Arab American member in 2022 displays the “power and variety” of the neighborhood.
Whereas he has not confronted direct discrimination, Scheetz added that advocating for the rights of Arabs and Palestinians “throughout the conflict in Gaza has come at a political price”.
Throughout the nation, politicians vital of Israeli insurance policies have confronted pushback by pro-Israel teams. For instance, the pro-Israel foyer group AIPAC is getting ready to spend greater than $100m within the subsequent election to defeat progressives calling for a ceasefire in Congress, based on a number of US media studies.
However Scheetz mentioned his advocacy was fuelled by the “alarming actuality” on the bottom in Gaza.
“It’s important to face towards injustice and prioritise human rights, even when confronted with these penalties,” Scheetz advised Al Jazeera.
“This catastrophic devastation unequivocally calls for an instantaneous reassessment of the present technique, because the relentless army marketing campaign is just not solely devoid of justice but additionally stands as a formidable impediment to any prospect of lasting peace within the area.”
Scheetz’s Republican colleagues within the Iowa State Home are getting ready a decision that fails to say Palestinians and as a substitute backs Israel’s “proper to behave decisively and unilaterally in self-defense” by way of its army actions in Gaza.
However the state’s Democratic Occasion has additionally strained relations with Palestinian rights advocates.
Final yr, Iowa Democratic Occasion Chair Rita Hart condemned a Democratic scholar group for issuing a press release that learn partly, “Could each Palestinian dwell lengthy and free, from the river to the ocean“.
Newman Abuissa, the Arab American Caucus chair for the Iowa Democratic Occasion, has pushed again towards Hart and known as on her to apologise.
Abuissa advised Al Jazeera that Arab Individuals try to make themselves heard throughout the social gathering, stressing that there’s a hole between the Democratic management and nearly all of voters who again a ceasefire in Gaza.
Requested about Arab Individuals’ curiosity within the Republican caucuses, he mentioned, “We’ve been busy engaged on the Israeli-Palestinian battle for the final three months.”
A landmark mosque
North of Iowa Metropolis, Cedar Rapids has a website steeped in symbolism for Muslim Individuals: one of many nation’s oldest mosques.
The Mom Mosque of America was inbuilt 1934 by Lebanese and Syrian immigrants. Located in a residential neighbourhood, its white constructing would mix with the snow-blanketed lawns that encompass it, if not for its shiny inexperienced dome and awning.
When Al Jazeera visited the mosque this week, Ahmed Abdoney — a US Air Power veteran — was there pictures of his household attending early congregations.
One photograph options Abdoney when he was about 10 years outdated. He mentioned his maternal grandfather was one of many founders of the mosque.
His father, in the meantime, arrived at New York’s Ellis Island within the Thirties and moved westward, working as a travelling service provider till he settled in Ohio, then moved to Iowa.
Abdoney mentioned the Arab neighborhood in Cedar Rapids grew over time, however folks there are non-public, not as seen as Arab communities in different elements of the nation.
“They’ve been very profitable in small companies, having jobs,” Abdoney mentioned. “They assist one another out. They’re at all times there for one another.”
Imam Taha Tawil mentioned the mosque exhibits the lengthy historical past of Islam within the US, including there are plans to increase the constructing to incorporate a guests’ centre.
Tawil burdened that the mosque is an apolitical house. Nonetheless, in 2016, he made nationwide headlines when he invited Trump to go to the mosque after the then-candidate proposed banning Muslims from getting into the US.
The imam mentioned the invitation nonetheless stands, however he doesn’t suppose the previous president will take him up on it, on condition that he didn’t reply to the unique one eight years in the past.
“The American method is to take a seat down and argue and attempt to persuade me to vote for you — not assault us then ask us to vote for you,” Tawil advised Al Jazeera.
Trump ignited additional controversy throughout his time period as president by shifting the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a transfer that was seen as rejecting Palestinians’ internationally recognised claims to the holy metropolis.
However regardless of Arab and Muslim Individuals’ tense historical past with Trump, some in the neighborhood will not be solely ruling out backing the previous president, who seems set to win Iowa and run away with the Republican nomination.
“If, by some miracle, Trump comes up with one thing that actually exhibits he modified his views on Palestine, and we expect he has some optimistic concepts, then he could possibly be a alternative for us,” mentioned Ali, the Palestinian American businessman.
