Uncommitted leaders stand by 2024 strategy after Trump floats Gaza takeover
Leaders of the pro-Palestinian movement that rallied opposition to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2024 election are standing by their strategy amid new criticism.
WASHINGTON — Leaders of the pro-Palestinian movement that rallied opposition to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2024 election are standing by their strategy amid new criticism that they weakened the Democratic ticket after President Donald Trump said he wants to “take over” the Gaza Strip.
Trump’s remarks, which came as a shock to prominent officials in Washington, sparked a new round of recriminations among Democrats over the pressure campaign from advocacy groups against Biden and Harris in the presidential contest over the Israel-Hamas war, even though Trump’s record on the Middle East had been more hostile to the Palestinian cause.
Layla Elabed, a co-chair of the “uncommitted” movement — which declined to endorse Harris, Trump or any candidate in the 2024 election — said she felt “sad, angry, and scared for our communities” after the president’s Tuesday remarks, in which he also said Palestinians have “no alternative” but to live elsewhere.
But she maintained that both sides were to blame.
“Harris left a vacuum by not visiting Michigan families impacted by US-supplied bombs to help create a permission structure for their trust while Trump visited Dearborn and filled a community in despair with lies,” Elabed said in a statement. “Trump’s illegal calls for ethnic cleansing are horrific, but as on so many other issues, Democrats had a chance to persuade voters they were the better alternative and they blew it.”
Rating: 5