In the primaries, they voted “without commitment.” The group will also not support Harris in November.

Leaders of the noncommittal National Movement calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza announced Thursday the group’s decision not to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, while stressing their opposition to former President Donald Trump and third-party candidates who could help him gain the presidency.

“Vice President Harris’ refusal to budge on key issues like Palestinian human rights has put us in this situation,” Layla Elabed, one of the movement’s founders, told reporters during a virtual press briefing Thursday.

The announcement comes after unpledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago staged a sit-in to protest the rejection of their request for a Palestinian-American speaker. The unpledged leaders said Harris had not honored their subsequent request to meet with them and Palestinian-American families in Michigan who know those killed in Gaza before Sept. 15. The group also said it had given Harris until that date to propose a later date that would fit her schedule if she could not meet that date.

Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for Harris’ campaign, said in a statement that the vice president has met — and will continue to meet — with Palestinian leaders as well as representatives from the Muslim, Israeli and Jewish communities. “The vice president believes that making his voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans. Vice President Harris supports the agreements currently on the table for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages,” Hitt said.

Since launching her presidential campaign, Harris has repeatedly said that Israel has the right to defend itself in response to the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, while also asserting that too many innocent Palestinians have died. Since the start of the war, more than 40,000 Palestinians have died, according to Gaza health officials. In an interview with CNN last month, Harris said she would not change course on President Joe Biden’s arms policy, which has included U.S. arms transfers to Israel.

“Vice President Harris’s refusal to change her mind on her unconditional arms policy or even to make a clear statement in support of respect for applicable U.S. and international human rights laws has made it impossible for us to support her,” said Abbas Alawieh, another founder of the Noncommittal National Movement.

Movement leaders have said it would not be appropriate to tell people personally affected by the war how to vote and have said they themselves have made different decisions about how they personally plan to vote this fall.

Elabed was emotional when asked how she planned to vote. As a Palestinian-American mother raising children in the United States and family in the West Bank, she said, “Every time I get asked that question, it’s like being asked at a funeral.” She said she plans not to run at the top of the ticket and instead support Democrats further down the ballot.

Alawieh explained that he had made a different personal decision. “I believe my vote is not a love letter. I believe my vote is a chess move,” he said, explaining his decision to vote for Harris. “She has made it clear that she does not share my anti-war values ​​on this issue, but I am concerned about Donald Trump’s very specific plans to crack down on pro-Palestinian human rights organizations.”

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Anna Kelly issued a statement defending Trump’s record. “President Trump brought historic peace to the Middle East, while Kamala Harris brought chaos and war around the world. Kamala Harris’s fragmented support within her own party is one of the many reasons President Trump will win on November 5,” she said.

Lexis Zeidan, another nonpartisan leader, said Harris’ campaign is “courting people like Dick Cheney while sidelining these disillusioned antiwar voices and even pushing them to consider voting third party or not participating in this incredibly important election.”

When Cheney announced her endorsement of Harris, her campaign manager said in a statement that Harris was proud to have her support. Alawieh called Cheney “a model of endless wars” and described the fact that Harris’ campaign accepted the former vice president’s endorsement as a sign that the campaign believes it can win more votes on the right. “I really hope they’re not wrong,” he said.

The nonpartisan campaign used the presidential primary to protest Biden’s handling of Israeli military counterattacks in Gaza.

In Michigan’s February presidential primary, more than 100,000 Democratic voters cast uncommitted ballots after pro-ceasefire activists launched a campaign urging voters to include an option that usually seems elusive to them.

The last-minute campaign was launched just weeks before the primary election, and Alawieh said the National Uncommitted Movement told Harris’ campaign it could repeat its mobilization efforts for Harris if she won the group’s endorsement.

Michigan Elections 2024: Pro-Palestinian Delegates Say Kamala Harris’ Chances for Election Are Linked to Israel’s Arms Embargo

Biden lost to the unpledged vote in three Wayne County cities with large Arab-American and Muslim populations: Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck. The unpledged also won strong support near college campuses in Washtenaw County. Leaders of the unpledged movement have previously said their goal is to signal to Democrats that the Biden administration’s policies in Gaza could cost the party the White House this fall.

After Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket, the uncommitted campaign continued to push for a change in U.S. foreign policy, calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an embargo on U.S. arms to Israel.

It’s not yet clear how many Democrats who support those demands plan to back Harris, but some told the Free Press they don’t plan to support her unless they see a major shift in her foreign policy stance toward Israel. Polls show Harris and Trump in a very tight race in Michigan, a state that is one of the few battlegrounds that could decide the outcome of the election.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Contact Clara Hendrickson at [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @clarajanehen.

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This article was originally published on Detroit Free Press: Uncommitted Movement Says Kamala Harris Doesn’t Have Their Support