Will American Muslims bring on their own Nakba?

“I would say no presidential candidate has earned my vote.” Abdullah Hammoud Dearborn’s Muslim mayor was quoted by AFP news the other day.

The possibility is real. The Nakba, or Arabic for “catastrophe,” refers to the loss of land in the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. Palestinians were forced or fled from their towns and villages and became refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and dozens of other countries. Rather than separating into two states as the 1947 UN voted for them to do, Arab armies and Palestinians attempting to annihilate the nascent Israeli state were defeated in 1948. They were defeated again in 1967, 1973, and in two intifadas from 1987-93 and 2000-05. Numerous attempts to make peace, including the Oslo Accords in 1993, and a half dozen other efforts have all failed their objective.

The Hamas attack of Oct 7, 2023, while the most violent and gruesome, was the most complete defeat of Israeli intelligence and military competence since the country’s founding… with the arguable exception of 1973’s Yom Kipper attack.

The Jewish state’s counterattack against Hamas in Gaza has been earth-shattering, not only to Hamas and the Palestinian population, but to citizens and governments of nations as diverse as Colombia (which broke diplomatic relations with Israel) and South Africa (which brought charges of genocide to the ICC). Massive protests calling for a ceasefire or the dismantlement of Israel (by any means necessary) have occurred on several continents.

The fury of the American Palestinian diaspora and sympathetic American Muslims has been profound. They have led the campus marches, encampments and street protests. They have given fashion cues to thousands with their keffiyeh headgear. Eyewitness reports of pro-Palestinian protesters calling for “death of America” cannot be covered up or denied. The rallying cry of “globalize the intifada” has rang out not only in Michigan , but in Los Angeles and New York.

As the sitting president and an ardent self-proclaimed supporter of Zionism, Joe Biden has become the lightning rod for Palestinian anger over support for Israel. The moniker “Genocide Joe” has been applied to him and his policies. The recent vote of “uncommitted” in the Michigan democratic primary reached 13%, which translates into 100,000 protest votes. More than enough to tip the election to Trump. The uncommitted vote was 18.9% in Minnesota; many observers believe this “ceasefire” vote could determine the election.

Clearly, wherever the 3.4 million Muslims in America about 1.1% of the population are angry and vocal . But, what to do?

Trump has one answer: “deport them.” He promised to deport any non-citizen promoting “jihadism, antisemitism or anti-Americanism.” Trump policy guru Steven Miller spread stark and dark warnings of “purges” and “deportation” for civil servants and asylum seekers. It’s not at all inconceivable that given the global jihadist threat and death to America chanters, Trump could do to Muslim Americans what Roosevelt in 1942 did to Japanese Americans… intern them as suspected fifth columnists.

Additionally, if the uncommitted voters thought they were punishing Biden, they should be thoroughly abused of that strategy by Trump’s full-blast criticism of his withholding offensive weapons for the in-progress Rafah assault. Nothing should be clearer than the fact that if Trump becomes president, Israel is off whatever leash Biden had it on. By saying, “Jews that vote for Biden should be ashamed of themselves,” even those in the fog of a mid-east war should understand how he will deliver all the weapons Israel needs to fight “Islamic terror.”

This puts any sentient Arab American in a bind that leaves them with four choices.

They can withhold their votes and thus let the presidential decision be made for them. In a race that seems as close as this one, the danger is the candidate they don’t want may win.

They can vote for Trump, thereby punishing Biden and refusing to morally corrupt themselves. They may believe that Trump is so mercurial that he could reverse himself at any time. After all, he did issue a stinging rebuke of Netanyahu’s “lack of preparation” for the Hamas attack.

Arab Americans could also do what many others are: choose the lesser of two evils and vote for Biden. They could realize that Biden is walking a fine line between humanitarian concern for Gazans and the need for Israel to crush Hamas. Be assured that this is what Biden’s advisers are hoping for on election day.

Then, there is always the third-party protest vote. Arab voters could support any of the third-party challengers on their state ballot. This would be a Hail Mary pass, as voters would not know how their vote would affect either Trump of Biden. With stakes so high, wasting a vote on an unwinnable is not only unwise but self-destructive.

These moral dilemmas may consume the Muslim vote until the day of the election.

November 5th may come to be remembered as another Nakba if Arab American voters choose unwisely.