Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hundreds of thousands of people have been fleeing North <keyword id="19897913" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gaza" source="keywords">Gaza</keyword> to the South amid Israeli airstrikes. </li><li>This comes ahead of Israel's planned ground invasion in Gaza.</li></ul>This week, the Israeli military ordered a mass evacuation of civilians from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-military-mobilization-ground-invasion-gaza-evacuation-order-2023-10">northern Gaza</a> to the southern part of the blockaded strip. The order to flee came ahead of a planned <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-hamas-war-weapons-may-be-used-gaza-ground-operation-2023-10">ground invasion</a> from the Israeli army and affected nearly 1.1 million residents. Hundreds of thousands decided to take the journey. Some <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-gaza-hamas-palestinian-million-evacuate-24-hours-issues-order-2023-10">Palestinians</a> traveled on foot and mule-drawn carriages. Others were fortunate enough to have a car or hitch a ride on a bus or a truck. However, it appeared that the trek to safety was not so safe. An eyewitness who previously <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-airstrike-kills-women-children-fleeing-evacuation-route-northern-gaza-2023-10">spoke to Insider</a> and verified multiple witness reports said that airstrikes killed scores of civilians utilizing a safe route to escape bombing in the north. The <keyword id="20025616" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="palestinian-health-ministry" source="keywords">Palestinian Health Ministry</keyword> said 70 people died. The <keyword id="19976425" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="israel-defense-forces" source="keywords">Israel Defense Forces</keyword>, which is carrying out its most intensive air campaign against Gaza, denied that its munitions killed the civilians, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/14/gaza-civilians-afraid-to-leave-home-after-bombing-of-safe-routes?CMP=share_btn_tw">Guardian reported</a>. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-wipes-out-hamas-another-group-will-take-its-place-2023-10">Hamas</a>, the militant group that governs the strip, said Israel was to blame. Now, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are crowded in the southern parts of the region, as food, water, fuel, electricity, and medical equipment are in both high demand and short supply. This is due to the restriction of resources that Israel has put on the area, as human rights groups beg for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gaza-israel-airstrikes-trapped-in-a-humanitarian-disaster-2023-10">humanitarian corridors</a> to provide much-needed aid. Insider spoke with one Gaza resident, <keyword id="23580744" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="amjad-shabat" source="keywords">Amjad Shabat</keyword>, who fled Gaza City with her family, about what it's like to live near the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-bombed-only-crossing-allowing-people-flee-gaza-palestine-egypt-2023-10">Rafah</a> border crossing. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Who did you leave with? Are you safe right now? I used to live in Gaza City. I left with my husband, my daughter, my sister, and my mother to my in-laws. So we're staying at the house of my in-laws near the Rafah border that is to the south of the Gaza Strip. When did you leave? The evacuation process started the morning of, I believe, Wednesday. And we left in the afternoon of that day. So yes, upon the calls of Israeli occupation forces to leave the northern Gaza strip to the south. This was a massive evacuation process. What was the process of leaving like? Very, very, very scary. Very frightening. We left already under the massive airstrikes that have been targeting Gaza for three days, four days at that time. Israel only kept one main street that links the northern of Gaza to the south, which is Salah al-Din Road. Along 15-20 kilometers, you saw a series, a line of cars, trucks, and any transportation that could take people. I was very scared and sad at the same time because this all brought the memories of 1948 when the Palestinian people had to leave their villages. <div type="image" title="A gray car filled with people, including a child is sitting on the window. On top is luggage." height="3840" width="5760" msid="104452140" hostid="261"></div>What did you bring, and what did you leave behind? We left with nothing. I have been wearing the same clothes since Wednesday. We were lucky that my father-in-law had a car, so he came from Rafah to Gaza, which takes him two hours … He came and he took us out of the city. We actually were lucky because many of our friends and many of our colleagues couldn't leave Gaza until now because they couldn't find a ride. What was the drive like? Very scary. At one moment, my father-in-law was about to hit the side of the road because he couldn't see. We literally piled up inside the car. Thirteen people in a car with a capacity of five people, you couldn't see both sides. And because of this massive crowd of people leaving Gaza into the south, people were very stressed and scared. I believe they were less focused on driving than on running away from the continuous airstrikes. The massive and the terrifying airstrikes. There were voices of airstrikes and bombing when we traveled, but to be honest, not exactly where we've been. I kept hearing the voices. They were in the background but not in front of my eyes. Have you had any updates on your home in Gaza City? Do you even know if it's still standing? I don't know. I just recently bought my flat. My husband and I had been saving for years to have the top flat in the center of Gaza City. We left everything. So I really don't want it to be destroyed. Right behind the neighborhood I used to live in, it was completely destroyed. And all across the road, destruction is everywhere, wherever we go. We turn our heads, there is destruction. <div type="image" title="A young boy sleeps on a green and brown carpet in a room with damaged walls while two women sit against the wall." height="1667" width="2500" msid="104452141" hostid="261"></div>What is your situation like now? The most important and the most terrifying thing that we face is the scarcity of basic resources, such as water and food. We've run out of bread today. Three of my brothers-in-law had to stay in front of the bakery for three hours where they couldn't obtain any loaf of bread because when the time came for them to buy their bread, there wasn't any more bread. We are out of water, so we can't use the toilet, we can't wash our clothes or wash the dishes. We keep the freshwater we can drink. No electricity, of course. No internet. I'm lucky to have neighbors who have a private generator, and they have something like cellular data, and they connect for me. What is it like near the Rafah border? I've been to one of our schools. <keyword id="19970301" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="unrwa" source="keywords">UNRWA</keyword> is the UN institution that's responsible for feeding and finding work and helping the refugees of Palestine. They're turning their schools into shelters to help thousands of families. At a school with a capacity of 1,000 people, between 2,000 and 4,000 people are literally piling up. Others are in serious shock because they run away under the massive airstrikes where buildings may be demolished in front of their eyes. Others, they can't focus their eyes. They can't speak. I went to interview one of them to see how are the people's mental health. They refused to speak with me. Men had to sleep outside, and it's getting colder and colder. The streets are full. The city where were we evacuated to is a very small city. And the infrastructure, of course, is not suitable to hold this number of people. People who are there have run away without medicines. People with chronic diseases are very frightened of any health crisis that they may face because they don't have their medicines. People with diabetes, with blood pressure, with a history of heart disease. They're very afraid.

A woman in Gaza traveled south with her family to safety. Now, they're running out of food and water.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Congressional Staff for a Ceasefire Now is a group of more than 150 Capitol Hill staffers.</li><li>One organizer told BI they'd protested on Capitol Hill to amplify their constituents' voices.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with an organizer involved with Congressional Staff for a Ceasefire Now, a group pressuring lawmakers to support a cease-fire in Gaza. The staffer has been granted anonymity in order to speak freely without fear of retaliation from their office. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.At the end of October, when we saw how Israel was beginning to conduct its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-israel-trying-to-achieve-in-gaza-bombing-2023-12">war in Gaza</a>, I and several other staffers on Capitol Hill were really, really concerned.We had heard from thousands of constituents who were writing to us, emailing us, calling us, and commenting on our offices' social-media accounts, urging our bosses to call for a cease-fire in Gaza.Initially, there were just four or five of us ready to do something, but the group gradually grew to about a dozen staffers.Our first major action was a flower vigil on the House steps on November 7, one month after the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/11-israel-hamas-dramatic-images-surprise-attack-israel-2023-10">Hamas attack on Israel</a>. The goal was to directly confront lawmakers with the fact that there's dissent among their staff about how they're handling this, while making it clear that we don't stand by our bosses' decisions to whitewash this and to look the other way.We recognized not just the civilian lives lost in Gaza but also the 1,200 civilian lives lost in Israel during the horrible attacks on October 7. We laid 10,000 flowers — one for each civilian in both Israel and Gaza who had been killed at that point.Our group has since grown to more than 150 staffers, and we've taken several other actions and demonstrations. In February, after the US <a target="_blank" href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN12316">cut off funding</a> to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, we held a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/hill-staff-fundraiser-for-gaza-and-hostages">fundraiser</a> that brought in more than $8,500. We've also read the names of more than 300 infants who've been killed in Gaza.This month we marched to the steps of the Capitol before a vote on a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/which-democrats-voted-israel-aid-security-assistance-bill-biden-2024-5">bill to force President Joe Biden to provide withheld aid to Israel</a>, insisting that Congress try to save Rafah instead.During our public demonstrations, many of us — including me — wear items such as masks or sunglasses to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C15BNoLxLHG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">maintain anonymity.</a><h2 id="975ec93c-1de8-436b-8921-cb1de2015292">My boss is largely convinced they're right on most things. But they've been willing to listen.</h2>I work for a House Democrat who has endorsed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-israel-gaza-problem-state-union-uncommitted-2024-3">Biden's plan for a negotiated, two-sided cease-fire</a> — but that's absolutely not far enough.I believe Israel has not only an obligation but a responsibility to unilaterally implement a cease-fire and conduct itself differently in this conflict if it actually is hoping to secure hostages and eliminate Hamas.<div type="image" title="Congressional staffers participate in a flower vigil on November 7, 2023." height="1500" width="2000" msid="110568802" hostid="261"></div>I also believe that somewhere between one-third to one-half of the more than 90 federal lawmakers who have called for a cease-fire — including my boss — have used that term under pressure and used varying definitions of the term that avoid placing the responsibility on Israel to actually secure one.There are varying degrees to which lawmakers are willing to listen to their staffers on this issue. My own boss is stubborn and largely convinced they're right on most things, but they've been willing to listen, which I admire them for. To that end, we've had several staff-level conversations over the past several months.Recently, I told my boss that they should be focusing more on the reality on the ground rather than just continuing to hark back to October 7.Some senior staff in my office seem to know I'm involved with the congressional-staffer cease-fire effort — and they've made comments here and there to prove it. But I'm almost positive that the lawmaker I work for doesn't know, and that if they did, there would be genuine repercussions.<h2 id="c96550c1-6ba3-4418-a550-a66200de7099">If they're not listening to us in our offices, we have to find a way to get through to them.</h2>Some people say that it's not our place as staff to be doing any of this, and that it's simply our job to carry out our boss' wishes.When it's constituents saying this, I understand: They don't understand exactly how congressional offices work and they don't know how Congress functions. But I think it is a bad-faith argument when it's made by other staffers or by lawmakers.<div type="image" title="Congressional staffers read the names of infants killed in Gaza on May 14." height="1000" width="1333" msid="110568804" hostid="261"></div>We are the people engaging with constituents. Members of Congress aren't on the phones, don't respond to emails, and don't respond to social-media comments in almost all cases. We have seen an unprecedented influx of constituent sentiment in support of a cease-fire, and in some lawmakers' offices that sentiment is not being listened to at the most senior level.So if they're not listening to us at our offices, we have to find a way to get through to them.We want to show that at all levels of our government — from civilians to staffers, to administration officials to military members who have resigned in protest of this conflict and the way it's being handled — there is dissent and there is a price to pay for not listening to your constituents.<h2 id="af891ef9-956f-42f6-a044-b7f6de6377f0">If there's a sliver of a chance that you can make a difference, I believe you have a duty to stay working on Capitol Hill.</h2>Others might say that if we don't agree with what our bosses are doing then we should quit. But it's not that simple.If you're high-profile enough where you can make a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-state-official-resigned-biden-blind-military-aid-for-israel-2023-10">national story by quitting</a> the State Department, the White House, or the military, that can be a really important and impactful decision.But if you're in an office where there is even a sliver of a chance you could make a difference, I believe you have a duty to stay there. You don't know who's going to step in and replace you in that job. You don't know if they're going to hire someone who just does not believe in the humanity of the Palestinian people.Personally, I haven't considered resigning, but I've drawn personal lines for myself: I won't write content that I feel is grossly out of line with the human values that I support.Thankfully, I work in an office where, slowly but surely, it seems like the ship is turning. Even though I think my boss is turning a blind eye to more things than I'm comfortable with, I continue to believe that their mind is still changing and is not rigid on this. That's enough for me to see a reason to stay on.For the most part, staff are not wholly responsible — or even largely responsible — for the votes that their bosses take.<div type="image" title="Pro-ceasefire staffers marching toward the House steps ahead of a vote on an Israel aid-related bill on May 16." height="1500" width="2000" msid="110568807" hostid="261"></div><h2 id="a63cb514-cc75-4152-b8b2-a5e65110e502">We have already made an impact</h2>One thing that's been reassuring for me is how crosscutting this issue is, especially at a time when politics is more polarized than ever.We've had Democrats and Republicans at some of our House protests, as well as Israelis and Palestinians, people who are Jewish or Muslim, who are every religion and identity in between.I think that staff actions and demonstrating how constituents are feeling about this issue are responsible for so many members of Congress not only calling for a cease-fire in one form or another but actually being comfortable, for the first time, with the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/conditions-us-aid-israel-blank-check-bernie-sanders-2023-11">idea of conditioning aid to Israel.</a>We've given staff the courage to speak up in their offices and to have those kinds of conversations with their bosses. And I think that we have been essential in providing staff with an excuse to stay at a time when <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/house-congressional-staffers-dysfunction-gridlock-eyeing-exits-democrats-gop-2024-3">working in this institution is incredibly difficult.</a>Until the government responds to its constituents, we plan to be their voice in the halls of power.

I work for a House Democrat and disagree with my boss on Gaza. So I'm secretly organizing behind their back.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Israel's ambassador to the UK told Sky News that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.</li><li>About 2 million Palestinians have been trapped in Gaza with dwindling electricity, food, and water. </li></ul>An Israeli ambassador said she doesn't believe there's a humanitarian crisis in Gaza after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-palestine-confilct-bombing-gaza-strip-hamas-united-states-isis-2023-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Israel dropped thousands of bombs on the territory</a>, killing thousands of Palestinians. Tzipi Hotovely, Israel's ambassador to the UK, <a href="https://news.sky.com/video/israel-hamas-war-time-for-hamas-to-pay-the-price-12985373" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke with Sky News' Kay Burley</a> on Monday about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, which began when Hamas militants from Gaza attacked Israel on October 7th, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hamas-victims-uncover-signs-torture-and-abuse-says-israeli-forensics-2023-10">killing more than a thousand Israelis and foreign nationals in Israeli settlements</a>, including women, children, and the elderly, and taking civilians hostage.Since then, the Israeli Defense Forces have bombarded the Gaza Strip with thousands of bombs, killing over 2,600 Palestinians, <a href="https://www.moh.gov.ps/portal/gaza-2670-palestinians-killed-since-the-start-of-escalation-on-the-morning-of-7-october-and-9600-citizens-were-injured/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health</a>. "There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza," Hotovely said on Sky News. "Israel is in charge of the safety of the Israelis. Hamas is in charge of the safety of the Palestinians."Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cut off the flow of electricity, water, fuel, and supplies to Gaza while <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-gaza-devastation-israel-counterattack-2023-10">bombing refugee camps, mosques, and residential areas</a>, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-death-toll-rises-bodies-are-stored-ice-cream-trucks-2023-10-15/#:~:text=GAZA%2C%20Oct%2015%20(Reuters),cemeteries%20are%20short%20of%20space." target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow"></a>The Red Cross has warned that with supplies dwindling, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gazas-hospitals-verge-collapse-could-turn-into-morgues-officials-say-2023-10">Gaza's hospitals risk turning into morgues</a>. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-death-toll-rises-bodies-are-stored-ice-cream-trucks-2023-10-15/#:~:text=GAZA%2C%20Oct%2015%20(Reuters),cemeteries%20are%20short%20of%20space." target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Reuters reported on Sunday</a> that health officials are using <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gaza-ice-cream-trucks-store-bodies-cemeteries-morgues-capacity-2023-10">ice cream trucks to house dead bodies</a> because morgues and cemeteries have run out of space. About 2 million residents of Gaza have been unable to flee because the only way out, the Rafah crossing into Egypt, remains closed, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67121372" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the BBC reported</a>. Kay Burley told Hotovely that Sky News had been showing images that indicate there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.Hotovely responded, "What would you think if your children would have been executed in front of your eyes? Would you expect your government to think about those Nazis commit ing those crimes and to say, 'Wait a second first of all we need to protect the enemy and then to protect my children.' Your children come as priority to your prime minister."She then added, "So blame Hamas. And ask Hamas why they started those atrocities."UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, meanwhile, said on Monday that Britain would increase aid to Palestinian people by $12.8 million, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/uks-sunak-says-least-6-british-citizens-killed-israel-2023-10-16/">Reuters reported</a>."We are increasing our aid by a third with an additional 10 million pounds ($12.18 million) of support. An acute humanitarian crisis is unfolding to which we must respond," Sunak told lawmakers. "We must support the Palestinian people because they are victims of Hamas too."

Israel's ambassador says there's no humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel bombs and lays siege to it, killing thousands of Palestinians

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Uncommitted movement is withholding support for Biden until he changes course on Israel.</li><li>They know who Trump is — but they're tired of being asked to vote for the lesser of two evils.</li></ul>Is it entirely the responsibility of a political candidate to win voters, or is it the responsibility of voters to choose the "lesser of two evils?"That's the question shaping much of the conversation about the "uncommitted" movement, an ongoing campaign of Democratic voters who are — at least for now — refusing to vote for President Joe Biden this November in protest of his support for Israel's ongoing war in Gaza.I posed this question to Lexis Zeidan, a 31-year-old Palestinian American activist and one of the leaders of the "Uncommitted National Movement," when I met her at a coffee shop in downtown Detroit last month. Her eyes lit up as she reached for her phone, where she pulled up an Instagram post she had seen earlier that day. "I think it'll answer your question," she said."'I will not be gaslit into voting for a man who I just watched proudly fund the murder of 30,000+ people. If this system requires us to choose between two genocide supporters, then humanity requires us to dismantle them both,'" said Zeidan, reading off of her phone. "'It's genocide. Do not tell me I am to blame because I didn't vote for your preferred war criminal. It's genocide. Genocide is as bad as it gets.'"It had been just over two weeks since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uncommitted-biden-michigan-previous-primaries-trump-israel-gaza-2024-2">more than 101,000 Democratic voters</a> cast "uncommitted" ballots in the state's Democratic primary on February 28, demonstrating that they could cost Biden the election in at least one state. That result was driven in large part by the work of organizers, including Zeidan, Layla Elabed, and Abbas Alawieh, who <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rashida-tlaib-sister-listen-to-michigan-uncommitted-biden-israel-gaza-2024-2">launched the "Listen to Michigan" campaign</a> just weeks before the primary. Since then, tens of thousands of voters have cast uncommitted ballots in other states, the movement has begun coalescing under the banner of the "Uncommitted National Movement," and the burgeoning political bloc is set to be represented by at least two dozen delegates at this summer's Democratic National Convention.The group has simple, albeit steep demands: a permanent, unconditional cease-fire in Gaza, an end to US military aid to Israel, and the reinstatement of humanitarian aid and funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).Biden has yet to make substantial policy moves on Israel, and much of the response from more partisan Democrats has boiled down to the same rejoinder: What about Donald Trump?After all, the former president catered to the country's hard-right government's interests for more than Biden has, and Arabs and Muslims — a leading constituency within the uncommitted movement — have long been a scapegoat for Trump's brand of politics. The former president has even made vague pledges to expand upon the so-called "Muslim ban" that he enacted during his first term. To that point, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-campaign-mitch-landrieu-uncommitted-trump-muslim-ban-israel-2024-2">Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu</a> exhorted uncommitted voters to "think about the choices and what the consequences are about electing somebody who wants to have a Muslim ban" in an interview the day after the Michigan primary.For the leading voices in the uncommitted movement, that's missing the point — and it's insulting."We are very aware of who Trump is," said Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, whose majority Arab-American city houses the largest Muslim population in the United States. "This idea of a 'lesser of two evils' is extremely difficult to swallow.""I get these messages kind of constantly in my DMs, telling me 'Oh, now you're gonna get deported,'" said Elabed. "These are people that I'm supposed to share the same values with as a progressive Democrat?"Uncommitted voters are not a monolith, and some of them — particularly those who take their cues from the more hardline "Abandon Biden" campaign — may indeed never vote for Biden this November, no matter what. But Uncommitted National Movement organizers say it's best to view their efforts as a kind of negotiation. If Biden moves toward their position, he may be able to win back their support."President Biden, time and again, demonstrates that he moves when the party moves on issue after issue," said Alawieh. "The center of the party has moved here. We registered that fact at the ballot box. Now it's time for Biden to move."<h2>'Electoralizing' discontent toward Biden</h2>It has long been clear that Israel's war in Gaza, launched after Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in an attack on October 7, is not popular with Biden's base. Since November, polling has shown most Democrats disapproving of Israel's conduct in the war, which has claimed the lives of at least 30,000 Palestinians so far. Polling has also shown that roughly half of Biden's 2020 supporters believe that the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-biden-voters-israel-genocide-palestinians-gaza-poll-2024-1">war amounts to a genocide</a>. Yet that sentiment had yet to show up in any ballot box.That changed with the Michigan primary. The "Listen to Michigan" campaign was originally conceived in a <a target="_blank" href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24523761/uncommited-michigan-memo.pdf">memo</a> drafted by Waleed Shahid, a progressive strategist and former spokesman for the left-wing group Justice Democrats. That document envisioned the original uncommitted campaign in Michigan as a way to "electoralize discontent over Biden's support for Israel's brutal war in Gaza" and make Biden "afraid of losing Michigan in the general election."<div type="image" title="From left: Abbas Alawieh, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, and Layla Elabed at a press conference in Dearborn in February." height="1500" width="2000" msid="108954201" hostid="261" sizebytes="301288"></div>Elabed, the younger sister of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, served as the group's campaign manager, while Zeidan and Alawieh — a former senior staffer to both Tlaib and Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri — served as spokespeople for the group. Michigan proved to be particularly fertile ground, given the large Arab American and Muslim-American majorities in Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, and Hamtramck. To hear organizers describe it, it was an exhilarating and energizing experience in an otherwise dark time."We gave people who are experiencing great pain — whether they are directly impacted themselves, or whether they are livestreaming a genocide on their phones and horrified by the idea that our US taxpayer funds are paying for it — something to vote for in a moment when President Biden is failing to do that," said Alawieh.Voting "uncommitted" in an uncontested primary isn't a binding decision, which organizers and progressives who sympathize with the effort have been eager to point out. Elabed described the campaign as a "gift" to Biden and the Democratic Party, in the sense that it crystallized the nature of the problem for them.Showing up and being counted was, on some level, the easy and straightforward part. Now, the movement is in a more vague place, with lingering uncertainties around how Biden will handle the matter in the coming months and what uncommitted voters will accept in exchange for their votes.<h2>'A genocide outweighs all of this'</h2>Most of the people I spoke with say they still don't know how they'll vote in November — and they're tired of being asked. The election is still seven months away, and they argue that the ball is firmly within Biden's court. Until he shifts, they remain uncommitted.So how could someone leave their ballot blank in November, even if it means risking a second Trump term and all that entails? The answers varied, but each drove at a central point: The scope of what's happening in Gaza every day makes the normal lesser-of-two-evils calculations of a presidential election feel almost beside the point.Mayor Hammoud, for example, is no disaffected lefty. He has described Biden as a "transformative" president on domestic policy, and he ticked off several of Biden's accomplishments that he believed had changed the country for the better as I spoke with him. But again, that's now beside the point for him."A genocide outweighs all of this. Aiding, abetting, defending, and supporting a genocide outweighs all that transformative legislation," said Hammoud. He went on to note that one Dearborn resident came forward at a November city council meeting and told officials that he had lost 80 relatives in Gaza since the war began."To that individual, there is no way they would ever walk into the ballot box come November and cast their vote for Biden. I think that understanding should be there," Hammoud said. "What is the value of the life of 80 of your family members? There is no dollar amount to that. There's no economic impact to that. There's no multiplier that gets added to that. That is something that can never come back."Even for those whose families and friends haven't been directly affected, there's a deep sense of alienation, particularly within the Arab American community, many of whom strongly identify with the Palestinians who are now facing treacherous conditions in Gaza."I've just never felt more un-American than I do right now," said Zeidan. "It's just a really weird place to be."James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute and a Democratic National Committeeman, has long counseled his progressive allies to support their party's presidential nominee, even if that person falls short of the ideal. But he says he can't bring himself to do it this year, particularly in front of Arab American audiences."It's not that I don't believe that Joe Biden is — as we used to say — on a bad day, better than Donald Trump on a good day," said Zogby. "It's that I have spent 50 years of my life organizing for Palestinian rights. I've spent 50 years of my life organizing to get the Arab American community to be respected. We're being dumped on, and Palestinians are suffering genocide. I can't go before a community in Dearborn, or in Chicago, or in Paterson, or anywhere else, and literally trash everything I've done with my life."<h2>'Give us something to work with'</h2>As Alawieh and Elabed sat before me in a coffee shop on Dearborn's Michigan Avenue last month, I asked what might happen if Biden doesn't fulfill all of the group's demands. The room was largely empty, owing to the daytime slumber that befalls the city during the month of Ramadan, but Alawieh was animated as he responded."There is an entire menu of things that President Biden could do to move in the direction of discontinuing the funding of the killing," he said. "There's plenty of things that he could do to move in the direction of conditioning military funding, of stopping the transfer of offensive weapons. There's so much you could do."In recent weeks, Biden has made some shifts, though they are primarily rhetorical. He has described Israel's campaign in Gaza as being "over the top." He announced the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-israel-gaza-aid-state-of-union-no-other-path-2024-3">establishment of a temporary port</a> on the Gaza coast during the State of the Union. He has made clear that he opposes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled. Last week, the US abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages, though the administration quickly sought to downplay the vote's significance. The administration has also been pushing for a six-week cease-fire, conditioned upon Hamas agreeing to release the remaining Israeli hostages.All of that still does not amount to what uncommitted organizers describe as their "bare minimum" demand: calling for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza, regardless of what Hamas may do. Biden has also continued to authorize new weapons transfers to Israel, and he recently signed government funding legislation that includes a one-year ban on US funding to UNRWA after employees of the organization were accused of participating in the October 7 attack.<div type="image" title="Supporters of the &quot;Listen to Michigan&quot; campaign embrace at a February watch party." height="1500" width="2000" msid="108954203" hostid="261" sizebytes="264214"></div>Several people who I spoke with floated ideas for Biden that fall short of the uncommitted movement's state demands, but that might turn things around.Alawieh suggested halting ongoing weapons transfers to Israel, or at least <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/conditions-us-aid-israel-blank-check-bernie-sanders-2023-11">enforcing existing human rights laws</a> that govern such transfers. Former Rep. Andy Levin, a progressive Jewish Democrat who served in Congress from 2019 to 2023, said Biden has been "so small and unimaginative" amid the war and floated the idea of a "historic summit" with Israelis, Palestinians, and neighboring countries to demonstrate a commitment toward resolving the conflict. Zogby said Biden should try to be "at least as good" as Ronald Reagan, who called Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1982 to demand a halt to Israel's shelling of Beirut."I've been pleading with them: 'Give us something to work with," said Zogby. "Give us a change in policy, enough that makes us able to make the case."What uncommitted voters are ultimately looking for is a sense of seriousness and clarity that they feel has been lacking from Biden. In one infamous instance in February, Biden casually told reporters that a ceasefire could be coming while standing beside comedian Seth Meyers in a New York ice cream shop."We're happy to have all the discussions about what happens in November," said Alawieh. "But first, we need you to put your ice-cream cone down and get serious about a cease-fire."Uncommitted movement organizers do not seem to be taking glee in embarrassing Biden. But given that his administration and campaign have done little outreach to them since the primary, there's a fear that their concerns are simply being ignored."My greatest fear is that in November, he's not going to be remembered as the president who saved American democracy in 2020 and passed these transformative pieces of legislation," said Hammoud. "But rather sacrificed American democracy for Benjamin Netanyahu and looking the other way when it came to a genocide."

You Searched For "all eyes on rafah" and got 4 results

A woman in Gaza traveled south with her family to safety. Now, they're running out of food and water.

Hannah Getahun

I work for a House Democrat and disagree with my boss on Gaza. So I'm secretly organizing behind their back.

Bryan Metzger

Israel's ambassador says there's no humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel bombs and lays siege to it, killing thousands of Palestinians

Grace Eliza Goodwin

'Uncommitted' Democrats may dump Biden over the war in Gaza. They say it's not their fault if Trump wins.

Bryan Metzger

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides