Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud declined to meet with Trump and did not endorse Harris

AMY GOOD MAN: That is Democracy now!demokratienow.org. I'm Amy Goodman.

Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigned over the weekend in the battleground state of Michigan, where they sought support from Michigan's 200,000 Arab-American and Muslim voters, many of whom have condemned U.S. support for Israel's war on Gaza. Kamala Harris spoke to supporters at a mass rally in East Lansing, Michigan. She began her speech with a reference to the civilian victims of the Israeli war.

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: This year has been difficult, given the level of death and destruction in Gaza and civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon. It's devastating. And as President, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, bring the hostages home, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel's security and ensure that the Palestinian people have their right to dignity , freedom and security and self-determination.

AMY GOOD MAN: Harris visited East Lansing after President Trump traveled to Dearborn on Friday. This was the first time a leading presidential candidate visited the Arab-American majority city. Trump was questioned by reporters.

REPORTER: Sir, what conversation did you recently have with Prime Minister Netanyahu about building peace in the Middle East?

DONALD TRUMP: We had a good conversation. We will bring peace. There will be peace in the Middle East, but not with the clowns currently running the US. You will have peace – you will have peace in the Middle East. And they should have peace in the Middle East, but not with the clowns that exist in the Middle East. Let me tell you what you have in the Middle East: There are people in the Middle East who are not doing their job, and there are people in the US who are not doing their job. And if they do it, if they do it right, there will be peace in the Middle East.

AMY GOOD MAN: For more information, we travel to Dearborn, Michigan to speak with Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who has refused to meet with President Trump but has also refused to support Kamala Harris.

Mayor, welcome back Democracy now! First, explain your decision not to meet with President Trump.

MAYOR ABDULLAH HAMMOUD: Yes, I am not one to be fooled by President Trump. I think we clearly understand where Donald Trump stands on this issue. This is the president who introduced the Muslim ban, who wants to be the architect of Muslim ban 2.0. This is someone who annexed the Golan Heights, someone who cut all funding for Palestinian humanitarian causes and concerns from the congressional budget. This is someone who armed Saudi Arabia to kill over 30,000 people, innocent civilians, in Yemen. So I'm not here to be fooled by President Donald Trump. And so I refused a meeting with Donald Trump on principle because he is not my president.

AMY GOOD MAN: And talk about your position on Kamala Harris, who just spoke to that huge crowd in East Lansing.

MAYOR ABDULLAH HAMMOUD: You know, for almost a year we have been calling for a ceasefire and for the enforcement of a ceasefire by the appropriate means. And based on all the conversations we've had, based on historical evidence of how ceasefires have been reached, the president must be ready to pick up the phone and demand a ceasefire from Benjamin Netanyahu, this war criminal, and his cabinet to reach. And you have to be prepared to impose an arms embargo.

What we haven't heard from this president yet is a willingness to impose an arms embargo. And I think that's the frustration that a lot of us have. Yes, we want to ensure that Palestinians have the right to self-determination. And we go one step further: We want to ensure that the Palestinians have their own, fair state. I think that's what's extremely important to address too. But what we haven't seen in the policies that the vice president has pushed is whether she will go about it or how she will go about getting it done.

AMY GOOD MAN: You are Lebanese American. Can you tell us what happened to your family in Lebanon?

MAYOR ABDULLAH HAMMOUD: My family was displaced. The first Lebanese-American to be killed was a Dearborn resident, the father of a very close family friend, Hajj Kamel Jawad. My wife has now lost several family members, including a paramedic who was murdered while trying to help others. There is now a deep sadness in the city of Dearborn, where many people attend funeral services and express their condolences to family members in large numbers. I attend services not for one or two people, but for 12 and 20 people on a given day. Ceremonial events have been postponed. This is the climate in the city of Dearborn right now. So when people come here to knock on doors or ask how people are going to vote, you have to understand for many – almost everyone I know has now lost a loved one or knows a loved one who is hurting or displaced was or whose ancestral home was decimated. This is the current climate in the city of Dearborn.

AMY GOOD MAN: Have you ever met with Vice President Kamala Harris?

MAYOR ABDULLAH HAMMOUD: There were a lot of conversations between campaign teams, and there were a lot of conversations going back even to when President Biden was the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. What I would say is that we have made our views very clear. We have been very clear about where we stand on these issues, whether with senior White House staff or with campaign officials.

And if there is an unwillingness to deviate from the genocide in Gaza, to enable and finance this genocide that is being carried out throughout the Gaza Strip and is now also affecting Lebanon, then there is also an unwillingness for us to take a step forward and to support any candidate. You know, my loyalty is first and foremost to the people of my community, the people of this city, this district. That is why we are prepared to put the people above party first and foremost, to ensure that we use the platform that the people have entrusted to us to make their voices heard in this time of need.

AMY GOOD MAN: And to those who say they can't support Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, some don't vote, others vote for a third-party candidate like Jill Stein: your answer is also to those who then say that a vote for Jill Stein is one Vote for Trump would be?

MAYOR ABDULLAH HAMMOUD: Given the level of grief we hear about on a daily basis in this community, my main concern is to ensure that people cast their ballot and vote. Apathy is, in my opinion, the most destructive thing. People forget that Donald Trump didn't win by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2016; It was the fact that 80,000 people had skipped the presidential question.

Therefore, my job is, first and foremost, to advocate that people go to the polls and not stand idly by, no matter what has happened and what has happened to them directly or indirectly. What I can assure you is that sitting on the sidelines is no good. That's why I called on people to vote according to their moral conscience, to get out there, at least start with the local ballot questions, the local elections, and then work their way up to the vote when they get to the presidential question.

AMY GOOD MAN: You, Abdullah Hammoud, are the first Arab-American and first Muslim mayor of Dearborn. You emphasized that this is not just about a presidential election, but also at the local level. Can you talk about what this election means to you, Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, outspoken supporter of Palestinians and Lebanese against Israel's war on Gaza?

MAYOR ABDULLAH HAMMOUD: What you have heard over the last year is that this community is taking a principled position with the community in which the Uncommitted movement was founded and flourished organically across the country. But what you hear from many of our residents, from many of our constituents, from the anti-war, anti-justice movement – or pro-justice movement, excuse me, broadly speaking, is that this is a community that says : “If.” If we want to end gun violence and mass shootings in schools within the states, we must also be prepared not to provide a war criminal with 2,000-pound J-bombs to decimate every school and university in the entire Gaza Strip. If we want to expand access to health care, we must also be prepared to hold accountable any government that bombs or decimates any health facility throughout Palestine or Lebanon.

These are the morals and values ​​we have. And that is the fundamental position that we have taken. And this position is not only popular here in the city of Dearborn, but when you look at the polls across the country, you see that the middle of America has moved on the issue of Israel and Palestine. And what is still missing is that the two major political parties in this country also take action on this issue.

AMY GOOD MAN: Abdullah Hammoud, I want to thank you for being with us. The mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, just declined a meeting with Donald Trump in Dearborn over his support of Israel's attack on Gaza, but did not endorse Kamala Harris, but encouraged people to get out and vote. There are apparently six third-party presidential candidates in Michigan.

Tune in on election night – that’s tomorrow, Tuesday, November 5 – for ours Democracy now! four-hour election special, from 8 a.m. to midnight Eastern Time; on Wednesday, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time. I'm Amy Goodman. That is Democracy now!