US Arab advocate responds to Harris: ‘The genocide is on her hands’

As we have reported, Harris opened her rally in Michigan with familiar lines pledging to end the war in Gaza. But for many advocates in the swing state’s large Arab community, her oft-repeated words about the conflict are not good enough.

Wissam Charafeddine, an activist in the Detroit area, said the least Harris can do is back the community’s demand for an arms embargo against Israel.

He called Harris’s comments “ridiculous” as the Democratic vice president has pledged to continue to provide weapons to the US ally.

“This genocide is committed by the Biden-Harris administration, not someone else from Mars,” Charafeddine told Al Jazeera.

“We don’t need to wait till Election Day. She could have done something yesterday; she can do something today, and she can do something every hour, but she chooses not to because the genocide is on her hands.”

According to a recent Brown University study, the US has provided $17.9 bn in military aid to Israel to help fund the ongoing war.

𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞.