An Open Letter to My Pro-Palestinian Friends: The Hard Choices Facing Us This Election
I get it. Supporting the Biden-Harris administration is a bitter pill for many Arab and Muslim Americans who see the pain in Palestine, Lebanon, and across the Middle East.
It’s enraging to watch U.S. foreign policy in action — or worse, inaction — while innocent lives hang in the balance. Biden’s administration has continued arms shipments to Israel, avoided decisive intervention, and seemed to prioritize “keeping Israel happy” over protecting Palestinian civilians.
It’s disappointing and, frankly, feels like a betrayal. So, the instinct to withhold support is understandable, and I have deep respect for anyone willing to take a principled stand.
But here’s the thing. This election presents a political crossroads with high stakes and two real choices in a binary system: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
Let’s start with Trump because his approach is a known quantity — and it’s been disastrous. His administration openly handed Netanyahu everything he asked for, with no pretense of balance. Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and brokered the Abraham Accords — essentially sidelining Palestinian aspirations in favor of normalizing Israel’s dominance in the region. He and his administration made it clear they see the region as a chessboard where Palestinian lives, rights, and dignity can be sacrificed to further U.S. and Israeli interests.
Trump is openly aligned with Netanyahu’s far-right agenda, and Netanyahu has made his preference for a Trump return no secret. With Trump, the outcome is certain: full, unconditional backing for Israeli expansionism and military aggression, complete disregard for Palestinian rights, and an administration staffed with individuals who see Palestinian statehood as a “pipe dream.”
Kamala Harris is part of the current administration, so there’s no pretending she’s disconnected from Biden’s Middle East policies. Yes, she’s aligned with Biden in public, often echoing his stance. But there’s an important nuance here: she may be deferring to Biden’s policies because, as vice president, that’s her job.
It’s unclear how much of her alignment is due to true agreement versus the strategic calculus of a politician who is still a heartbeat away from the presidency. If elected, Harris may prove as unresponsive as Biden — or she could feel freer to pivot or respond differently once she’s out from under his shadow.
With her, there’s a degree of unknown, and that unknown, even if it’s a sliver, is the difference between definitely bad and maybe bad.
There’s no way around it: Biden’s record on Israel and Palestine has been terrible. Watching Biden handle this issue feels like watching someone who could intervene but chooses not to — someone who claims to stand for peace yet shrugs at the suffering of one side.
Under Biden, U.S. support for Israel has come with no meaningful accountability. His administration sends weapons, supplies, and financial backing to Israel without any serious expectations attached.
When Netanyahu escalates military operations, expands settlements, or violates international law, Biden’s response has been weak, riddled with statements of “concern” but never backed by consequences. It’s empty rhetoric dressed up as diplomacy.
What’s particularly frustrating is the administration’s pretense that their hands are tied — that Israel is a “sovereign state” and there’s nothing America can do about it. This is arrant nonsense.
The United States is not just a bystander on the world stage; it is the Hegemon… the only real global superpower. When it decides it wants something, it makes it happen. American influence is not passive; it is a decisive, active force, and it’s exerted whenever it aligns with U.S. interests.
When it comes to other countries, the U.S. has no problem insisting on compliance or alignment and on imposing a wide range of levers from withdrawing support and marshaling opposition all the way to crippling sanctions, cutting off resources, and squeezing their economies to force compliance.
When it suits American interests, demands are made of “sovereign states” all the time, often with devastating effectiveness. The idea that the U.S. can’t apply similar pressure to Israel is a selective impotence — a claim that conveniently appears only when Palestinian lives are on the line.
It’s a political choice to not act, it is not the recognition of a constraint on American power.
Israel receives billions in aid and military support from the U.S. annually. Leverage exists, and plenty of it. Biden’s decision to ignore that leverage, to look the other way, isn’t about respecting sovereignty; it’s about shielding Israel from accountability.
It’s about prioritizing one side of the conflict and pretending that inaction is “neutrality.” The U.S. doesn’t need to be less pro-Israel, but it does need to be equally pro-Palestinian — to care as much about the people suffering in Gaza as those in Tel Aviv.
Instead, Biden has treated Palestinian lives as the necessary casualties of “keeping the peace” in an utterly one-sided manner.
The irony is that this blind support of Bibi’s Israel should be worrying to those who consider themselves pro-Israel. It is a support that doesn’t just harm Palestinians — ironically, it will also profoundly harm Israel in the long run.
The blank check that the U.S. has written for Netanyahu isn’t helping Israel; it’s entrenching a dangerous political trajectory that leaves the country isolated on the world stage and steers it further into pariah status.
Netanyahu’s administration has pushed Israel into a deeply polarizing position, disregarding international law, ignoring human rights concerns, and expanding settlements in ways that make a two-state solution almost impossible.
This isn’t just morally indefensible — it’s politically unsustainable. By refusing to hold Netanyahu to any meaningful standard, the U.S. enables his government to pursue short-term political gains at the expense of Israel’s long-term security and legitimacy.
Unchecked support has allowed Netanyahu to ignore diplomatic norms and alienate key global partners. The more isolated Israel becomes, the more its security relies solely on American power and the less it’s able to integrate as a respected member of the international community.
Supporting a leader like Netanyahu might look like “pro-Israel” loyalty, but it’s actually weakening Israel’s standing and making it more vulnerable in the long run.
In reality, being truly “pro-Israel” means having the courage to hold Israel’s leaders accountable. It means pushing for policies that promote stability, human rights, and coexistence with Palestinians, not policies that fuel cycles of resentment and violence.
A sustainable peace benefits Israelis as much as it does Palestinians, but Biden’s blind eye to Netanyahu’s actions makes that peace feel ever more elusive.
Wishing for more choices is natural. But in the American political system, the options are Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Voting for someone like Jill Stein or Cornel West is a third option, but it’s not a neutral act.
A third-party vote in a binary system removes a voice from the decision between two real outcomes, and that almost always favors the incumbent or the most likely winner — in this case, Trump.
And while it might feel satisfying in the moment to take a principled stand, the larger outcome remains binary: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
Neither Sister Jill nor Brother Cornell will save Palestine; their candidacies won’t win this election, and casting a protest vote for them, as right as it may feel, will most likely hand Trump one more vote advantage.
The reality is that voting for the “maybe bad” choice in this election isn’t giving up on principles; it’s about living to fight another day. Trump’s track record shows an unwavering commitment to policies that harm Palestinians and further empower far-right elements in Israel.
In contrast, Harris at least holds the potential for change — even if it’s a slim one. With Harris, there remains the option to advocate, to hold her accountable, to pressure an administration that still responds (however inadequately) to shifts in public opinion.
With Trump, there’s no such option; he and his supporters don’t care about shifting tides of public opinion when it comes to the Middle East.
Voting isn’t about supporting a flawless candidate. It’s about choosing the path where there might be leverage.
Harris may not be the ally you want, but Trump has shown he will be the active enabler of every right-wing agenda point that Netanyahu and other hardliners could hope for.
I will end by talking about what I want.
For me, it’s not about wanting the U.S. to be less pro-Israel. It’s not about America switching sides.
For me, it’s about America being the broker it claims to be, to actually act as a force for peace and dignity for all involved.
Right now, the administration holds only Arabs and Palestinians accountable, issuing critique after critique of Palestinian resistance while waving off every one of Netanyahu’s offenses with a shrug, an “Oh, well…whatcha gonna do?”
True leadership would mean holding both Israelis and Palestinians to account for their failures and, more importantly, supporting the people on both sides — lifting up Palestinians as well as Israelis.
I want the U.S. to truly, equally support both the Palestinian and Israeli people — not their governments, not their leaders’ power plays, but the actual lives on the line every day.
This doesn’t mean a “pro-Palestinian” position is anti-Israeli or that pro-Israeli has to mean ignoring Palestinian lives. It just means believing in both peoples’ humanity and their right to live in peace and safety. That’s not contradictory; it’s fundamental.
The responsibility for winning a person’s vote lies with the candidates. The onus is not on Arabs and Muslims to “fall in line” when a campaign fails to take concerns seriously. That pressure is bullshit, and it’s often a cover for campaigns and candidates who haven’t done the work to earn trust.
I don’t blame anyone who chooses a protest vote out of principled frustration.
I’m writing not to blame but to make clear the stakes of the decision. If your decision is abstention or a third-party vote, it’s possible (maybe even probable) that Trump wins. And a Trump win is 100 percent a path to more suffering, more extremism, and fewer chances for any progress on the issues that matter most.
At the end of the day, it’s a hard decision, and sure, it sucks that these are the options. But sitting out won’t change the stakes; it will only make them worse.
Voting for Harris isn’t an endorsement of Biden’s failings; it’s a strategic move to avoid something worse — a vote to keep the door open to some form of change, however small, rather than closing it entirely.
This election isn’t just another cycle; it’s a moment that could shape the trajectory of justice and peace in the Middle East for years to come. Sitting it out might feel like a stand, but in a system as unforgiving as ours, sitting out means letting the worst take the reins.
Use your voice not because it’s an easy choice but because it’s the only way to keep a sliver of hope alive.
If Harris wins, then she — like every other politician — must be held accountable. A vote isn’t a blank check; it’s leverage. If Harris becomes president, that’s when the work begins. Every voice, every demand, and every call for justice matters because she will need to know that the communities who helped put her there are watching.
Suppose she’s truly a leader for all. In that case, she should expect to hear from those who’ve fought for a just peace, who’ve pushed for equality and dignity for Palestinians, who want an America that treats both Israelis and Palestinians with humanity.
Vote for “maybe bad” over “definitely bad,” and then commit to holding Harris to account every step of the way.
That means demanding an honest foreign policy, one that doesn’t look the other way but confronts human rights abuses directly — wherever they happen, whoever is responsible. It means keeping the pressure on so that this administration knows that the voices of Arab and Muslim Americans are not just numbers on Election Day; they’re a force that won’t be silenced.
In this flawed system, your vote isn’t a perfect endorsement, but it’s a decision with power. Make it count, and then keep fighting for the future you want to see.
