The Arab American News has no plans to endorse either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the upcoming election.
In an interview with CNN’s John Berman, Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani explained why the paper wasn’t making an endorsement for 2024, citing the ongoing devastation in Gaza as a chief factor.
“We did not see anything that brings to our attention the interest of our community and what’s happening overseas,” he said. “Our homes, our friends’ homes, our families overseas are being killed by American-made bombs. And we should — we have been trying to say to them, please stop this war for 12 months. And 43,000 right now dead in Gaza, 2,200 in Lebanon. Thousands have been injured, 100,000 in Gaza and over 11,000 in Lebanon. Total destruction of homes and properties. And every facet of life in Gaza and now in Lebanon. What are we going to vote for? Who are we going to vote for? The two main candidates have been ignoring our need. And therefore, we have decided to ignore them and not to vote for them.”
Siblani went on to say that they endorsed Joe Biden back in 2020 but felt that despite their support throughout his presidential term, they still don’t feel like they have a seat at the table.
“Let’s remember one thing. President Joe Biden, when he was running for president in 2020, we voted for him,” he said. “He got almost 70% of our votes in this state. And we have given him all the support. And when his wife, Jill Biden, showed up in here and him and his Vice-Presidential candidate at that time, Kamala Harris, we supported them. We have interviewed Kamala Harris. We’ve interviewed people from his campaign. And they said, we will have a seat around the table. We don’t have a seat around the table. We don’t have a seat in the room. We don’t have a seat in the building, in the neighborhood, in the city, in the country. And therefore, why would we?”
The candidates have been shoring up their high profile endorsements the last few months. Celebrities, tech billionaires and everyone in between have been choosing their sides in the run-up to the election.
Chief among the celebrity ones for Harris has been Taylor Swift. While not unexpected, the singer songwriter’s endorsement was definitely seen as a boon for the campaign as they continue to push for the young vote.
For Trump, few big names have been more outspoken for him than Elon Musk. The tech mogul hosted an interview with the former president on X and appeared alongside him at rallies. It recently came out that Musk donated nearly $75 million to America PAC to help get Trump the 2024 election.
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