In the key US swing state Michigan, Democratic voters of Arab and Middle Eastern heritage say Kamala Harris is going to have to win them back, after they were alienated by President Joe Biden's handling of Israel's military offensive in Gaza. The town of Dearborn, home to 110,000 people and a cultural hub for Arab Americans, could play a decisive role in deciding the fate of the battleground state in November's presidential election. Members of the community interviewed by AFP said they were willing to hear what the vice president had to say and weigh their options -- a marked change from the outright hostility towards Biden.
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00:00If Kamala wants my vote, I want her to take a hard stance against these forever wars.
00:27I want her to take a hard stance against giving Israel any more money, especially for military
00:35purposes.
00:36I want her to take a strong stance in supporting the Palestinian plight and in supporting their
00:42right to exist.
00:43We don't want anyone to come and fool us and give us a bunch of false hope to get our votes.
00:57The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.
01:11President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages
01:18are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their
01:24right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.
01:36Both candidates are going to say whatever they have to say to win this election.
01:40I don't know Vice President Harris, I don't know her that well in terms of, she hasn't
01:45been out there, she's been pretty invisible throughout Biden's term in office.
01:52Every front page since October 7th has a Palestinian issue on the front page.
01:57We are in the listening mode right now.
01:59We wanted to see what kind of Kamala Harris will be out of the shadow of Joe Biden and
02:08his administration.
02:10So far we have seen some positive signs, some cracks in the doors, the opening but not all
02:19wide open.
02:21We need to keep the conversation going.
02:51We need to keep the conversation going.
02:52We need to keep the conversation going.
02:53We need to keep the conversation going.