One century ago, when Western European powers were planning to carve up the Arab East, the US attempted to convince them to take a different path.

My reaction to Donald Trump’s recent victory was very different than the one I had when he was first elected in 2016. Back then, I was deeply upset about how it was that we had elected a narcissistic, misogynistic, xenophobic, inciter of violence. And I was anxious about what his presidency would portend for our future. 

The Middle East conflict and this year’s US presidential election are impacting one another in important ways.

This presidential contest has generated an intense debate within the Arab American community. If it were a normal election year, I’d be out in the field urging my community to vote for Democrats. I’d be warning Arab Americans that we needed to do everything we could to stop Donald Trump from re-entering the White House.

In the run-up to the November election, we are witnessing a massive expenditure of “dark money” in a disinformation campaign designed to depress the Arab American vote in Michigan and the American Jewish vote in Pennsylvania. 

It’s galling to hear policymakers in the US, Israel, and elsewhere suggest that the devastating blows Israel has dealt to Hezbollah and Lebanon have created “an opportunity to put Lebanon on a better path.” 

On October 7th, the continuing genocide in Gaza and the massive bombings in Lebanon will likely be ignored by US officials and media outlets as they solemnly commemorate the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.  What they’ll ignore is that the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict didn’t begin on October 7th, nor did the suffering end on that day.

For Arab Americans, Israel’s war on Palestinians in Gaza looms large and will play a significant role in this November’s election. This is one of the key observations emerging from a mid-September nationwide poll of 500 Arab American registered voters conducted by John Zogby Strategies for the Arab American Institute. 

Our politics and system of governance is in crisis. This was made clear this past week before and during the US Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on hate crimes in America.