Anti-Israel Michigan voters make a dent in Biden’s primary victory

Listen to Michigan’s Uncommitted movement had received 10 percent of the total votes

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Despite handily winning the Michigan Democratic Primary on Tuesday, President Joe Biden faced sizable opposition in his party over his support for Israel.

An anti-Israel group called Listen to Michigan whose followers voted “Uncommitted” in the state’s primary over opposition to the Israel-Hamas War garnered 45,000 votes by 11pm when a third of the votes were counted.

By the time the election results came in, Listen to Michigan’s Uncommitted movement had received 10 percent of the total votes.

The group’s leaders’ goal was 100,000 uncommitted votes with hopes that the number would increase to 150,000 by the general election, or roughly equivalent to the 154,000-vote margin Biden won the state by in the 2020 general election.

In a statement, Listen to Michigan said, “Our movement emerged victorious tonight and massively surpassed our expectations.”

“Tens of thousands of Michigan Democrats, many of whom voted for Biden in 2020, are uncommitted to his re-election due to the war in Gaza,” they said.

Michigan has the largest Arab American population in the US, and the community had warned President Joe Biden early in the war that his support for Israel may cost his campaign their votes.

Layla Elabed, the lead organizer of the campaign and sister of Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian-American, said Tuesday’s result shows the movement is growing.

“Today’s results and our delegation represent a historic inflection point for creating a Democratic Party that aligns with the majority of its voters who want a ceasefire and end to unrestricted weapons funding for Israel’s war and occupation against the Palestinian people,” Elabed said in a statement.

Elabed continued, “We don’t want a Trump presidency, but Biden has put Netanyahu ahead of American democracy.”

She added,  “We cannot afford to pay the bill for disregarding Palestinian lives should it come due in November.”

A number of Progressive Michigan Jews are involved in the movement including former congressman Andy Levin who was defeated by a candidate with conservative, pro-Israel support.

Levin said, “We have a huge victory tonight.”

He added, “This is a victory of American democracy.”