Polls confirm that 70% of Arab and Muslim voters, including 80,000 Americans of Arab descent in Michigan, supported Biden.
By Baruch Yedid, TPS
Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim institutions and activists played an important role in Joe Biden’s victory in the U.S. 2020 elections and especially in the swing states, according to a series of polls conducted in America in recent days.
The polls show that a long line of campaigns, led by Muslim and Arab activists and aimed at encouraging voting in Arab and Muslim communities, especially in states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania, have helped Biden win the election.
Polls confirm that 70% of Arab and Muslim voters, including 80,000 Americans of Arab descent in Michigan, supported Biden with the help of campaigns led by Palestinian activists and institutions.
A survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) shows that in the last election, an unprecedented record of 84% of Muslims voted. Of those, 69% voted for Democrats and only 17% voted for Republicans.
CAIR said that about one million Muslims participated in the election process.
Another poll by the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn, Michigan, shows that 70,000 Arabs voted for Biden in the state.
In Texas, Florida, and Wisconsin, there were campaigns in which Palestinian organizations took part, which included phone calls encouraging voters to go to the polls and requests to donate money to pro-Palestinian candidates for Congress and local institutions.
Other polls show that over the past four years, American-Muslim support for Donald Trump has increased by 10%, mainly due to his conservative views on family issues.
The high turnout among Arab and Muslim communities in support of the Democrats should also be attributed to the close relationship between the Democratic Party and these minorities and the promises of aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Muslim Brotherhood a primary factor
Biden’s campaigning in Muslim communities and among the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. is also a primary factor.
President-elect Biden has promised that with his inauguration on January 20, he will repeal the presidential decree signed by President Trump in 2017 banning entry into the U.S. for citizens of 13 Muslim countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The protest against the ban was led by the Islamic organizations in the U.S., including CAIR and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which were joined by Palestinian organizations with the assistance of Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
On the eve of the election, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris announced that she intends to renew economic aid to the Palestinian Authority along with diplomatic relations, which were suspended by PA head Mahmoud Abbas in protest of Trump’s steps. Harris made the remarks to Arab journalists in Michigan as part of a campaign led by Palestinian activists.
Palestinian and Islamic organizations in the U.S. expect immediate change. Dr. Sinan Shakdeh, one of the leaders in the campaign for Biden, said in media interviews that the voices from the Islamic and Palestinian communities played a crucial role in Biden’s victory and stressed that Palestinian communities are united in an effort to overthrow Trump.
Shakdeh said that Muslims in the U.S. now expect that Biden will lead a fight against Islamophobia in the country.
Commentators estimate that Muslim organizations expect a resurgence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S., as occurred in the days of President Barack Obama.
“I can confirm that the Palestinian community not only participated in the voting, but also contributed to the fundraising campaigns in support of Biden and candidates for Congress and local parliaments that support Palestinian rights,” Shakdeh said.
Imposition of sanctions on Israel
Shakdeh referred to the pioneering role of Palestinian institutions and activists in overthrowing Trump, saying that the Biden administration recognizes this role and has met several times with Palestinian institutions in gatherings attended by senior Biden advisers and Palestinians presenting their demands.
A group of representatives with pro-Palestinian positions and those who support the imposition of sanctions on Israel is forming in the US Congress. This group includes Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Amar, Cori Bush, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Mondaire Jones, Jamaal Bowman and Marie Newman.
Representatives of members of Palestinian descent, including Iman Judoh of Colorado, Athena Suleiman of Arizona, Fady Qaddoura of Indiana and Ibrahim Samirah of Virginia, will also now serve in local congress.
Alongside them were Muslims who are considered supporters of the Palestinian issue, including Hodan Hassan, Mohamud Noor and Omar Fateh from Minnesota.
Biden has put in a lot of effort among a large concentrations of Muslims, especially in Michigan. In this context, it should be noted that during his election campaign, Biden assisted activists affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, including those who held positions in the Obama administration.
Prominent among them is Zaki Barzinji, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in the US.
At an election rally organized by Barzinji in Muslim communities, Biden promised to integrate Brotherhood supporters into government institutions.
The conference was held under the auspices of ISNA, which is an umbrella organization for the Brotherhood in the U.S.
The Muslim Brotherhood, it should be noted, calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, and their representative, Hamas, is a terrorist organization.
Under Obama, figures affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood held security positions: Rashad Hussain of ISNA was a White House adviser. Dalia Mogahed of the Muslim American Society, which was outlawed in the Gulf, and Mohamed Elibiary, president and CEO of the Freedom and Justice Foundation, also held positions in the administration. These organizations have strong ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.
While it is possible that a different relationship is being forged between the next U.S. administration and the Muslim Brotherhood, it is in the moderate Arab countries that members of this extremist movement are declared a terrorist organization.
Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars last week served a significant blow to Hamas when it declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group “that does not represent the conception of Islam.”
Hamas in the Gaza Strip is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Saudi clerics stated in a proclamation that “the Muslim Brotherhood is a group that has deviated from the path of Islam” and that provokes controversy in the Arab and Muslim world and uses methods of violence and terrorism.
“The Muslim Brotherhood does not operate for the religion and the Sunnah but for the government, and out of its womb came terrorists,” the statement said, warning of any contact with members of the extremist movement.
In 1982, Syria became the first country to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
In the summer of 2013, following the coup in Egypt, Muhammad Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, came to power. Then-Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted the Brotherhood government, imprisoned their senior officials and executed others.
Egypt subsequently declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, followed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.