Israeli offensive in Lebanon rekindles Democratic tension in Michigan

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — The rapidly escalating war in the Middle East has heightened anger at Democrats from within Michigan’s Arab American community, just over a month before a presidential election in which Vice President Kamala Harris is counting on support from within a key party constituency.

Well over 1,000 people attended a rally Wednesday organized overnight by some of the top leaders in Dearborn, Michigan, a hub of the nation’s largest Arab community, to protest an Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in which 600 people have been killed so far.

Hundreds of green and red Lebanese flags filled Dearborn’s night sky. Many speakers blamed Harris and President Joe Biden for U.S. arms shipments to Israel, which has launched a second major offensive while still fighting Hamas in Gaza in a conflict that’s caused thousands of civilian casualties already.

“We cannot condone any president that uplifts any administration that bombs every school, decimating children to smithereens. That is the message we have and those are values we will take with us to November,” Dearborn’s Democratic Mayor Abdullah Hammoud told the crowd.

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