The PBS News Hour on Wednesday continued to act as a get-out-the-vote movement for the Harris/Walz Democratic presidential campaign, with the second guest appearance on the program of Abdullah Hahmoud, the controversial Democratic Muslim mayor of Dearborn, Michigan.
It wasn’t a challenging interview, but instead a delicate probe to see if the pick of Walz (and not the Jewish Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was left unmentioned) would satisfy the pro-Hamas contingent among Arab voters in Michigan.
Nawaz certainly didn’t address the anti-semitism and celebration of terrorists within the mosques in Dearborn, or the disgusting signs like “Genocide Joe” that appeared in the story’s introductory montage.
Anchor Amna Nawaz: ….When President Biden was the Democratic candidate, he faced intense scrutiny from many Muslim and Arab Americans in [Michigan] over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Some of the criticism came in the form of a protest vote, with more than 100,000 people voting uncommitted in Michigan's Democratic primary. The city of Dearborn is home to one of the largest populations of Muslim Americans in the country, many with Middle Eastern or North African roots, and its mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, joins me now. Mr. Mayor, welcome back. Thanks for being with us.
So, back in January, you spoke with my colleague, Laura Barron-Lopez. You said back then that there seems to be no real difference between former President Trump and current President Biden, who was then the Democratic nominee. And back then, you refused to meet with the Biden campaign staff. The ticket has now changed. How do you view this new ticket? Would you meet with the Harris/Walz ticket today?
Hammoud sounded placated.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud (D): ….since President Biden has stepped aside and Vice President Harris has become the nominee for Democratic Party, we believe the door is cracked open, that there's now opportunity to have dialogue, for us to understand how Vice President Harris will differentiate herself from President Biden on the path for Gaza. We believe that there has to be a course-correction….
Nawaz: When you say that the door has been cracked open, is that based, as you say, just on what you have heard from her so far in the way of messaging or something else?
Hammoud: We believe that there's been some good-faith measures, for example, not standing behind the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu as he addressed Congress…
After that smear, he praised Harris’s pick for VP, Tim Walz, for having “recognized the situation in Gaza is intolerable.” Instead of acting like a journalist and challenging Hammoud on his smear of Netanyahu or the left’s racially tinged rejection of PA Gov. Josh Shapiro as a VP candidate, Nawaz eagerly pressed her get-out-the-vote mission for Michigan Muslims.
Nawaz: So, if there is to be a meeting of some kind, what do you specifically want to hear from Harris or Walz that would help to lock up your support and that of your community?
After Hammoud called for “a permanent cease-fire" (how convenient for Hamas), Nawaz framed the left-wing issue as a potential deal-breaker for Democrats.
Nawaz: Mr. Mayor, we saw that this issue of U.S. policy towards Israel, the mounting death toll of Palestinians, was enough of an animating issue for thousands of people to vote uncommitted back during the primaries. Come November, do you still think it will be an influential factor? And if people don't hear what they want to hear, will they vote for a third party? Will they stay at home? What happens?
Nawaz didn't mention how segments of the Arab-American community in Dearborn were steeped in pro-Hamas hatred of Israel, as the Wall Street Journal noted.
Hammoud also received a sympathetic News Hour interview in January regarding his snub of President Joe Biden over the president’s support for Israel against Hamas.
This segment was brought to you in part by Consumer Cellular.
A transcript is available:
PBS News Hour
8/7/24
7:14:02 p.m. (ET)
Amna Nawaz: Well, tonight, Paris and Walz are continuing their battleground state tour with a rally in Detroit, Michigan.
When President Biden was the Democratic candidate, he faced intense scrutiny from many Muslim and Arab Americans in the state over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Some of the criticism came in the form of a protest vote, with more than 100,000 people voting uncommitted in Michigan's Democratic primary.
The city of Dearborn is home to one of the largest populations of Muslim Americans in the country, many with Middle Eastern or North African roots. And its mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, joins me now.
Mr. Mayor, welcome back. Thanks for being with us.
So, back in January, you spoke with my colleague Laura Barron-Lopez. You said back then that there seems to be no real difference between former President Trump and current President Biden, who was then the Democratic nominee. And back then, you had refused to meet with the Biden campaign staff.
The ticket has now changed. How do you view this new ticket? Would you meet with the Harris/Walz ticket today?
Abdullah Hammoud (D), Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan: You know, as I have expressed, since President Biden has stepped aside and Vice President Harris has become the nominee for Democratic Party, we believe the door is cracked open, that there's now opportunity to have dialogue, for us to understand how Vice President Harris will differentiate herself from President Biden on the path for Gaza.
We believe that there has to be a course-correction. We have seen thus far that he she has demonstrated being tough on rhetoric as it pertains to the remarks she made following your private meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. But more than just being tough on rhetoric, we're hoping that she pairs that rhetoric with tough policy.
Amna Nawaz: When you say that the door has been cracked open, is that based, as you say, just on what you have heard from her so far in the way of messaging or something else?
Abdullah Hammoud: We believe that there's been some good-faith measures, for example, not standing behind the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu as he addressed Congress, the remarks that she made following her private meeting where it was the first time in a long time that me and the community felt an individual such as the vice president humanized Palestinians, recognized the suffering and even brought forth that Palestinians deserve the right to self-determination.
And then, most recently, as we have also seen with her V.P. pick with — her V.P. in Governor Walz of Minnesota, this is a governor who may be the only governor in the country who when the uncommitted vote sprung up in his state as well, he congratulated the uncommitted voters. He thanked them for participating and engaging civically.
And he recognized the situation in Gaza is intolerable, that the party should be listening to them, and we should — and that we should course-correct on the issue of Gaza.
Amna Nawaz: So, if there is to be a meeting of some kind, what do you specifically want to hear from Harris or Walz that would help to lock up your support and that of your community?
Abdullah Hammoud: Based on the conversations I have had with many constituents and many thought leaders in this space, be they Palestinian-Americans, Arab Americans, Muslim Americans or broader anti-war pro justice Americans, the focal points are the following.
We really want to anchor down on the idea of a permanent cease-fire being called for because we believe that's the only pathway to the release of all hostages and prisoners in the situation and the only way to get access to unfettered humanitarian aid into Gaza and beyond.
Second, the upholding of international law. The ICC and the ICJ have now litigated this issue. We believe that this should be the shield for Vice President Harris and Governor Walz on this issue. And we think that an offensive arms embargo makes sense. We can follow the lead of the U.K. in this situation.
And thirdly is a concrete timeline and table of how we get towards a just Palestinian state, because a return to the status quo was no longer not only acceptable, but also not feasible. The U.N. is saying that at the earliest it would take 15 to 20 years to clear any debris and rubble from the from the destruction that the IDF has done all over Gaza and, at minimum, two or three decades to begin the reconstruction of Gaza to give Palestinians a feeling of hope again.
Amna Nawaz: Mr. Mayor, as you have seen, amid all the discontent, the frustration with the Biden administration's policy in Israel and towards Gaza, we have seen the Trump team conducting a lot of outreach in Michigan.
We know his former Cabinet official Richard Grenell, for example, has been on the ground and others. Is any of that outreach working? Is there an opportunity there for the Trump/Vance ticket?
Abdullah Hammoud: There is no opportunity whatsoever.
They have certainly reached out to some members, but the individuals they have spoken with don't represent or speak on behalf of the community in any regard. I can tell you that nobody who I have spoken with, even some of the conservative constituents that I represent, have also expressed great disdain for the Trump/Vance ticket, because they understand what a Trump presidency represents.
This is an individual who is vocal about wanting to bring back a Muslim ban in new fashion and new order. This is the president who moved the embassy to Jerusalem, who eliminated all humanitarian aid relief toward Palestinians in the budget that he passed during his time.
This is somebody that recognized the annexation of the Golan Heights and the annexation of illegal settlements. This is somebody that armed Saudi Arabia that killed 30,000 people in Yemen. And so we very much understand what Trump represents as a president and that is not something anybody wants to see this November.
Amna Nawaz: Mr. Mayor, we saw that this issue of U.S. policy towards Israel, the mounting death toll of Palestinians was enough of an animating issue for thousands of people to vote uncommitted back during the primaries.
Come November, do you still think it will be an influential factor? And if people don't hear what they want to hear, will they vote for a third party? Will they stay at home? What happens.
Abdullah Hammoud: (audio gap) I look at the primary elections that just happened this week and the primaries here in Michigan. You saw apathy. People did not turn out because they were not excited at what was at the top of the ticket.
And the apathy and the feeling of dehumanization from all of the talk that has happened at the podiums from the White House has kept people at home. What inspires and draws people to come out on November is hope. People want a hopeful message. People want to see that their values and principles are represented in the candidate who wants to seek the highest office in the globe.And the issues that we care about are not issues that only people in Dearborn care forever or Arab Americans and Muslim Americans. These are issues that are popular amongst Americans from coast to coast. The majority of Americans want to see a permanent cease-fire.
And so I think it prudent of the presidential candidates to listen to the new center of not only their parties, but the new center of America, that times have changed. And being very hard-line on Israel is no longer good policy. People want international law upheld. And I think it's time that we moved along with the center of the people.
Amna Nawaz: That is the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, Abdullah Hammoud, joining us tonight. Mr. Mayor, thank you. We appreciate your time.
Abdullah Hammoud: Thank you.
