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Will escalating violence in the Middle East affect the US elections?

Will escalating violence in the Middle East affect the US elections?

With the United States presidential election less than four weeks away, analysts caution that Israel’s expanding military campaigns across the Middle East could bruise the chances of the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. Foreign policy is rarely a top priority for US voters. But Israel’s yearlong war in Gaza, as well as its intense bombing campaign in Lebanon, have spurred questions about the US’s role in the conflict. The administration of President Joe Biden has been unwavering in its support of Israel, splintering the Democratic base, with some voters — particularly Arab Americans — turning against the party. With Harris in a tight race against former Republican President Donald Trump, anger towards the Biden administration could mean that Arab voters in key states like Michigan stay home in November. “This is a constituency that, by the second term of the Obama administration, identified as Democrat by a two-to-one margin,” Jim Zogby, the co-founder of the Arab American Institute, told Al Jazeera. “Now party identification is virtually tied at 38 percent each.” Much of that decrease, he said, has to do with the Biden administration’s support for the war in Gaza, which has erased entire neighbourhoods and killed more than 42,000 people, many of them women and children. That campaign has been enabled by about $20bn in US weapons assistance. “It’s less that this group of voters is getting more conservative, and more that they want to punish this administration for what they’ve allowed to happen,” said Zogby. “There’s a sense that Palestinian and Lebanese lives don’t matter.” Eroding support A September poll by the Arab American Institute found that Harris and Trump were virtually tied among Arab voters, receiving 41 percent and 42 percent support, respectively. That figure is actually a marked improvement for the Democrats. When Biden was running for re-election, his support among Arab voters cratered after the beginning of the war in Gaza, dropping to just 17 percent in October 2023. Biden previously won 59 percent of the Arab vote in the 2020 presidential race. When Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, following a debate performance that underscored concerns about the 81-year-old’s age, some voters hoped his replacement, Harris, would bring a fresh approach. But Harris has thus far refused to break with Biden or call for an end to weapons transfers, even as a series of escalatory strikes by Israel have brought the Middle East to the brink of a wider regional war. In a TV interview this week, when asked whether she would have diverged from Biden on any issues, Harris replied: “There is not a thing that comes to mind.” The Harris campaign also fielded criticism during August’s Democratic National Convention, after party officials refused to allow a Palestinian American speaker on stage to give voice to the suffering in Gaza. “People are looking for the slightest gesture of humanity, and the campaign just won’t give it to them,” said Zogby. “They’re making a mistake that will cost them votes.” Swing states While US policy towards Gaza may not be a top priority for most voters, more than 80 percent of Arab Americans say that it will play an important role in determining their vote. Many of those voters are concentrated in a small number of swing states that play an outsized role in deciding the country’s presidential elections. The Midwestern battleground state of Michigan, for instance, has the second-largest Arab population in the country. It also has the largest percentage of Arab Americans of any state: Nearly 392,733 people identify as Arab in a state of 10 million. Polling averages show Harris with a lead of only around 1.8 percent there, well within the margin of error. And her razor-thin lead in the state could be eroded by third-party candidates like Jill Stein, who has actively courted the Arab and Muslim American vote in the area. “The situation in Gaza has complicated Democratic chances in Michigan,” said Michael Traugott, a research professor at the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan. “Since we expect things to be close, it will hurt Harris if a large portion of the state’s Arab community stays home on election day,” he added. But Michigan’s Arab American population is no monolith, and there have been bitter divisions within the community over how best to use its electoral leverage. Some believe that a Harris loss in Michigan would send a warning to future candidates about underestimating the influence of Arab voters. Others view a second term for Trump, a pro-Israel hawk, as an unacceptable risk: the Republican has previously said that Israel should “finish the job” in Gaza and vowed to deport foreign nationals involved in pro-Palestine student protests. One group attempting to walk a tightrope between those perspectives is the Uncommitted National Movement, an organisation born of a protest movement against Biden. During primaries, the movement called on Democrats to vote “uncommitted”, rather than throwing their support behind the Democratic president. Now, as the general election approaches on November 5, the movement says it cannot support Harris — but it also opposes a second Trump presidency. “As a Palestinian American, the current administration’s handling of this genocide has been beyond enraging and demoralising,” a spokesperson said in a video released this week. “But the reality is that it can get worse. Nobody wants a Trump presidency more than [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, because that is his ticket to wiping Palestine off the map.” Expanding fighting The final weeks of the presidential race have coincided with the looming threat of further escalation in the Middle East, adding an element of uncertainty to the final weeks of the US race. In early October, for instance, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Israel, in response to the assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, among others. On that same day, Israel launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon, in addition to its deadly aerial bombing campaign in the

At least 11 killed in fighting between tribes in northwest Pakistan

At least 11 killed in fighting between tribes in northwest Pakistan

A shooting incident between rival tribes appear to have led to clashes, with woman and children among the casualties. At least 11 people have been killed and eight injured, including women and children, in tribal clashes in northwestern Pakistan, according to a local official. Tensions rose in Kurram district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Saturday after two people were critically injured in a shooting incident between rival tribes. It was not immediately clear what caused the shooting. Vehicles were targeted in different areas of the district, leading to more casualties, said senior official Javedullah Khan. Khan said efforts were being made to secure travel routes and restore normalcy. The injured were taken to a hospital. Pir Haider Ali Shah, a former parliamentarian and member of a tribal council, said elders had arrived in Kurram to mediate a peace agreement between the tribes. “The recent firing incidents are regrettable and have hampered efforts for lasting peace,” he said. Last month, at least 25 people were killed in days of clashes between armed Shia and Sunni Muslims over a land dispute. Although both live together largely peacefully in the country, tensions have existed for decades between them in some areas, especially in Kurram, where Shia Muslims dominate in parts of the district. Balochistan Liberation Army Meanwhile, on Saturday a separatist group in the southwest of Pakistan claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 21 people. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) said its fighters attacked a coal mine in Dukki district with heavy weapons, rocket launchers and grenades late Thursday night. It gave higher casualty figures of 30 dead and 18 injured. It also said that Pakistani security personnel were disguised as workers, without giving evidence. It threatened more assaults unless the military withdrew from the province. Balochistan is a hotbed of armed movements, with the BLA most prominent among them. They accuse the central government in Islamabad of exploiting the province’s rich oil and mineral resources to the detriment of the local population in the country’s largest and least-populated province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. On Monday, the BLA – designated a “terrorist group” by Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States – claimed responsibility for an attack targeting Chinese nationals near Pakistan’s largest airport. The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said at least two of its citizens were killed and a third injured after their convoy was targeted with an improvised explosive device believed to have been detonated by a suicide bomber. Local media reports suggest at least 10 people were injured in total, with four cars destroyed in the explosion and 10 more vehicles damaged in the resulting fire. Adblock test (Why?)

Chicago spent $80K to renovate office for first lady Johnson as city faces billion dollar budget shortfall

Chicago spent K to renovate office for first lady Johnson as city faces billion dollar budget shortfall

Invoices and receipts from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration have raised new questions about extravagant spending as the city faces a nearly billion dollar budget shortfall. Documents uncovered by local news station NBC 5 revealed that in the grip of fiscal crisis, the city spent more than $80,000 to redecorate and renovate an office in the Chicago Cultural Center for first lady Stacie Johnson.  “The invoices and receipts, obtained by NBC 5 Investigates through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, show that work order requests began in February and continued through August of this year to renovate and redecorate Room 306 in the Chicago Cultural Center,” the report said.  Electricians, carpenters and painters on the city’s payroll were contracted for the work, according to an invoice from the city’s Fleet and Facility Management department, also called 2FM, NBC 5 reported. The workers accrued more than 350 hours of labor at a cost of over $25,000. CHICAGO PROSECUTOR DECLINES TO CHARGE ‘DANGEROUS’ COLUMBIAN MIGRANT IN SHOOTING DEATH OF 17-YEAR-OLD Another invoice reportedly shows the city paid more than $43,000 for furniture, including a $2,200 office chair and a $4,400 desk labeled the “First Lady’s Desk” on the document. The city spent another $4,600 on a desk for a staffer and more than $8,300 on two club chairs, according to the outlet. The invoice was dated Aug. 13, with a Sept. 12 due date, NBC 5 reported. Mayor Johnson’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.  CHICAGO MAYOR COMPARES VIEWPOINT OF THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH HIM ABOUT SCHOOL SPENDING TO SLAVERY Confronted with the invoices and asked to defend the city’s spending, Johnson told NBC 5, “So, the Cultural Center has always been a location for dignitaries; every first lady has had office space there. Renovations for my office or any other office is standard procedure. Our commitment to invest in people is still to invest in people.” The mayor pushed back against follow-up questions about the optics of excessive spending at a time when his administration is considering layoffs of city workers to cut costs. ENTIRE CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD TO RESIGN OVER TEACHERS UNION DISPUTE WITH DEM MAYOR: ‘DEEPLY ALARMING’ “The purchase of a desk is not going to change the financial structural damage that has been in place for a very long time. So this is why we ask – and I mean this respectfully – we ask far more profound questions than that. We ask, how do we make sure that the structural damage that’s been created over the course of decades – we reroute the rivers, if you will, to make sure that we get to the places where there is dry land. And that’s what we are doing,” he said.  When NBC 5 pressed the issue, Johnson criticized the outlet’s questions. “So I’ve been mayor for 17 months, and you have a question of how I feel about optics? Just go back on review the tape. If I were to allow my leadership to be based on someone’s opinion of me, it would be a derelict of duty. I never question my position to invest in people. I don’t do this for optics; I do this to transform lives.”  The mayor said he is more focused on the optics of hiring young people for summer jobs, building affordable housing and ensuring that schools have counselors and social workers, as well as investing in Chicago’s South and West sides.  But Johnson still has not put forward a plan to close the city’s projected $982 million budget gap.