How politics are dividing a Michigan Arab American family

The war in the Middle East has contributed to political divides among Arab American communities. In Macomb, Michigan, Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro’s family is split over who to vote for in November.

Shapiro has decided to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. His 9-year-old daughter, Mayaar, says he shouldn’t.

“Kamala Harris is going to be bad for Palestine. And we want what's best for Palestine,” Mayaar says. “She's going to send bombs to Israel. And if she wants a ceasefire then she can't send bombs to Israel.  And that's why I think my dad's wrong.”

Shapiro says this is a frequent topic of discussion in their house. Arraf, his wife, ran as a Democrat for U.S. Congress in 2022 and lost. She adds to her daughter’s earlier point about Democrats saying they want a ceasefire.

“Democrats rhetorically speak better. They talk about wanting a ceasefire, but their actions, continuing to send weapons,” Arraf says. “You can't say that you're working night and day around the clock for a ceasefire and yet keep sending the weapons to enable the bombing and the genocide to continue.”

The International Court of Justice is investigating for genocide. The Court says genocide in Gaza is plausible. Israel denies this accusation and calls it “baseless.” Arraf explains why she thinks what’s happening is genocide.

“Even before the latest onslaught, I thought that legally we should be looking into and investigating whether what Israel is doing is a genocide,” Arraf says. “I hadn't wanted to call it that before because I know what a loaded term that is. But certainly, Israel's policies over the years, creating conditions for Palestinians that make life almost impossible, and we had over the last few years, even human rights organizations, a large one, confirmed that Israel's system of domination and control over Palestinian lives meets the legal definition of apartheid.”

Arraf and Shapiro have been on the front lines of Palestinian activism and global refugee rights work for more than two decades. NPR listeners first met the couple in 2002, when they lived in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to organize nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. They met when they worked at Seeds of Peace, an organization that brings Israeli and Palestinian teenagers together.

In 2010, Arraf was on a flotilla of vessels crewed by activists to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The flotilla was stormed by the Israeli Navy and nine activists were killed. The Israeli prime minister at the time expressed regret for the loss of life and said the Israeli military acted in self-defense.

The past year has been busy and challenging for the activists, and they’re looking ahead at the presidential election in November. Recent polling data shows Michigan’s Arab American community supporting Green Party candidate Jill Stein over Democrat Kamala Harris.

Shapiro is carefully weighing the options. He says Democrats have not earned his vote with their policies. But he’s also ruled out voting Republican.

“I have no doubt that [former President] Donald Trump would make things worse in a big way, so I don't think he can have my vote,” Shapiro says. “I have a daughter, and the future of women's rights in this country, and the future of reproductive and health rights in this country, stands at the precipice. I'm not happy about it, and I wish it wasn't the choice, but I will vote for Harris at this point.”

Arraf says she’ll cast a ballot for Stein this election.

“Will Kamala Harris actually do something to earn my vote?” she says. “I would hope so, but I haven't seen it, and I don't see any indications of it.”

Arraf knows voting for the Green Party in her critical swing state will likely siphon votes away from Harris, which could deliver Michigan to Trump. When asked if a Trump presidency would mean even greater U.S. support for Israel and the war in Gaza and less chance to get the outcome she wants for Palestinian people, she thinks back on Trump’s record in office.

“He did some bad stuff for Palestine. He moved the embassy to Jerusalem. He legalized settlements,” Arraf says. “But he did not participate in, enable, fund, a genocide.”

She says it’s hard to compare what Trump policies might be with what the Biden administration policies are now, and she talks about the toll the past year has taken on her loved ones in the Palestinian American community.

“It's difficult, almost impossible to see the images that we're seeing and then go and carry on with the rest of your day as if you hadn't seen that,” Arraf says. “There's a level of guilt. You always need to be working to try to change that situation to try to help.”

Her family’s mental health has suffered as a result. She says that her activism has gotten in the way of family time.

“My son, a few months ago, told me, and it hurt, ‘Mama, you don't even care about us. You just care about Gaza.’ And I know that's painful. Because he sees me all the time, just listening, watching the news, figuring out how I can help, or speaking at events,” she says. “When I try to make family time, mentally, it's hard to be there, because all I think about is the suffering that's going on and how can I live a normal life and go on with daily activities and have fun or smile and laugh when I know this is happening. So it's been quite a challenge.”

Arraf’s activism stems from generations-long trauma that her family, who are Palestinian Christians, has lived with in the region. And when she met Shapiro, she found a Jewish American man who shared the same passion. Convincing her father to bless their union was hard.

“My parents were a little nervous and they originally, my dad originally did not approve of our wedding because all he knew was like the Zionists that took over his land,” she says. “One of the things that my dad knew, Adam just being Jewish and born in the United States with no connections to Palestine or to Israel, had more rights to his land and his father's land than he did as far as the state of Israel was concerned.”

But her parents warmed up to Adam pretty quickly, she says. They found that they had more in common than different.

“You just connect with people on that human level,” Arraf says, “which is what we all should be doing.”

Despite the difficulties of the past year and the tension over the presidential election, the family remains hopeful about the future. Their daughter, Mayaar, says she wants Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib — the first Palestinian American to be elected to the U.S. Congress — to run for president.

Mayaar also wants Arraf to run for president someday.

“She's been telling me for the past couple of years, like, ‘Why don't you run for president, Mom?’” Arraf says. “I'm like, ‘We're doing the work. I'm doing the work that I'm doing today, so one day you can run for president. So one day a Palestinian American can run for president of the United States.’”

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Julia Corcoran produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Ahmad Damen. Corcoran adapted it for the web.