Abdelall most recently served as senior counselor to the Department of Homeland Security's secretary. / Photo: US Government
Kamala Harris' campaign for US president has hired an Egyptian American lawyer and former Department of Homeland Security official to help lead outreach to Arab American voters who hold sway in some states that could help decide the November 5 election, two sources told Reuters news agency.
Brenda Abdelall would be tasked with shoring up support from a community angered with unwavering US support for Israel's genocidal war in Gaza.
Harris, a Democrat, has already hired Afghan American lawyer Nasrina Bargzie for outreach to Muslim Americans.
Harris' campaign had no immediate comment on Abdelall's hiring. Abdelall did not respond to a request for comment.
Harris is in a tight race with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Votes from Muslim and Arab Americans could help decide the outcome in battleground states like Michigan, which has seen street protests over the Israel's carnage in Gaza.
Harris responsible for Biden admin's Israel policy?
US President Joe Biden won a large share of the Arab and Muslim vote in 2020, but his support for Israel despite the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza has upset many community members.
They launched an "uncommitted" campaign against him in the Democratic nominating contests.
Michigan, where Harris is due to visit next week, is home to one of the largest Muslim and Arab American populations in the US. More than 100,000 voters cast their ballot "uncommitted" instead of Biden in the state's primary.
Some activists say they hold Harris responsible for the Biden administration's Israel policy and the crisis in Gaza.
Following last week's Democratic convention, pro-Palestine activists said Harris had failed to demonstrate any break from the status quo.
Abdelall, Harris' pick for Arab American outreach, most recently served as senior counselor to the Department of Homeland Security's secretary.
She joined the agency in January, 2021, shortly after Trump left office, to be chief of staff for the department's civil rights office.
Abdelall, who grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, previously ran a food blog and website focused on Middle Eastern cuisine. She has taught Middle Eastern cooking classes at a culinary school in northern Virginia.
Israel's war on Gaza has demolished swaths of the besieged enclave, displaced nearly all its 2.4 million people multiple times, given rise to deadly hunger and disease, and killed more than 40,500 people.
Thousands have perished under the debris of bombed homes while some 10,000 Palestinians have been abducted by Israeli troops.
Some 45 American physicians, surgeons and nurses, who have volunteered in Gaza since last October say the likely death toll from Israel's genocidal war is "already greater than 92,000".
According to a study published in the journal Lancet, the accumulative effects of Israel's war on Gaza could mean the true death toll could reach more than 186,000 people.
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