Who is Jill Stein, the leading pro-Palestine voice in the US elections?

“A pro-worker, anti-war and climate emergency agenda.”

This is what Jill Stein, the Green Party’s nominee for the 2024 US presidential elections, promises will be the main focus of her politics for the next four years if she wins the elections in November.

She aims to “offer a choice for the people outside the failed two-party system,” – a reference to the Republicans and Democrats who have alternately governed the country since the mid-1800s.

Stein has been vocal about her opposition to the US's support for Israeli policies for many years, including during her previous presidential run in 2016.

At the height of pro-Palestine encampment protests across the country, on April 28, the Green Party candidate was arrested at a student demonstration at Washington University.

A video showed her being forced to the ground and handcuffed from the back by the police while showing support for a protest against the university’s financial ties with Israel, whose genocidal war on Gaza has so far claimed more than 40,000 Palestinian lives.

Stein, known for her pro-Palestine stance, said in an interview with TRT World that the US “should not provide weapons for the genocide in the first place, and certainly not for this to be expanded into a regional war that could even go beyond a regional basis.”

“As a Jew who grew up just after the Holocaust, with relatives who fled pogroms and a grandfather named Israel, I take ‘never again’ seriously. And that means never again for anyone,” she posted on X, on October 31, at the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza.

“Never again is now. We must put an immediate stop to this genocide,” Stein wrote.

Who is Jill Stein?

Born in 1950 to Russian Jewish parents, Stein was brought up within Reform Judaism, a movement characterised by a progressive approach to Jewish tradition and practice.

Before entering politics, Stein worked as an internal medicine physician and taught at Harvard Medical School.

She became an environmental health activist and organiser after recognising that many of her patients' health issues were linked to environmental pollution.

In 2012 and 2016, Stein ran for president, finishing fourth both times but increasing her vote count significantly in 2016.

In 2016, the Green Party candidate made headlines for calling for an independent investigation into the September 11 terror attacks in the US in 2001, asserting that the previous investigations, which cited failures of the CIA and FBI as the cause for the failure to prevent the attacks, were “stonewalled” by the Bush administration.

“I think I would not have assassinated Osama bin Laden but would have captured him and brought him to trial,” Stein said in an interview during the election period in September 2016.

Stein said the victims of the families “deserve to know the truth” and promised a renewed push for an investigation if she gets elected.

Muslim historian VP pick

On August 17, 2024, Jill Stein announced Rudolph 'Butch' Ware, a Muslim convert historian specialising in West Africa at the University of California, as her vice presidential running mate.

“This is truly a historic ticket bringing together a Jewish woman and Black Muslim man against genocide, endless war, climate collapse, and rampant injustice,” Stein wrote as she made the announcement on X.

Other potential VP picks included several Palestinian Americans, including human rights attorney Noura Erakat and Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, for the position.

Blockade attempts from Democrats

Stein’s 2024 presidential campaign has faced efforts by the Democratic Party to block her from the vote in Wisconsin, claiming that the presidential candidate is not eligible to appear on the ballot.

The Green Party’s appearance on the presidential ballot could make a difference in the swing state of Wisconsin, with an estimated Muslim population of 69,000.

The last time Stein was on the ballot in Wisconsin for the Green Party was in 2016, when she got just over 31,000 votes, surpassing Donald Trump’s winning margin of just under 23,000 votes.

At the time, some Democrats blamed Stein for helping Trump win the state and the presidency.

Stein has dismissed criticisms that voting for her would be “throwing your vote away” as a “myth” and “propaganda”.

During an ‘Abandon Harris’ press conference in Chicago on Aug 19, she wore a Palestinian keffiyeh and urged voters not to be swayed from their moral convictions.

“If you vote for genocide, you are consenting to it and you are enabling it,” Stein said, adding, “Don’t let them talk you out of your humanity.”

New political home

The Green Party is the fourth largest political party in the US since 2023, coming behind the Libertarian Party.

Jill Stein said it would be an “earthquake” even if her party secures 10 or 15 percent of the vote, as it would signify “a new political home,” in an interview with MEE.

“There's a political home for those who do not buy into the agenda of empire, endless war and the Wall Street hijacking of our economy and our future,” she told the news website.