Democrats abandoned Gaza. Would Trump be any different?

Washington, DC — In recent weeks, Republican candidate Donald Trump has been wooing Muslim American voters, who hold considerable sway in a few swing states and who are turning away from the Democratic Party in large numbers.

If he's elected as the next US president, Trump can use his brash style of politics and influence over the Israeli leadership to end Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. But he will also want Palestinians to give away their land to the settlers.

"Trump may save Palestinian lives by ending the war early, but [he will] hurt them politically by doubling down on Israeli annexation policies and ethnic cleansing," Nizar Farsakh, a lecturer at George Washington University in Washington, DC, told TRT World.

"Trump is actually eager to end American involvement in foreign wars, Ukraine and the Middle East," said Farsakh, who has also served as an adviser to senior Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas and former Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, as well as various ministries.

Republican supporters prioritise issues like immigration and the economy over America’s costly involvement in Middle East wars.

Maintaining his hawkish tone, Trump recently told reporters in Detroit that President Biden was trying to hold Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu back, meaning he wanted Israel to de-escalate in Gaza.

Praising Netanyahu, Trump added: “I’m glad Bibi decided to do what he wanted to do”.

But in light of Trump's erratic nature, Farsakh said that when it comes to Netanyahu, Trump can "throw him under the bus if it suited his interests".

Over the past few weeks, Trump has been making pitches to Muslim Americans, especially Arab American voters.

On Monday, the Republican nominee slammed Vice President Kamala Harris' supporter Liz Cheney as someone who "wants to go to war with every Muslim country known to mankind."

On Tuesday, Trump told a crowd in the swing state North Carolina, "Why would Muslims support lying Kamala Harris when she embraces Muslim-hating and very dumb person Liz Cheney?"

"Trump is capricious. You could be his best friend one day and his arch-nemesis the next. Democrats are far more predictable," Farsakh said.

He pointed to a growing number of Trump's followers who are opposing the costly American support to Israel in its aggression against Palestinians, while other domestic issues, like the border and illegal immigration, are mostly neglected.

"Putting Israeli interests ahead of American interest is a quintessential grievance the far right has with establishment Democrats and Republicans," said Farsakh.

There has been a noticeable increase in the number of far-right American voters who oppose Israel's war on Gaza, including Republican lawmaker Thomas Massie and political commentators such as Candice Owens and Nick Fuentes.

"Don't get me wrong, Trump will still support Israel. He just will not give it a blank check the way Democrats do," Farsakh added.

Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Trump group, told TRT World he is convinced that Trump offers a better chance to end the Israeli war.

"He (Trump) has repeatedly promised the Arab and Muslim American community throughout the US that this is his intent," Bahbah said.

When Trump welcomed Netanyahu to his residence in Florida, Bahbah said that Trump was more eager to see peace in the Middle East, and he also exchanged letters with the Palestinian president.

The fake two-state solution

Historically, the Democratic Party was the political home for Arab and Muslim Americans. That has appeared to have changed since the start of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and America's unbridled monetary and military support to Tel Aviv.

Washington doles out $3.8 billion in annual military funding to its longtime ally Israel, and the current administration has so far resisted calls to condition any arms transfers even though senior US officials have criticised Israel over the high civilian death toll in Gaza, where Tel Aviv has killed more than 42,600 Palestinians and wounded nearly 100,000 — a conservative estimate.

Thousands more are missing, their bodies believed to be buried under the rubble of their bombed homes. Another 10,000 have been abducted by Israel and dumped in Israeli prisons.

As a result, many Arab and Muslim Americans have turned away from Harris, who earlier this year replaced President Joe Biden in the White House race as the Democratic candidate, especially after she said that she would not change Biden's policy towards Israel.

"What we would see if Harris is elected is the continuation of Biden's policies vis-a-vis Israel, and that could be disastrous for the people in Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon and the whole region," Bahbah said.

Farsakh agrees with Bahbah's assessment, saying Harris' plans for Gaza would be whatever Israel has planned for the blockaded enclave.

"It will be a continuation of the Biden policy but with better PR packaging. She will not win back the pro-Palestine voters, but she will get solid support for her agenda from Democrats to whom rolling back the GOP's fundamental changes to the political system is more important than saving Palestinian and Lebanese lives," he said.

Foreign policy analyst, Tariq Kenney-Shawa, told TRT World that the difference between Trump and Harris regarding Gaza would be few and tangible, but echoed similar concerns voiced by Farsakh and Bahbah.

"While Harris makes a point to "say the right things" when it comes to Palestinian rights, she will continue giving Israel everything it needs to keep massacring and ethnically cleansing Palestinians while shielding Israel from accountability," said, Kenney-Shawa, a US policy fellow at the Palestine Policy Network, Al-Shabaka.

"In other words, Palestinians can expect more of the same."

Trump's 'more honest rhetoric'

Despite their many differences, Israel is one of the few issues where Republicans and Democrats come together.

While everyone agrees that Trump would still support Israel, Kenney-Shawa said Trump uses "more honest rhetoric" about his intentions.

"Trump has used more honest rhetoric, promising that he will let Israel 'finish the job' in Gaza and the region. But in order to conclude that this would be a departure from the current administration's approach, one would have to believe that Biden/Harris have been stopping Israel. Which is simply not true," he said.

"In fact, I would argue that their (Democrats) strategy of distracting Americans and the international community with empty rhetoric around human rights and ceasefire while arming Israel to the teeth has actually only allowed Israel to get away with this longer than it would have under Trump who would have been more blunt, brutally honest about US complicity in this genocide."

Kenney-Shawa said the difference between the possible two governments "would be the rhetoric around the US administration's unconditional support for Israel and how this rhetoric and the competitive realities of partisan politics influences efforts both in the US and abroad to bring an end to this."