Selma Farsakh | I’m a Palestinian who voted for Harris in Pennsylvania

Voting in Pennsylvania for 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump or Jill Stein (both endorsed by members of the Ku Klux Klan) will not help Palestinians or change American foreign policy. If you care about Palestine and are disgusted by the funding and support for the bombing of Gaza, annexation of the West Bank, criminalization of Palestinian Israelis, and invasion of Lebanon, get organized, involved, and donate to mutual aid. As a Palestinian living in Pennsylvania, this is why I voted for Vice President Kamala Harris.

I grew up in a whirlwind of checkpoints, olive trees, Al-Jazeera, cool Jerusalem stone, my loving familial enclave of Birzeit, Palestine, and American public schools that empowered my belief in radical change, as exhibited by founders of modern American voting and activism like Rosa Parks, Harriet Trudell, and Sojourner Truth. 

My parents modeled voting once they became American citizens: They took me into their booths to vote for Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden. They taught me that my American vote was a chance to push the United States in the right direction, even if I didn’t have the privilege of voting for a candidate who supports and reflects all my needs. Nonetheless, the practice of voting for candidates who push America in the right direction is what I can do with my great, hard-fought privilege. As I came of voting age, I knew I would never get the chance to vote if I voted purely on my first love, Palestine. 

I voted in this election for the candidate who objectively can win with my vote — one who has moved politically on Palestine. I trust Harris will continue to do so and that she will make the standard of living for the average American better. I voted to protect the right to critique politicians without being criminalized. I voted for a vice president who wrote his master’s thesis on genocide, how to teach students to identify genocide, and how to stand up to ensure it never happens again. I voted to make the cost of a home more affordable, for tax credits that will help families feed their kids, and for the protection of religious rights.

If you care about Palestine, withholding your support from Harris is a cheap cop-out from true support for Palestine. It endangers our hard-won right to vote. Be outraged by the murder and pillaging of Palestinians’ lives. Let this moment expand your world view of humanity, foreign policy, and America. Let this moment be the one you get involved in. Join the Philly Palestine Coalition, Philadelphia Parents for Palestine, Families for Ceasefire Philly, Standing Together, Jewish Voice for Peace, Shut Down Ghost Robotics, and your university’s organization that is working in support of Palestine. Arm yourself with education: Read and spread Palestinian narratives, stories, and art.

To Stein and third-party voters, I ask you to see the way she is exploiting Palestinian tragedy to advance her political career. The United States lacks a solid third-party movement to fall back upon that would fundamentally change the unfair two-party system. In the same way the Democratic Party demonized Black voters for not voting, those who vote for Stein endanger Palestinian Americans: We will be blamed for another Trump presidency, anti-Palestinian and Arab racism will increase, and supplemented by the hatred that Trump’s second presidency will bring, Islamophobia will skyrocket. 

If you really care about Palestinians, listen to this Palestinian: Don’t repost another image on social media and withhold your powerful vote from Harris in Pennsylvania — get involved in changing Pennsylvania for good. Vote for progressive candidates who will push for Palestinian rights on a state and federal scale. Help combat the militarization of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania State Police that has shocking parallels with Israel. With expansive and large enough movements in Pennsylvania, we can kick weapons manufacturers out, stop the sale of weapons to Israel, and change American foreign policy. We can’t do that with a setback on Nov. 5.

You endanger yourself, Arab Americans, Muslims, Palestinians, and progressive activists when you choose to inhibit Harris from winning Pennsylvania. If you live in Pennsylvania and care about Palestine, don’t be the reason a self-proclaimed future dictator and rapist becomes president again.

SELMA FARSAKH is a College junior studying gender history and philosophy, politics, and economics. She serves as the diversity and coalitions director of Penn Democrats. Her email is selmaulm@sas.upenn.edu.