Detroit Muslim leader who opposes US complicity in Gaza genocide expelled from Harris rally

A former Democratic candidate for Congress and prominent Muslim in Metro Detroit has been removed from US Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s rally in Michigan.  

Ahmed Ghanim, who is opposed to US support for Israel’s military actions, said on Tuesday that he had accepted an invitation to the event and was seated in the Royal Oak Music Theatre the day before when a campaign organizer ordered him to leave, without giving him a reason.

“She took me to the door, and she closed it, and I found two police officers waiting there, and she said, ‘You have to leave right now,’” Ghanim said.

“I asked why she was kicking me out. She wouldn’t answer. I was very calmly asking why I was being kicked out,” he added.

The prominent Muslim Democrat said that he had told her, ‘OK,’ and left., while a police officer said, ‘You either leave now or I’ll put you in the back of my car.’”

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The DNC hoped to reinvent itself but it was an election-year reminder that pinning any hope on the Democratic Party to do the right thing on Gaza is a lost cause.

Ghanim further said that he and many other Muslims feel alienated by the Democratic Party and that Harris’s campaign will be impacted by it.

“They keep saying they want the Muslims and the Arabs, but we aren’t even welcome at an event,” he said, stressing, “If that happened to me, imagine what would happen to any other Muslim.”

Ghanim posted about the tense moment on social media, noting that a lot of Muslim and Arab Americans are angry with Democrats because of it.

“There are hundreds of Muslims who saw that, and they feel like they are unwelcome in this party, so why bother?” he said.

The move comes at a time when the Harris campaign has been working to regain lost support among Muslim and Arab American voters who have a large population in southeast Michigan.

They are refusing to support Harris because of her support of Israel, which has been launching a brutal war on Gaza and most recently on Lebanon.

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In a statement late Monday, a spokesman for the Harris campaign apologized for the incident, saying Ghanim is welcome at future events without giving an explanation why he was removed.

"Our campaign regrets this action and its impact on Dr. Ghanim and the community, and he is welcome at future events. We value our relationship with the Muslim American community," said Naomi Savin, deputy communications director for the Harris team in Michigan. 

Ghanim became popular after co-founding Metro-Detroit Political Action Network, a group that rallied against former US President Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban and branched out to fight other racial, environmental, and economic injustices.

He previously ran against but lost to Haley Stevens, a staunch supporter of Israel, for the Democratic nomination in August, campaigning to be the 11th District's next representative in Congress.

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