Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event at Northwestern High School in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024.
A political action committee founded by Republicans is running digital ads in Michigan arguing Vice President Kamala Harris “stands with Israel” amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. The ads also link to a video saying Harris put “supporters of a free Palestine” “in their place.”
The ad campaign seems to be aimed at convincing Muslim, Arab and other voters who may be sympathetic to Palestinians not to support Harris by highlighting her pledges to back Israel in an approving tone.
The ads, which are running on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, are targeted at a handful of communities in Michigan, according to Meta and Snapchat’s political ad disclosures. Only a small amount of money has been spent on the ads so far.
The targeted zip codes include Dearborn, the first and only Arab-majority city in the United States and a center of the “uncommitted” movement, which refused to back President Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic primaries. Other towns with substantial Arab or Muslim populations targeted include the Detroit enclave of Hamtramck and the rural city of Coldwater in southern Michigan.
“Vice President Harris has chosen a side – the right side,” a female narrator says in the 30-second video the ads link to. “Harris has made herself clear: She stands with Israel and the Jewish people. She has, again and again. She understands the unbreakable bond between the U.S. and Israel. So when [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu came to D.C., Harris hosted the prime minister at the White House. And when supporters of a free Palestine stood up for Gaza, Harris put them in their place.”
“And supporters of a free Palestine?” the narrator continues. “They hate her.”
The Future Coalition PAC, which was formed in July, is paying for the ad. Despite its liberal-sounding name, Federal Election Commission documents indicate its treasurer is Ray Zaborney, a Pennsylvania-based Republican operative. The group has yet to report any fundraising to the FEC.
Two email addresses associated with the PAC did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s messages.
Democrats in Michigan immediately labeled the ad a dirty trick from Republicans.
“Clearly, this ad is designed to get low-information and low-engagement Arab-American and left-leaning voters to oppose Harris, a classic ratfucking operation by a PAC that is helping a former President that uses Palestinian as a slur,” said one Michigan Democratic operative, who used a slang term for political sabotage and requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic in Democratic politics.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s email seeking comment.
Republicans have long mused about aiming ads hyping Biden and Harris’ support for Israel at Muslim communities in Michigan, a critical swing state where the small Muslim community backed Biden by overwhelming margins in 2020.
Progressives were hopeful the July elevation of Harris as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee would lead to changes in American policy and rhetoric towards the war, which has become a hotly divisive topic within the Democratic Party, following the Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, and Israel’s subsequent retaliatory campaign in Gaza, which has killed some 40,000 Palestinians since then.
Biden, in particular, has come under criticism for what has been largely unconditional U.S. support for Israel during its campaign, despite alleged human rights abuses and the mounting number of civilians killed, including via famine, proliferation of diseases and lack of medical care.
So far, however, Harris has not broken with Biden’s approach, even if reports indicate she would be willing to take a harder line on Israel and its right-wing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The meeting with Netanyahu cited in the ad resulted in Harris making a direct pitch for a cease-fire in the war and the release of hostages, something Netanyahu has so far resisted.
The incident in which Harris purportedly “put supporters of a Free Palestine … in their place” likely refers to a rally in Michigan not long after Harris took over the party’s nomination where she shut down a group of pro-Palestinian protesters. At rallies since, Harris has adopted a more conciliatory tone when interrupted.
Trump, meanwhile, was an unquestioning ally of Netanyahu while in office and would likely allow Israel to take an even freer hand in attacking Gaza. He’s also vowed to expand his ban on visitors from Muslim-majority countries and bar refugees from Gaza entirely.
Andrew Arenge, the director of operations at the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies, first noted the ads on social media.
