DEARBORN, Mich. - Speaking at an event to rally support for the Arab American population amid devastation in the Israel-Hamas war, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein brought her passionately pro-Palestinian message to Dearborn on Thursday.
"We do not need and will not tolerate genocide in Gaza," Stein, an environmental activist, told a supportive crowd at the Arab American National Museum.
Israeli officials have said they are conducting a legitimate defense of their people and not committing genocide. Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker told the United Nations' highest court in January the country is fighting a "war it did not start and did not want" and that it is Hamas militants who are guilty of genocide.
Stein drew a sharp contrast between herself and the two major party candidates for president, urging voters not to choose whomever they may perceive as the proverbial "lesser of two evils."
"What we have are two greater evil forces," she said.
Stein's speech helped kick off the 2024 National Arab American Convention, or ArabCon. The four-day event in Dearborn aims to build unity and empowerment in the Arab American community.
ArabCon is hosted by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Others slated to speak this weekend include another presidential candidate, philosopher Cornel West; state Rep. Alabas Farhat, a Democrat; and rapper Macklemore, who is outspoken in support of Palestinians amid the war with Israel.
In years past, the convention had taken place in the Washington, D.C., area. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, in remarks before Stein spoke, called his city ArabCon's "rightful place," given it has one of the nation's largest concentration of Muslims.
The convention comes at a crucial time, he said, "possibly the most important moment in history to date" for the Arab American community.
Stein agreed. "In this moment of unprecedented crisis, we are together the unstoppable resistance," she said. "We are a haven of humanity in an unraveling empire."
Stein briefly touched on other points, including her pledges to increase minimum wage to $25 per hour, expand Medicare for all Americans, control rent costs, institute environmental reform, end mass incarceration and "end the migration crisis by ending U.S. policies that drive that crisis."
This is Stein's third go-round as the Green Party's presidential candidate. In 2012, she garnered 0.36% of the popular vote. She upped her share of the popular vote to 1.07% in the 2016 election.
The Green Party's 2020 nominee, Howie Hawkins, received 0.26% of the popular vote.
Most nationwide polls show Stein currently polling around 1%. But she leads the pack among Muslim American voters in Michigan and two other states, Arizona and Wisconsin, according to a poll released Monday by the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
The CAIR poll, which surveyed 1,155 voters between Aug. 25-27, found that across the U.S., 29.4% of American Muslims plan to vote for Harris, followed closely by Stein (29.1%). Trailing them are Trump (11.2%) and West, of the People's Party (4.2%). Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party has less than 1% support, with 16.5% of respondents undecided.
West, a liberal activist, author and academic, is scheduled to speak at ArabCon on Saturday evening. The speech comes just days after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled his name will appear on the state's Nov. 5 ballot.
Attorney Mark Brewer, a former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, argued that West should be disqualified on several fronts, including problems with the notarization of his affidavit of identity and allegations that West's petitions to get on the ballot were fraudulent.
Another notable third-party candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also will be represented on Michigan's ballot, the state's highest court ruled Monday in a separate case. Kennedy sought to have his name removed after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump.
The court ruled Kennedy had filed his request too close to Election Day and would leave his nominating party, the Natural Law Party, with no opportunity to field a replacement.