Abandon Harris campaign chair vows to fight Trump plan to take over Gaza

A group that fought against the Biden administration’s support for Israel is pushing back against President Trump’s recent assertion that the U.S. could take control of Gaza.

Organizers credit the Abandon Biden and Abandon Harris efforts with helping swing the Arab-American vote to Trump.

The chair of the Michigan chapter of the group is Farah Khan. She says Trump’s latest remarks on Gaza are not what he was promoting during the presidential campaign.

Listen: Abandon Harris campaign chair vows to fight Trump plan to take over Gaza

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Farah Khan: When I heard that press conference I was just like, “Oh, my God, I knew that it’s bad, but I didn’t know that it’s going to be this bad this soon.” He should have at least thought it through before saying it. Because he actually won the election by getting all the Muslim votes from the Muslim bloc who voted for him. And then there was a bloc who voted for him out of revenge against Democrats, because they were so disappointed with the Biden-Harris administration. They said, “We don’t want to vote for Biden and we don’t want to vote for Trump. But we will vote for Trump because we want Biden to lose, because we want Harris to lose this bad.” And now it’s like oh, my God, you made all these promises and you are going back on them this soon. You’re showing your true colors right right away.

I knew this was gonna happen. How long and how much more do we have to spend on other people’s wars? I am just disgusted. He said we are going to take over the Gaza Strip and displace those 2 million people to go where? None of the countries want them to begin with. They have been fighting for the past 16 months against this genocide because they don’t want to leave their land. And now we are going to force them out of their land because we want to take ownership of it? This is wrong.

He called the land a symbol of death and destruction. Yes, it is, because we made it into that. I know the Israelis did it but they had the full support of America. Trump always said “America first.” Where is America first in all this? We need to help people uphold their freedom, their right to exist, not destroy them. This is not what America stands for.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: You said you knew that this was going to happen?

FK: Honestly, I did not support Trump. We were going full force against Harris. I knew it would be bad, but I didn’t think that Trump would actually go against his own words. He said he’s going to end war. He’s going to end it by taking the people out of their land? This is absurd. He’s like, “Oh, don’t fight. I’m just going to take them out of their house and you can have the house.” Really? Is this how you end the conflict? My God. We fully reject any notion of ethnic cleansing in Gaza from Trump. Just as powerfully as we organized to defeat Harris, we will do the same to the MAGA Right who decide to foolishly promote ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

QK: You were Chair of the Michigan chapter of the Abandon Harris campaign. As you say, the group said it was leery of the Democratic administration because of its support for Israel. But now you have the Trump administration pushing this move in Gaza which would force out Palestinians, at least it seems on the surface. Do you have any second thoughts now about having pushed the Abandon Harris effort?

FK: Absolutely not. They are the trend-setters, this is their legacy. I have not 1% of regret for that. I would do it again if I had to. And we are going to organize powerfully against the Trump administration if they continue on this path. We told them the Muslim voting bloc actually made sure of your victory. Now you are betraying them, just as the Biden and Harris administration betrayed them, just like the Democrats have been betraying them. You know, who do we go to? We were pushing the third-party concept during the election as well. Why can we not promote good people who are not morally bankrupt to be our leaders?