I will vote against genocide: For the sake of the American and Palestinian people, I have been persuaded not to vote for Kamala Harris based on my observations in Palestine.

I started volunteering with different medical organizations that aid Palestinians earlier this year as the massacre in Gaza was taking place. I traveled to the occupied West Bank and provided remote assistance to Gaza’s medical personnel. I coordinated research collaborations on disease and injury trends in Gaza and the West Bank, taught and mentored Palestinian youngsters, and assisted organizations that provide medical care to pediatric and geriatric patients with cancer, chronic illness, and dementia.

What follows is entirely my opinion and experience, and it does not represent the stance of any organization I have worked for.

My perspective on American domestic politics and my vote in the next presidential election have been significantly impacted by my work in Palestine and with Palestinians.

If there is one major lesson to be learned from my work and recent trip to Palestine this summer, it is that the reported crimes committed by Israel represent a very small portion of the real situation. Many are not recorded because the victims fear retaliation in the form of physical violence or group punishment if they speak up, or because their phones and cameras are stolen or destroyed.

The extent of the physical and institutional violence inflicted on this community on a daily basis, as well as the inventiveness of the crimes perpetrated against them, is genuinely impossible to imagine.

I will vote against genocide: Hundreds of temporary and permanent checkpoints dot the occupied West Bank, disrupting and isolating Palestinian life. They can obstruct trucks carrying commodities, particularly perishable food, from getting to their destinations, block Palestinians from traveling to work or education, and make it difficult to transport those who urgently require medical attention. Israeli authorities, who frequently make decisions that repress or bankrupt Palestinian enterprises, are the only source of economic support for the Palestinian people.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops frequently raid Palestinian towns and villages, breaking into houses, detaining Palestinians, and occasionally killing civilians. Additionally, Jewish settlers under the protection of the Israeli army attack, demolish, and confiscate Palestinian homes, farms, and other property.

Additionally, violence against children occurs on a daily basis. Over the previous year, Israeli military have killed 165 Palestinian children by targeting them during their frequent attacks on the occupied West Bank. Additionally, many are jailed and subjected to sexual abuse by Israeli soldiers or staff in detention facilities. Israeli soldiers have been known to light cigarettes on Palestinian children’s arms, cheeks, and other body parts, according to the children I met.

I will vote against genocide: The atrocities in Gaza are much more horrifying. The official death toll of almost 43,000 as of right now is in no way representative of the actual extent of human pain and death. This figure excludes the deaths and chronic illnesses that Palestinians are now vulnerable to as a result of Israel’s restrictions on food, essential medical supplies like antibiotics and sterile materials, and much-needed medications for the chronically ill. For many pregnant women and their unborn children, this milieu of uncontrollable infection and hunger is also a death sentence. In effect, this is the same as preventing births, which is a crime of genocide.

Amid Israel’s complete dehumanization of Palestinians, as well as that of its political partners in the US, However, a large number of Americans are disengaged from the events in Gaza and Palestine in general. However, the reality is that the murderous campaign by Israel, which the United States supports, also affects Americans.

In Gaza and the West Bank, numerous Americans of Palestinian heritage have lost their lives. American medical missions to Gaza and the West Bank have frequently been refused admission by Israeli authorities, who have also harassed, arbitrarily detained, and physically assaulted Americans.

I have been hounded, shot at, and killed, as have other Americans who have no Palestinian ancestry. Most recently, an Israeli sniper killed 26-year-old Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi close to Beita, Nablus.

I saw Israeli troops shouting at Americans and other foreigners in the West Bank, rubbing their passports against one soldier’s genitalia before throwing them in their faces, and denying them entry at checkpoints.

I once talked to an Israeli soldier while I was waiting to pass a checkpoint, and he told me that he and his fellow soldiers had taken part in joint exercises with an Ohio police department, where they instructed American police officers on population control and military occupation checkpoint procedures.

Hearing that was startling, but it made me realize that the United States is not the only country that exports deadly and violent technologies to Israel—the opposite is also true. Israeli colonial enslavement of the Palestinian people has influenced violent policing in the United States, which disproportionately impacts marginalized groups.

The dominance of the US imperial system and the exercise of racial, cultural, economic, and military superiority in the US, Israel, and other countries are, in fact, maintained by the interchange of ideas, knowledge, weapons, and intelligence.

I will vote against genocide: The US is seen by Palestinians as an equal partner in their colonial oppression, and they acknowledge this symbiosis. One American physician told me about a patient in Gaza who became frantic upon seeing the US flag on his scrubs. Because anesthesia was not available, her family had to restrain her so he could operate on her without anesthesia.

It’s time for Americans to realize that unrestricted US backing for Israel is killing and harming Palestinians while also being bad for the US population as well. Demonizing the pro-Palestinian movement and ignoring the horrifying rise in hate crimes against Arab and Muslim Americans, the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration has made a concerted effort to stifle domestic opposition to the genocide.

It is deliberately undermining the international legal order by threatening to eradicate the codified idea of human rights through its efforts against the United Nations and international courts, as well as through coercing other governments. Its support of crimes against humanity, racism, and colonial brutality normalizes these horrors and will unavoidably incite more violence against minorities and vulnerable populations in the United States.

Voting “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary was something I actively supported and participated in in the hopes that it would pressure the present administration to reverse its stance on Israel.

However, earlier this year, hundreds of thousands of their voters delivered a message to the US president and vice president, which they disregarded. Harris has made a special effort to express her steadfast support for Israel as the new Democratic contender. She has shut down anti-genocide demonstrators at rallies, had Muslim Democrats expelled from her events, and permitted the contempt and derision of voters and Democratic Party organizers who are trying to bring attention to Gaza.

There are individuals who care about “this issue,” but they also care about “bringing down the price of groceries,” Harris stated at a town hall event in October. I am among those who are far more concerned with the actual prospect of eradicating Palestinian life from Gaza than with the cost of food in the United States.

In addition to considering the suffering of the Palestinian people, I will also consider the future of my fellow Americans when I cast my vote against genocide on November 5. I’m really dedicated to it, and it’s an act of love and care.

Source: Aljazeera