As negotiators work to reach a temporary ceasefire to halt the war in Gaza before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in March, a message from a Michigander raises concerns about President Joe Biden’s support for Israeli actions that have killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians Feel angry.

Preliminary results after the Michigan polls closed Tuesday night showed that about 18% of Democratic primary voters in the key battleground state with a large Arab-American constituency marked their primary ballots as “uncommitted” as “uncommitted.” Hearing Michigan” is part of a campaign to pressure the president to support a permanent ceasefire.

Biden said on Monday he hoped to reach a temporary cease-fire agreement by March 4 and release Palestinians from Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas.

He told NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” Monday that Israel has agreed to halt fighting in Gaza during Ramadan, which is expected to begin on March 10.

For Biden, a breakthrough is key to appeasing angry Democrats alarmed by the death toll in Gaza. On Tuesday, however, mediators from Israel and Hamas, as well as Qatar, sounded warnings about Biden’s optimism.

Michigan ‘uncommitted’

Without significant opposition, Biden is certain to win Michigan’s Democratic primary. Still, analysts say he can’t ignore the signal from Listen Michigan, a movement backed by dozens of the state’s elected officials, including Rashida Terai, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress. Representative Rashida Tlaib.

“President Biden is not hearing our voices,” Tlaib said in a social media post. “This is where we can use our democracy to say, ‘Listen. Listen to Michigan.’”

Palestinian-American Adam Abusalah voted “not to take a stand.” He worked on Biden’s 2020 campaign but told VOA he has since become disillusioned.

“We thought he would lead this country with humanity and compassion,” Absala said. “But instead, he has been leading with hypocrisy.”

Nationally, Arab and Muslim Americans are not a significant voting bloc. But the size of Michigan’s “uncommitted” vote will show how strongly Americans reject Biden’s Gaza policy as they represent other groups in the president’s coalition.

“This is not just a fringe movement,” said Nura Sediqe, a core faculty member in Michigan State University’s Muslim Studies program. The movement is not only supported by Arab Americans, but also includes other minority voters, as well as young and progressive Democrats and anti-war Jewish voters, she said.

Sediq told VOA that Democratic leaders believe their voters will vote for Biden because the alternative, former President Donald Trump, is “terrible and frightening.” “But it’s also frustrating for voters because they feel like they show up year after year and their views aren’t heard.”

Some American Muslims say even the alternative would be no worse than Biden. Samraa Luqman, a staunch progressive who voted for Bernie Sanders in 2020, is now co-chair of the Michigan Abandon Biden campaign.

“To have someone like me sit in front of you today and say, ‘I’m willing to accept a presidency contrary to Trump in order to unseat Biden,’ really demonstrates how badly this president has failed,” she told Voice of America and refuted the “empty claims” made by Biden and Trump about their treatment of American Muslims.

“We told Democrats we wanted to vote for the lesser of two evils,” Luckman said. “There is nothing more evil than committing genocide.”

Perhaps nowhere is this deeper frustration more evident than in the case of 25-year-old Air Force service member Aaron Bushnell. On February 25, he broadcast a live broadcast standing outside the gate of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, shouting “Free Palestine” and setting himself on fire.

On Tuesday, the White House called his death a “horrible tragedy.” Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was informed of the incident.

‘The president understands’

Jean-Pierre said the administration understands the strong sentiment among Democrats and highlighted recent outreach by White House officials to Arab and Muslim Americans in Michigan.

“The president understands this, too,” she told a news conference. “So, we’re very concerned about that and what the community is going through.”

But Biden’s critics say he’s not listening, Although opinion polls It shows that more and more Americans support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

“They’re listening to donors, they’re listening to pressure groups,” said James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute.

“Where is the center of power in the party? It’s in the establishment,” Zogby told VOA. “Where are the majority of the votes in the party? It’s the progressives. It’s those who think the current policies don’t do a good job of upholding justice and justice.” Peaceful people.”

How that fight plays out remains to be seen, Zogby said, adding that without significant changes in Biden’s support for Israel, it will be difficult to convince Arab-American voters, a key constituency in Michigan. The state joins Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as “swing states” that could change the outcome of the 2024 election.

It doesn’t take many votes to lose Michigan. In 2016, Trump won by less than 11,000 votes.

VOA’s Dora Mekouar and Valdya Baraputri contributed to this report.