Green party presidential nominee Jill Stein is seeking Palestinian Americans as potential running mates for her long shot White House bid, according to reports.
Speaking to NBC on Friday, several potential candidates said that they had multiple conversations with Stein about the vice-president position.
Stein, who is expected to announce her running mate next Friday, has been a fierce critic of Israel’s ongoing deadly war on Gaza which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians since Hamas’s attack last October that killed 1,200 Israelis.
One candidate is Noura Erakat, a prominent human rights lawyer and professor at Rutgers University. On Friday, Erakat took to X to announce that Stein’s team “approached me to run as her vice-presidential candidate & I am seriously considering it”.
“The [Kamala] Harris team is demanding our votes to ‘save our democracy’ but has been oblivious to the fact that supporting a #genocide poses the most significant threat to it,” Erakat added.
Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the Washington DC-based American-Arab anti-discrimination committee, announced that he has also been approached by Stein’s team, calling it an “honor to be considered for the VP position”.
“Since the start of the genocide I have made a commitment to stick to our shared principles, even if this means being disinvited from meetings, losing access, and being sidelined by establishment,” Ayoud wrote on X.
“Dr Stein has consistently held the right position on Gaza, Palestine, and human rights throughout this campaign. Being considered is a testament to the fact that there are still politicians and candidates out there who value integrity and the willingness to stand on the side of justice,” he added.
Another among the people interviewed for the job is Abdullah Hammoud, the Democratic mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, NBC reports. According to the outlet, Hammoud’s spokesperson confirmed that Stein had asked if he was interested in being considered for the position before realizing that the 34-year old is too young to be eligible for the position. Under the US constitution, vice-presidents are required to be at least 35 years old.
Speaking to NBC, political activist and comedian Amer Zahr revealed that he has also spoken with Stein about the position.
“I am honored by the consideration and I think it’s important that the Stein campaign is making that kind of direct outreach to Palestinian Americans and Arab Americans, especially in Michigan,” Zahr said.
“It shows that, unlike the Harris campaign, she is serious about addressing the core issues in this campaign,” he added.
Zahr’s comments came after Harris sparked criticism earlier this week over her handling of anti-war demonstrators who protested during her rally in Detroit, Michigan.
In response to the demonstrators who chanted, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide,” Harris, who does not support an arms embargo on Israel, raised her eyebrows and said, “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”
“She could have said, ‘I hear you, we’re going to address this, and if you want it to get better, elect me instead of Donald Trump,’” Zahr told NBC, calling Harris’s response “really disrespectful.
“But instead she suggested we want to help get Trump elected … as if we owe her something and she doesn’t owe us,” he continued.
