The Democratic voters who aren't ready to forget Gaza
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 August 2024
⏱️ 40 minutes
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Summary
Bridgeview, Ill., just 30 minutes from downtown Chicago, is home to one of the largest concentrations of Palestinian Americans in the country. The town, nicknamed “Little Palestine,” traditionally votes Democratic. But now, ahead of the presidential election, residents are seriously reconsidering how they vote, because of President Joe Biden’s approach to the war in Gaza.
Today, host Martine Powers speaks with White House reporter Yasmeen Abutaleb about Little Palestine, the broader rift in the Democratic Party over Gaza, and whether Vice President Kamala Harris changes the calculation for Muslim and Arab American voters.
Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick with help from Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Naftali Bendavid.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | About 30 minutes outside of downtown Chicago, there's a big white brick building with |
| 0:08.1 | teal domes and security on either side of the entrance. |
| 0:11.6 | Okay, why don't you tell us where we are right now? |
| 0:14.0 | Okay, so we are at the Mosque Foundation in Little Palestine. |
| 0:18.0 | This is a key part of the community. |
| 0:21.0 | This is one of the biggest mosques in the country and we're here just ahead of Friday prayer. |
| 0:27.0 | So it is packed. |
| 0:30.0 | That's Yasmin Abutolib. She is a White House reporter and earlier this summer she was standing outside of the mosque with audio producer Arioplot. |
| 0:38.6 | I have been to many Friday prayers. I have not seen many, if any, that I've seen that are this large. This is a really big |
| 0:45.2 | mosque. The mosque is the centerpiece of a neighborhood called Little Palestine. |
| 0:53.0 | Little Palestine is in Bridgeview, Illinois, and it's home to one of the country's largest |
| 0:57.6 | concentrations of Palestinian Americans. |
| 1:00.8 | It's also a stronghold for Democrats. |
| 1:03.0 | In the 2020 election, the county this neighborhood is in voted overwhelmingly for President |
| 1:08.9 | Joe Biden. |
| 1:09.9 | But now, Yasmin says, people in Little Palestine are seriously questioning their allegiance |
| 1:15.3 | to the Democratic Party because of how the Biden administration has approached the war in |
| 1:20.1 | Gaza. |
| 1:21.1 | That's the case for Deanna Osman, who spoke to Yasmin and Ariel across from the mosque. |
| 1:26.0 | I think for the country they need to see the Democratic Party is not just, you know, is not the progressive sort of organization that it |
| 1:36.7 | pretends to be and that there's very little difference along party lines |
| 1:41.1 | between the Republicans and the Democrats and I think that's |
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