AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

We’re just 45 days away from the U.S. election. As the Biden administration continues to supply billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, demands for a U.S. arms embargo to Israel remain a key issue among antiwar voters, who say they feel ignored by both major political parties. Now the Uncommitted National Movement, which pressured by the Democratic Party — or, pressured the Democratic Party to shift its policy towards Israel and to end the war on Gaza, has announced it will not endorse Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, saying her campaign failed to accept the movement’s demands, which also include meeting with Palestinian American families who have had many of their relatives killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

With less than two months to go until the election, Harris has repeatedly defended the Biden administration’s support of Israel amidst its relentless war on Gaza. During an interview on Tuesday with the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia, Vice President Harris was questioned on the issues by reporter Tonya Mosley of WHYY Radio.

TONYA MOSLEY: You’ve called for a ceasefire-hostage deal and a two-state solution as an end to the war for many months now. And while you’ve expressed support for Israel to defend itself, a two-state solution and a ceasefire are at odds with what Benjamin Netanyahu has said is their right to defense. If it matters, as you say, how Israel defends itself, where do you see the line between aggression and defense, and our power as Israel’s ally to do something?

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: OK, a lot to unpack in what you just said. So, let’s start with this. I absolutely believe that this war has to end, and it has to end as soon as possible. And the way that will be achieved is by getting a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done. And we are working around the clock to achieve that end. Stepping back, October 7, 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered — and actually, and some Americans, by the way, in that number, slaughtered, young people who were attending a concert. Women were horribly raped. And yes, so I have said Israel has a right to defend itself. We would. And —

TONYA MOSLEY: But, Madam Vice President —

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: But, no.

TONYA MOSLEY: — I think my ask —

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: But let me finish.

TONYA MOSLEY: — is the difference —

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: But, no, no. Let me finish.

TONYA MOSLEY: — between aggression and defense here.

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: No, but it’s important to put it in context, which is what I’m doing, and I’ll get to that. And so, how it does so matters. And far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, women and children. We have seen with horror the images coming out of Gaza. And we have to take that seriously.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Vice President Kamala Harris being questioned Tuesday by reporter Tonya Mosley as part of a panel of journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists event in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Thursday Jewish voters will be to blame if he loses November’s election. Trump stood in front of an Israeli flag as he spoke at the Israeli-American Council national summit. He also used the term “Palestinian” as a pejorative to describe Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and New York Democrat, and claimed if Kamala Harris wins in November, Israel would cease to exist.

DONALD TRUMP: The Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss if I’m at 40%. If I’m at 40, think of it. That means 60% of voting for Kamala, who in particular is a bad Democrat. The Democrats are bad to Israel, very bad. … I mean, Chuck Schumer is a Palestinian. … But if we don’t win this election, Israel, in my opinion, within a period of two to three years, will cease to exist. It’s going to be wiped out. It’s what’s going to happen.

AMY GOODMAN: Trump previously referred to President Biden as a, quote, “very bad Palestinian,” unquote, in their only presidential debate in June.

This all comes as the Teamsters union has said it’s not endorsing a presidential candidate for the first time since 1996. The union, which endorsed Biden in 2020, says neither candidate have enough support from their 1.3 million-strong membership.

For more on the election and the “uncommitted” movement’s announcement it will not endorse Kamala Harris, we go to Detroit — actually, we go to Michigan, where we’re joined by Lexis Zeidan, co-founder and co-chair of the Uncommitted National Movement.

Welcome to Democracy Now! Can you explain the statement that you put out yesterday, Lexis?

LEXIS ZEIDAN: Yeah. Hi, Amy. Thank you so much for having me on the show.

As many know, Uncommitted put out a statement yesterday where we announced we will not be endorsing Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. And in that same statement, we had announced that we are vehemently opposing Donald Trump and that we do not recommend a third-party vote.

And to put it into a little bit of context, we have been working for months, where we, you know, started in Michigan, 1.5 million voter contacts, mobilized over 101,000 people to go to the polls and vote uncommitted as a protest vote against Biden and the administration and their ongoing support for Israel as it relates to the occupation and killing of Palestinians.

And what we offered to VP Harris is that if Vice President Kamala Harris is able to do two things — either change policy as it relates to current U.S. policy that backs bombs, or simply does the thing of ensuring and upholding current international and human rights laws as it relates to the way that Israel is violating war crimes — that we would do — that we would repeat what we did in Michigan to mobilize our base to go to the polls and vote for her come November. It was the offer we put on the table that was declined by Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign team.

And so, because we were not met in good faith, we had to make the decision to not be able to endorse her. And to be clear, an endorsement is an opportunity for us to do the same thing that we did in Michigan: mobilize our voters. An endorsement means that we are offering something and doing something. And because we were not met in good faith with our policy demands, it is something that we cannot do.

AMY GOODMAN: So, explain each position — not endorsing Kamala Harris, telling people not to support President Trump or a third-party candidate.

LEXIS ZEIDAN: Yeah, great question. I think I’ll lead with, we have to be very clear, is that there’s two options come November at the top of the ticket. It’s going to be Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump. So, keeping that context in mind, we had to make a decision of what that means to grow the power that we’ve already built within our antiwar organizing movement. And so, for us, and like I said, an endorsement is meaning that we will mobilize voters to go to the polls and vote for VP Harris. That has to come with policy change. And no policy change came, so it’s a decision we had to make to not endorse her.

Donald Trump, we have to be very clear, is a direct threat to our society, our civil liberties here and Palestinians back home. As he has mentioned, he plans to annex the West Bank. As he has mentioned, that he plans to criminalize organizations here in our own country who are fighting for Palestinian human rights.

And then, to the third point of not recommending a third-party vote, we know that, unfortunately, a third-party vote is not viable in this broken electoral system. And so, inadvertently, a third-party vote would support a Donald Trump victory.

And so, knowing all this context, we believe that our power lies within our movement, that our power lies within our people, that our power lies in continuing to grow the antiwar organizing movement that we have, to truly pressure the Democratic coalition or the Democratic administration to change policy as it relates to its current U.S. policy of backing bombs.

AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of third parties, this month, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, published a follow-up poll that shows Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein ahead of Kamala Harris among Muslim voters in the key swing states of Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin. So, can you talk about the significance of what this means of not endorsing Kamala Harris?

LEXIS ZEIDAN: Yeah. I mean, I think we have to recognize that a lot of people, especially people within the Arab and Muslim community — you know, as VP Harris put it in her speech, we’ve got to put things into context. And the context here is that these communities are communities that are suffering. They are communities that are grieving. And the idea of people going and asking them who you are voting for come November — we’ve said this repeatedly — is like asking them that question at a funeral. And so, we have to keep in context how people are grieving, feeling emotionally, the very same people who came out in 2020 and mobilized very well for Biden, who feels very betrayed by this administration.

And so, we believe, as a movement, that it’s our responsibility to do three things right in this very moment, is, one, educate voters across the country, including Arab and Muslim voters, provide them with voter education on the dangers of Donald Trump; two, recognize that the genocide is still happening, that we cannot wait ’til January to shift policy, and that we have to continue to pressure the Biden-Harris administration to change policy immediately to save as many Palestinian lives as possible; and the third thing is to continue to grow our antiwar organizing power with Democratic coalitions across the country. We have to recognize that our power has impacted elected officials speaking up for Palestine, as well, from school board members all the way up to congressional leaders that are talking openly about why we need to change our U.S. foreign policy as it relates to backing bombs.

And so, these people that are talking about voting Jill Stein and third party are people who are suffering. And we believe it is our job to continue to do the organizing work that we have to do ahead of November to educate our voters about what’s at stake come November and how we have to grow our organizing power to see long-term policy change to lead to a liberated and a free Palestine.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, your response to Senator Bernie Sanders preparing a joint resolution of disapproval against the planned $20 billion in U.S. arms sales to Israel? He spoke from the Senate floor Wednesday.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Netanyahu’s policies have trampled on international law, made life unlivable in Gaza and created one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history. … The simple fact is that we must end our complicity in Israel’s illegal and indiscriminate military campaign, which has caused mass civilian death and suffering.”

AMY GOODMAN: We have 30 seconds, Lexis. Your response?

LEXIS ZEIDAN: Yeah, I mean, he highlighted it perfectly, is that we are aiding and abetting in indiscriminately killing civilians. And it goes to the point of what we’ve been explaining in this movement and what we’ve been trying to get VP Harris and the administration to move on, a sentiment that actually resonates the majority of Democrats, 77% of Democrats, 61% of Americans, that oppose weapons aids to Israel. When we look at our international law and our U.S. law as it relates to violation of war crimes, this is something that we should not be funding.

So, what we’re asking is not outrageous. We’re making a very simple request to follow international law and do what’s right and create an opportunity to deescalate what’s happening in the region and to really make sure that we’re valuing Palestinian lives as much as any other lives.

AMY GOODMAN: Lexis Zeidan, I want to thank you for being with us, co-founder and co-chair of the Uncommitted National Movement, speaking to us from Detroit, Michigan.

Next up, as Donald Trump continues to refuse to admit he lost the 2020 election, we’ll speak with filmmaker Michael Premo, who embedded with three Trump supporters around the 2020 election, one of them an insurrectionist who has been sentenced to one of the longest prison terms for participating in January 6th. Stay with us.