At pro-Palestinian rally in MIlwaukee, voters encouraged to vote for neither Biden nor Trump

Voters should avoid casting ballots for both Democratic President Joe Biden and likely Republican nominee Donald Trump because of their positions on the conflict in the Middle East, a leader of the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine urged supporters Saturday.

"Wisconsin is going to vote uninstructed," Janan Najeeb, told a few hundred supporters gathered in the parking lot of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. "We refuse to hold our nose and vote for the better of two evils, because they're both evil."

She added: "We have power in our unity and we will continue, we will continue until the genocide ends and Gaza and Palestine (are) free and our government develops a conscience and stops (providing arms to Israel.)"

Najeeb, president of the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition, was one of several speakers who praised the Palestinian movement and chastised Israel.

The Coalition for Justice in Palestine, consisting of 60 member groups, organized the march and rally Saturday. It is calling for an immediate cease-fire in the region.

Mustafa Elzaibaq, a 21-year-old Palestinian who came to America about two-and-a-half years ago, told the crowd many of his friends and family members have been killed in the fighting.

"I don't have friends now because 90% of them got bombed," Elzaibaq said. "When I check Facebook, all of them died."

Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, told the cheering crowd that just saying the U.S. is complicit in genocide is wrong. "We are responsible for the genocide," he said.

Clancy was alluding to Israel's military campaign into Gaza.

The latest — and ongoing — round started after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killed at least 1,200 people, and abducted 250. About 130 hostages remain, most of them Israeli, including dual nationals, according to Israel.

Israel responded with a military campaign that it said was aimed at destroying Hamas and recovering the hostages. The ferocity of that response has been condemned by many countries around the world.

Hamas released some of the hostages during a temporary cease-fire agreements that ended on Dec. 1. International efforts to reach a new cease-fire and hostage-release agreement have been unsuccessful.

Israel’s count of remaining hostages includes those Israel believes to be dead. Israel has said that more than 30 of the hostages are dead but has determined, in an assessment shared with U.S. and Egyptian officials, that as many as 50 could be dead.

The Saturday pro-Palestinian rally comes less than a week after several Israeli survivors of a the Oct. 7 Hamas attack spoke at the Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC as part of a nationwide program called Heroes of Light. Those speakers were united in saying no cease-fire should happen without a release of all hostages.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Pro-Palestinian rally speaker labels Biden, Trump 'both evil'