Muslim support for Trump, Stein on Long Island tied to Biden-Harris handling of Israel-Hamas war

It was just days into his first presidency in 2017 when Donald Trump signed executive orders banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States.

During that campaign, he said he would "strongly consider" shutting down all mosques. He later declared "Islam hates us."

Despite all that, Trump garnered support from the Muslim community on Long Island in his winning bid for a second term, along with some who voted for third-party candidate Jill Stein this year, mirroring a nationwide trend, according to community leaders.

It was a pointed rebuke to Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, whom many Muslims blame for failing to end the bloodshed in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war, they said. 

The Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war was "terrible," said Mehdad Islam, the imam, or spiritual leader, of the Islamic Center of Mastic-Shirley. "Everyone was upset. Pretty much the Democrats lost" large swaths of the Muslim vote because of the escalating humanitarian crisis among Palestinians there, he said. He quit the Democratic Party and backed Stein.

Farhana Islam, a community organizer from Nassau County and a registered Democrat, also voted for Stein. She blamed Harris and Biden for "bankrolling" the killing of thousands of civilians in Gaza.

"The only consolation that I have in all of this is the humiliating loss that Kamala endured ... because neither option was going to look good for Gaza," Islam said.

Muslim anger was stoked by the killings of around 43,800 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, since Israel declared war there last year. The Israeli offensive was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people. Hamas also took 250 hostages.

The Biden administration has tried for months to pressure Israel to reduce the bloodshed in Gaza. A U.S. deadline for Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza expired this month without any apparent pullback in American military assistance.

Israel says it has made some changes to increase the flow of aid. But the United Nations says Israel has continued to restrict shipments, particularly in Northern Gaza, which has deepened the civilian crisis caused by repeated Israeli airstrikes. Aid agencies have warned of famine there.

Despite repeated visits by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, efforts at a major cease-fire have failed. There has been no agreement on when Israeli hostages or Palestinian prisoners will be released or how Gaza will be governed postwar. Hamas has vowed to keep fighting, and this month Qatar, a key mediator, announced it would pull out due to the deadlock. 

Trump has declared he will do better than the Biden administration, without giving specifics, and will move quickly to end the war.

Many Muslims and Jews on Long Island are hoping he is right, according to community leaders. They are praying for success with the Abraham Accords, a peace process that Trump started in his first term that essentially aims at normalizing relations between Israel and its Muslim-majority neighboring nations.

The boost Trump got from Muslims on Long Island reflected the outcome in other parts of the country, community leaders said. Muslim support for Trump was clearest in Dearborn, Michigan, the largest Arab- and Muslim-majority city in the nation. Trump won Dearborn with nearly 43% of the vote, according to official results. Harris took about 36%, while Stein captured 18%. 

It was a far cry from the 2020 presidential election, when Biden took about 70% of the vote in Dearborn, nearly double Harris’ total this year. Trump lost the "Blue Wall" swing state of Michigan in 2020 but won this year.

Indications of how Muslims nationwide supported Trump this year varied by poll. A Fox News exit poll had Harris at 63% and Trump at 32% among Muslims. In New York State, it was 63% for Harris and 37% for Trump. But a nationwide poll commissioned by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., found Stein at 53%, Trump at 21% and Harris at 20%.

Whatever the precise numbers, what's clear is that there was a punishment vote against Democrats among Muslims, including some who ordinarily would support Democrats but simply stayed home, said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, a research group based in Washington, D.C.

Many Muslims "voted for Trump as a way of getting back at Democrats," or didn't vote at all, he said.

Trump also got a boost among Jews, according to community leaders. Some Jewish people interviewed by Newsday said that although Biden was a solid supporter of Israel, they think Trump is a stronger figure who can help end the war.

Yona Miller, 74, a real estate agent from Dix Hills who considers herself an independent, said she voted for Trump because he is a "decisive leader" who can shake up the situation. Israel, along with the economy, were top issues for Miller, who is Jewish.

"I’m very happy that he was elected," said Miller, who said she voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. "I think he loves Israel. I think it will be good for Israel. ... The other countries around the world fear him, and I think he will get Israel out of the war."

Harris still won the Jewish vote nationwide, taking 78% of the vote compared to Trump’s 22%, according to a CNN poll. In New York State, Harris had 55% of the Jewish vote to Trump's 45%, the Fox poll showed.

Some Jewish leaders on Long Island said Trump had substantial support in their communities.

"People have told me they felt more comfortable in terms of support for the Jewish state coming from Trump," said Jay Rosenbaum, rabbi emeritus of Temple Israel of Lawrence. "Trump has shown support for the state of Israel, and it’s appreciated by American Jewry."

As president, Trump moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a decision that pleased Israelis and infuriated Palestinians. Both groups want to lay claim to the holy city as their capital.

Lawrence Levy, executive dean of Hofstra University's National Center for Suburban Studies, said that with few exit polls and no information about religion on voter registration cards, it’s hard to know exactly how voters in different religious groups on Long Island leaned.

"But there are indications — based on where some Jews are clustered on Long Island — that Trump did better than the typical Republican presidential candidate with this voting bloc," he said. "And there’s anecdotal chatter that some more moderate Jews, who normally vote Democratic, may have supported him for the first time over their concerns about support for Israel and its war with Hamas."

The support for Trump — direct or indirect — extended to many Muslims. Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan, chair of the board at the Hillside Islamic Center in New Hyde Park, said he voted for Stein out of disgust with the Biden-Harris team’s handling of Gaza. He said he is hopeful Trump can fulfill his pledge to bring peace to the Middle East.

"He’s not a typical politician," said Bhuiyan, a Democrat. "He is a person who would not hesitate to take a chance and just say whatever’s on his mind."

Bhuiyan saw little chance of peace in Gaza under Biden. "Nobody respected him," he said.

Other Muslims also said they were willing to give Trump a chance to end the bloodshed in Gaza and look past his previous comments and actions toward Muslims.

"We’re hoping that changes. We’re hoping he’s a little more fair, or he’s a little more open to all Americans," Mehdad Islam said. "Targeting a specific race or a specific religion, that’s not fair."

But some Muslims have little hope Trump will end the war or, if he does, it won’t be in a way that is beneficial to Palestinians. For instance, it could end up with Israel annexing Gaza and taking it even more under its control, Farhana Islam said.

"My initial reaction to Trump winning was pretty much indifference because I’m not expecting anything to change in terms of what is happening in Gaza," she said. "I’m fully aware that things will probably get worse."

As president-elect, Trump already has given some signs he may take a hard-line pro-Israel approach. Last week, he nominated former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as his ambassador to Israel. Huckabee has stated he is against the so-called two-state solution that would make Palestine its own nation. He also believes the "occupied territories" such as the West Bank should remain in Israeli hands.

Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, is also viewed as a pro-Israel hard-liner. Rubio last year said Israel has "no choice but to seek the complete eradication of Hamas in Gaza." He added that "America's role is to resupply Israel with the military materials they need to finish this job." 

Many Jewish Long Islanders are pinning their hopes for peace on the Abraham Accords. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is Jewish, developed the accords during Trump’s first term in office to try to normalize Arab-Israeli relations.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed it in 2020, leading them to recognize Israel’s sovereignty and establish diplomatic relations. Trump’s team hopes other major Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia also will sign on. They say that could be a game-changer for the region.

"I am hopeful that he can bring peace, that he can use his influence and popularity in Israel ... to create a peace that will meet Israel’s needs and not his own personal political needs," said Jack Lenson, a Jewish retired school principal who lives in Roslyn Heights.

"I think he can leverage his strength as well to reduce the impact on the civilian population of Gaza," said Lenson, a registered Democrat who voted for Harris. His grandson voted for Trump, and his daughter did not vote at all.

What Lenson doesn’t see coming from Trump yet is a clearly defined picture of what happens after the war ends. "What’s the endgame here? I think that’s missing," he said, adding that it must be "an endgame that does not kowtow to the hard right of Israel."

Lenson favors a two-state solution and foresees nations such as Saudi Arabia providing peacekeeping forces in the region.

Other Jewish Long Islanders don’t see the two-state proposal as realistic.

"There cannot be a two-state in the sense that they are going to have an army and they’re going to have the ability to start a war again," said Rabbi Tuvia Teldon, head of the Chabad movement on Long Island, referring to the Palestinians and Hamas. "That is something that we cannot tolerate and not take the risk of."