Key Muslim group in US endorses Harris, says Trump a bigger danger

WASHINGTON - US Muslim advocacy group Emgage Action on Sept 25 endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, saying former president Donald Trump posed a greater danger to the community with his promise to reinstate a travel ban affecting majority-Muslim countries.

The group, which endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020 after first backing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, says it mobilised one million Muslim voters in that election.

Ms Harris already won the endorsement of smaller Muslim groups, including the Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund and the American Muslim Democratic Caucus ahead of the Nov 5 election.

Trump's campaign had no immediate comment.

He says he will

reinstate the so-called "travel ban"

that restricts entry into the United States of people from a list of largely Muslim-dominant countries.

Mr Biden rolled back the ban shortly after taking office in 2021.

The Biden administration, where Ms Harris serves as vice-president, has faced calls from both fellow Democrats and international allies throughout Israel's campaign in Gaza to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to ease

the devastating humanitarian crisis

in the Palestinian enclave.

The US, Israel's biggest ally and weapons supplier, has sent Israel more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000 pound (900kg) bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles since the start of the Gaza war in October, US officials told Reuters in June.

The war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct 7, 2023,

when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel's military has leveled swaths of Gaza, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and

killing more than 41,000 people,

according to Palestinian health authorities. REUTERS