Arab American activists are keenly aware of both their leverage and the dangers in deploying it.

They demanded on Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris push for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon, with the threat to Israel of an American arms embargo if it does not comply. But the activists acknowledged that a Trump victory next week will only make that terrible situation so much worse.

Speaking in a virtual media briefing organized by the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, those tensions rang out as some of the activists sounded far more committed to abandoning Harris and the Democratic Party than others.

Their leverage comes from the too-close-to-call presidential election. The support or abandonment by any particular constituency could tilt the margin to victory or defeat.

Harris has been successfully barnstorming for support from moderate Republicans repulsed by former President Donald Trump's behavior. And she has worked to make up ground that President Joe Biden had lost with Black and Latino voters since she entered the race 101 days ago.

But she's still vulnerable on her left flank from people outraged by the atrocious scale of civilian death in fighting prompted by the terrorist attacks Hamas launched from Gaza on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Halah Ahmad, a spokesperson for Listen to Wisconsin, cited during Tuesday's call her group's success in April in getting more than........

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