Kamala Harris responds to heckler screaming ‘no more Gaza war’ at Michigan rally with Michelle Obama

A protester demanding an end to the war in Gaza derailed the start of Kamala Harris’ speech at a campaign event with Michelle Obama on Saturday, less than 10 days before the election.

The vice president took the stage in Kalamazoo, Michigan, after the former first lady launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump and men who planned to vote for him.

Just after the Democrat began her remarks, she was heckled with chants of “no more Gaza war” from a member of the audience.

Harris paused as the crowd booed, then said, “As for Gaza, we have to end that war.”

Her comment came on a weekend in a state where Donald Trump received support from Muslim leaders at a statewide rally.

Harris’ response also came hours after Israeli fighter jets attacked 20 military targets in Iran in retaliation for Tehran’s missile strikes earlier this month.

Nationally, the war in Gaza is a major issue in the 2024 presidential election. But in Michigan, one of the seven battlegrounds that will decide the race, it is crucial.

The state’s large Arab-American population is angry and deeply divided over support for Harris over her administration’s involvement in the war.

The mayor of Dearborn, the only city with an Arab majority in the US, Abdullah Hammoud, refuses to support either candidate

President Joe Biden and the US only recently began criticizing Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza and calling for a ceasefire.

Recent polls have shown Trump gaining popularity among Arab-Americans, who could be the deciding factor in the swing state.

With ten days until the election, Harris and Trump are in a dead heat, with polls showing them tied across the country.

In an effort to get the momentum back in her favor, Harris has used star power in recent days with appearances by Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama.

On Saturday she continued with Michelle Obama, who made her first appearance on the campaign trail with less than two weeks to go.

The former first lady called for an “adult in the White House” and blasted Trump for his lies, childish antics and moral decline, before making a direct emotional appeal to men.

Obama’s appearance in Kalamazoo comes as polls show the presidential election in a dead heat with just 10 days to go before the election.

The former first lady wondered why Harris is held to a higher standard and has to prove she belongs, while with Trump we expect “nothing at all, no understanding of policy, no ability to put together a coherent statement.”

Obama accused the ex-president of “gross incompetence,” while people are asking Harris to “blind us at every opportunity.”

She highlighted what she called Trump’s apparent mental decline because he was a convicted felon and found liable for sexual assault.

Obama said Harris “so thoroughly dominated her opponent in the debate that he refused to debate her again.”

“Why the hell is this race even close?” the former first lady asked as the crowd went wild.

Obama said she lies awake at night wondering “what the hell is going on?” She said Harris has shown she is ready, but asked, “Are we as a country ready for this moment?”

The former first lady said she fears for the country and its children if people forget the stakes in the election. She said that if Trump becomes president, ugliness will affect everyone’s lives at some point.

Obama said she campaigned in Michigan because of that fear, saying, “and you know I hate politics.”

But midway through her speech, the former first lady made an extremely somber comment when she called on men not to leave women’s lives in the hands of politicians when it comes to reproductive health care with the overturn of Roe v Wade.

Obama went through graphic details about the dangers of pregnancy and childbirth.

She asked men from the core of her being to “take our lives seriously” and said that a vote for Trump is “a vote against us.”

She also implored women to remember that “we are more than making baby kegs.”