Rush Darwish highlights importance of Palestinian-American civic engagement in US Congress run

The following was originally published in Palestine in America’s politics edition (December 2019). Please support our publication by downloading a digital copy, ordering a print copy and or becoming a monthly subscriber.

As a child living in Palestine, Rush Darwish witnessed the injustices of the Israeli occupation first-hand at a young age. His parents, who were involved in activism and humanitarian work in the early 1990s, also taught him the importance of speaking out.

“I was exposed to how inequality looks like, how injustice looks like…The Palestinian people were not treated with kindness and love and respect,” he remembered in an interview with Palestine in America. “I was the kid who used to go to all of the events and I got to learn about the Palestinian struggle.”

Now, as a first-time candidate for US Congress in Illinois District 3, Darwish cites this experience as an inspiration for his humanitarian and political work. 

Darwish founded his own media production company in 2006, but prefers to focus on his humanitarian and civic engagement background. For the past 11 years, he has worked with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), an organization which brings free medical care to children in the West Bank with funds raised in 5K and marathon races. Closer to home, he serves on the Executive Board of the American Middle East Voters Alliance PAC (AMVOTE PAC), which works to promote civic engagement among Illinois Arab-Americans.

Realizing that people in his Chicago district were feeling increasingly left out of political decision-making, Darwish decided to run for US Congress in 2020.

“I am running for office because I am deeply concerned,” he explains. “I think we have a situation that I’ve watched my whole life, of everyday people feeling like they’re ignored or left out of the political system.”

Representing the Palestinian-American community

Darwish is challenging Democratic incumbent Dan Lipinski, who has held the IL03 seat since 2005. Despite the fact that his district is home to the largest Palestinian-American community in the country, Darwish says Lipinski has done a “horrible job” representing them.

“The community I come from, the Palestinian, Arab-American community… this is a community that feels that they’re left out,” Darwish says.

In July, Lipinski voted for House Resolution 246, which condemned the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and called for increased military aid to Israel. The legislation has been opposed on legal grounds by the American Civil Liberties Union as an infringement on the First Amendment right to boycott.

H.Res. 246 is the latest in a series of anti-BDS “lawfare” efforts across the country seeking to blacklist individuals and businesses who boycott Israel or the Israeli occupation of Palestine.  Darwish supports BDS, saying that the right to boycott is protected under the First Amendment.

“Here in the United States, it is a right to stand up when you see something wrong. So I will always support any group, no matter where you’re from… to stand up when you see an injustice, and boycott.”

Lipinski is also being challenged in the primary by Marie Newman, an advertising consultant who, like Darwish, supports progressive domestic policy —  but has no foreign policy positions listed on her website.

Supporting legislation to protect Palestinian human rights

Darwish’s position regarding Palestine is centered around addressing what he recognizes as a “humanitarian crisis,” especially in Palestinians’ access to healthcare and employment. This access is often restricted by Israeli checkpoints, walls, and curfews, which impede Palestinians’ freedom of movement. Israel requires special permits for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to cross through the separation wall into Israel to receive medical care or work. 

Through his work with PCRF, Darwish saw how the occupation hurts one of the most vulnerable Palestinian populations: children in need of healthcare in villages surrounded by Israeli checkpoints. In many towns in Area C, the area of the West Bank fully under Israeli military control, Palestinian residents can be prevented from leaving or entering their own towns at any time.

“Children from all over the West Bank are not allowed to leave their towns,” Darwish says, explaining why PCRF works to bring doctors directly into those communities. “[US laws addressing this issue] would be legislation I think that’s important, because again, this is a humanitarian crisis.”

In a statement to PiA, the Darwish campaign expressed his support for amending US aid to Israel due to human rights violations.

“Rush Darwish believes in putting our money behind causes and organizations that are in line with our values of supporting human rights. Until such time that the Israeli military shows that it will treat all civilians fairly and equally, Rush will support either drastically reducing or ending military aid to Israel.”

Darwish would also support House Resolution 2407, which would prohibit US taxpayer funding for military detention of children by Israel or any other country. The bill, introduced in April by Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN), has gained 22 cosponsors including representatives Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Chuy Garcia. 

Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCI-P) pushed for the introduction of HR 2407 through its “No Way to Treat a Child” campaign, which demands legislative action on Palestinian children’s human rights. According to DCI-P, Israel prosecutes more children in military courts than any other country, between 500 and 700 each year.

In a statement to PiA, Darwish’s campaign expressed his support for the bill by comparing Israel’s detention of Palestinian children to the current treatment of immigrant and refugee children by the United States.

“As we have seen with the Trump Administration's disastrous and inhumane family separation policies, detaining children is an atrocity which does nothing but cause irreparable harm to children and their families, and in no way makes us safer.  As such, Rush Darwish will fully support HR 2407.”

Solidly progressive domestic policy

In Illinois, Darwish wants to get Palestinian-Americans and other people who feel sidelined from the political process involved in politics, especially through voting. 

“I think that the moment the Palestinian community takes this next step, we’re going to be a real force to be reckoned with,” Darwish says. “They’re going to understand the power that we have, and that’s what really makes America great, is that we do have an opportunity, we have a window to make a difference.”

But through his campaign, Darwish has seen how many people from all backgrounds in his district are dissatisfied with their opportunities to participate in civic life, not just Palestinians.

“What we've learned and going door to door. It's just not Palestinians were feeling like they're left out. A lot of people feel that the government doesn't work for them.”

Darwish takes progressive stances on domestic policy. He supports abolishing US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a position popularized by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in response to the Trump administration’s family separation and “zero tolerance” immigration policies. He emphasizes his background as a child of immigrant parents as his inspiration to support human rights for immigrants and refugees.

Darwish also supports a federal $15 minimum wage and his healthcare plan would ensure a public option to guarantee coverage for all Americans.  He supports severe penalties for buying or selling guns illegally and proposes a complete ban on assault rifles, legislation which he says is essential to reducing gun violence in Chicago.

Riding a wave of Palestinian and Muslim engagement in politics

Palestinian engagement in US electoral politics reached a watershed moment in the 2018 midterm elections, when Rashida Tlaib became the first Palestinian-American woman ever elected to serve in the US Congress. Tlaib, elected in a diverse and low-income district of Detroit, Michigan, was also one of the first Muslim women elected to congress, along with Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

Since taking office in January, Tlaib has gained much attention for her outspoken stances opposing the Israeli occupation, US aid to Israel, the Trump administration’s immigration policies, and corporate money’s influence in elections. She has publicly thrown her support behind the BDS movement, the Green New Deal, and impeaching Donald Trump. On October 27, Tlaib endorsed Bernie Sanders for US President in the Democratic primary race and joined him at a rally in her home district in Detroit.

Tlaib has faced controversy even where she did not expect it. In August, the Israeli government preemptively denied Tlaib and Omar entry to the occupied West Bank, one day after a tweet from President Trump suggested the move. Tlaib and Omar were set to visit Palestine as part of a legislative delegation investigating the political and human rights conditions for Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation. While Israel partially reversed course by offering Tlaib entry to see her grandmother on the condition that she would refrain from political engagement, Tlaib ultimately refused to accept entry on anything other than the original terms of the visit.

The 2018 midterm elections also saw a run for US House of Representatives by Palestinian-American Ammar Campa-Najjar. After repeated racist attacks by his incumbent Republican opponent, Duncan Hunter, who attempted to associate the young candidate with terrorist attacks committed before he was born, Campa-Najjar ultimately lost the race.

As a Muslim, Darwish joins a growing number of people from that community running for public office in the US. Research showed that in 2018, more Muslims ran for elected office than at any point since 2001. There are more than 3.3 million Muslims in the US, but fewer than 300 hold elected office, according to advocacy groups. Galvanized by heightened political rhetoric about Islam since the 2016 election, however, Muslims are entering more and higher-level races. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the first Muslim women elected to US Congress, represent the most significant successes in this new movement. In the 2018 Michigan gubernatorial race, Detroit Health Department director Abdul Sayed received the support of Senator Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and activist Linda Sarsour, and ultimately garnered 30% of the vote.

Darwish’s campaign has received considerable harassment on social media attacking Darwish based on his Palestinian, Arab and Muslim background. Darwish himself, however, is unfazed by the comments, saying he hopes to eventually bring even his harshest critics into political dialogue.

“This is a sad reality that we live in, but at the end of the day I’m a proud American. And this is why it’s more important, now more than ever, that people who are Palestinian or Muslim, Arab-American, we must run for office, no matter what level, because this is how you defeat this hate.

“What I hope for is not to point my fingers at those people and call them bad names. I want these people to learn who I am, learn what I stand for, and I think ultimately, what I expect and hope for is that these people who are saying these horrible, racist comments on social media will eventually learn that I am an American… and judge me by the content of my character, not by my color of my skin.”

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Democratic primary elections in IL03 will be held on March 17, 2020. The Democrat who wins that race will face the sole Republican candidate, Mike Fricilone, in the general election on November 3, 2020. The registration deadline to vote in the primary in Illinois is March 1, 2020.