The Massachusetts chapter of the Uncommitted Movement has parted from the national organization, pledging to vote third-party in the presidential election unless President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris place an immediate arms embargo on Israel.

“With less than a week left before the U.S. elections, Israel’s attacks on Gaza have reached new depths of cruelty,” Uncommitted MA said in a statement published online Monday. The statement described Israel’s recent attacks on hospitals and medical workers, its blockade and threats to starve out North Gaza, and its strikes that burned hospital patients alive.

“Biden threatened ‘implications’ for future weapons transfers unless Israel ‘reverse[s] the downward humanitarian trajectory,’ to take effect 10 days after the Presidential elections. Israel only intensified its unlawful attacks. We call bullshit,” the statement said. 

“Given the choice between genocide and fascism, we choose neither.”

The Uncommitted National Movement said in September that it could not endorse Harris because of her unwillingness to shift weapons policy. But it also opted not to recommend a third-party vote, which could inadvertently support former president Donald Trump, “whose agenda includes plans to accelerate the killing in Gaza while intensifying the suppression of anti-war organizing.”

The Uncommitted Movement emerged during the Democratic primary elections earlier this year when activists urged voters to write “uncommitted” instead of voting to nominate Biden in an effort to send a message to his administration and pressure him to do more to stop Israel’s onslaught of violence in Gaza. The movement garnered 36 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. 

In Massachusetts, around 58,000 voters—9.4% —selected “no preference” on the primary ballot in March. Now, the local branch, also known as “Vote No Preference: Massachusetts,” to reflect the “uncommitted” option on the state’s ballots, is urging voters to again cast aside the front-running candidates.

The chapter also called on Harris to pivot and support an arms embargo, which it said could mobilize voters without garnering too much backlash in the “narrow window” of time until the election.

“It also happens to be the right thing to do, and what voters want,” the statement said.

Sixty-one percent of Americans and 77% of Democrats oppose sending more weapons and supplies to Israel, according to a June CBS poll. Another survey recently conducted by the Arab American Institute found that three-quarters of voters consider an immediate ceasefire very or somewhat important. If Harris were to demand an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded aid to Gaza, her vote tally would increase from 44 to 50%, the survey found. 

The national Uncommitted Movement did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The division between the local and national branches of the Uncommitted Movement reflects a similar rift within its leadership. One of the organization’s co-founders, Abbas Alawieh, said he will vote for Harris and encouraged other voters to join him in simultaneously publicly pressuring Harris and the Biden Administration to stop sending weapons to Israel. 

His co-founder, Layla Elabed, said she will not vote in the presidential election, mirroring Uncommitted MA’s statement against backing the “lesser evil.”

“Democratic Party operatives will accuse us of helping Trump—but it is Harris, Biden, and the rest of the party leadership who put their victory at risk by ignoring the calls of the overwhelming majority of their base for an end to the genocide,” Uncommitted MA’s statement said.

The group acknowledged the “profound damage” and “wave of discriminatory policies” a second Trump presidency threatens. But it also argued for opposition to “violent and discriminatory policies regardless of which administration is trying to enact them.”

“Democracy does not begin and end with elections between Democrats and Republicans,” the statement said. “We must devote ourselves to a long-term project that builds power in our communities and workplaces, laying the groundwork for an independent, working-class political party.”

Uncommitted MA also noted that the funds being poured into U.S. support for Israel could be better directed elsewhere. 

“Just days after hurricanes devastated the southeastern U.S., FEMA announced [an] $8 billion dollar shortfall on hurricane relief,” the statement said. “On the same day, Israel received $8.7 billion of military funding from the US. As a new report shows, our government has spent a record $17.8 billion in military aid to Israel in the past year.”

The organization’s third-party movement is about more than supporting Palestine; it’s also an effort to uphold democracy and “reduce the stranglehold of the two parties on our elections,” the statement said. The statement included support for open or nonpartisan primaries, ranked-choice voting, and eliminating the Electoral College.  
“Regardless of who wins the election, we are here for the long haul,” the statement said. “Democracy is at stake. The planet is at stake. For over 10 years, nearly 2 out of 3 Americans have agreed that it is time for a third party. It’s time to build the future we wish to live.”