In Ohio, a state that has voted for Donald Trump in the last two U.S. presidential elections, a staunchly pro-Palestinian congressional candidate may seem unlikely and unviable. Even more so in a district whose current Republican congressman told an interviewer last October that Gaza should be “eviscerated” and “turned into a parking lot.” Yet former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich is seeking a return to Washington in the November election — this time as an independent, and a vocal critic of the unconditional support Israel receives under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
As the Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio’s second most populous city, in the late 1970s, Kucinich was a frequent customer at Tony’s Diner on 117th Street. The west Cleveland landmark closed in 1997, but the intersection where it once stood is still home to a Middle Eastern supermarket, which now faces a shawarma stand. A few blocks down Lorain Avenue are a Yemeni restaurant and a bakery selling two kinds of knafeh, the phyllo-topped sweet cheese pastry made famous in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. ….more
