WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Arab and Muslim Americans and their allies are criticizing President Joe Biden’s response to the war between Israel and Hamas, telling him to do more to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza or risk losing their support in the 2024 election.
More than a dozen academics, activists, community members and administration officials said many Arab Americans are upset that Biden has not pressed for any humanitarian ceasefire even as Palestinians have been killed while fleeing Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
Their growing frustration could impact Democrat Biden’s re-election bid, which polls show is likely to be a rematch with the Republican front-runner, former President Donald Trump.
In Michigan, which is witnessing intense competition, Arab Americans represent 5% of the vote. Jim Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said that in other states witnessing strong competition, namely Pennsylvania and Ohio, this percentage ranges between 1.7% and 2%.
Biden won the state of Michigan with 50.6% of the votes in 2020, compared to 47.8% for Trump, and Pennsylvania with 50.01% compared to 48.84% for Trump, with a difference of less than 81,000 votes.
Some activists said that Arab and Muslim Americans are unlikely to support Trump, but they may miss the election and not vote for Biden.
“I think it’s going to cost him Michigan,” said Laila Al-Haddad, a Gazan writer and social activist from Maryland.
While Arab Americans condemned the October 7 attacks on civilians in Israel that killed 1,400 people, they said the Israeli response was disproportionate, and that Biden’s failure to condemn the bombing led many to question his promise of a “human rights-centered” foreign policy.
On Tuesday, US officials joined the United Nations and Canada in pressing for an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza so that food, water and medicine can be delivered to Palestinian civilians.
Demands for changing policies
Abdullah Hammoud, the first Arab-American mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest Muslim population in the United States, criticized Biden’s failure to condemn Israeli threats to cut off water, electricity, and food for more than two million Palestinians in Gaza.
“Nothing could have prepared us for the complete erasure of our voices and radio silence from those we elected to protect and represent us,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Our family members trapped in Gaza have been ignored, and our calls for a ceasefire have been drowned out by the drums of war.”
The White House said Biden and other US officials have repeatedly urged the release of Americans in Gaza, and Biden said on Tuesday that the aid arriving there is “not fast enough.”
Linda Sarsour, former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, told hundreds of attendees at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) event on Saturday that Muslim Americans should make any political donations conditional on policy change.
Many are pressuring Biden to push Israel to temporarily stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip, which have claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinians.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the United States, said Israel’s bombing of Gaza “now amounts to genocide targeting the entire Palestinian population,” adding that government officials would be “complicit in ethnic cleansing in Gaza” unless they intervene. .
Biden’s push for more than $14 billion in new US aid to Israel is also drawing criticism.
Said Atshan, a Palestinian-American Quaker, said: “If you look at his speech, it is unbelievable, and now they are trying to pump billions and billions of dollars militarily into Israel, with about $100 million in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.” He teaches peace and conflict studies at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.
Even Biden’s former boss, President Barack Obama, usually a strong supporter of Biden’s policies, offered some specific general advice on Monday, calling on the United States to continue to lead the world “in accelerating vital aid and supplies to the increasingly desperate residents of Gaza.”
The White House responds to critics
Biden has appointed more Arab Americans and Muslims to political positions than any of his predecessors, in addition to the first two Muslim federal judges, but this diversity has not affected the policies of the president who describes himself as a “Zionist.”
One White House official, an Arab American, said some Arab American and Muslim appointees fear backlash and retaliation and are concerned about their family members in the region.
“There are very vocal people in the administration who have concerns,” the official said. American officials with family in the region feel doubly nervous because of the “ambassadorial” role they play when they receive angry messages from their relatives and others angry about Biden’s strategy toward Israel.
The White House said it is aware of criticism of its policies and is responding to them by meeting with administration officials and community members, and emphasized Biden’s efforts both publicly and behind the scenes to ensure aid reaches Gaza. She added that Biden has also given strong speeches since taking office about the need to confront Islamophobia and hatred of all kinds.
Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients and his advisor Anita Dunn are meeting with staff and community members and urging Cabinet secretaries to do the same, White House officials said.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his chief deputy, John Feiner, met with Arab and Muslim American community leaders on October 13, and White House officials also hosted 30 young Palestinian Americans on Friday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged the personal difficulties faced by some staff in a letter Thursday, and met Monday with leaders of the Palestinian community, Arab Americans and American Jewish groups.
One State Department veteran, Director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Josh Paul, resigned from his position last week. He said in a LinkedIn post that senior officials had refused to respond to his concerns about “blindly rushing lethal weapons into Israel while the people of Gaza face annihilation.”
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal – Preparing by Mohammed for the Arabic Bulletin) (Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh and Simon Lewis) Editing by Heather Timmons and Grant McCall
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