Muslims who once backed President Joe Biden are abandoning their support for the president because they feel he has backed Israel too much during its war against the terrorist organization Hamas without paying much attention to Palestinian civilians, according to Politico.
During a rare Oval Office address, Biden pledged the United States’ support for Israel while expressing concern for Palestinian civilians who remain in Gaza during the war and condemning Islamophobia. Despite this, Arab Americans and Muslim leaders told Politico they fear members of their communities will sit the election out or vote for a third-party candidate because they feel “betrayed” by Biden and as if he has not supported the Palestinian people enough. (RELATED: ‘All For A Political Agenda’: Vets Blast White House For Bragging About Biden’s Visits To War Zones)
“The voters are heartbroken,” Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of the Muslim advocacy group Emgage, told Politico. “They don’t want to vote for Trump. But right now they’re asking themselves, ‘How can we vote for the other side given the refusal to call upon Israel to abide by a ceasefire and the continued rhetoric that we’re seeing here domestically?’ What I’m most concerned about is actually not whether they’re going to vote for Trump or not, but whether these voters are going to stay home.”
Biden visited Israel on Wednesday, a trip that aimed to demonstrate how much the United States backs Israel in its war, though the president also had a goal of securing humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. While in Israel, the president announced the United States would be sending $100 million in such aid to Gaza and the West Bank, and that the Israel Defense Forces would ensure the aid would reach Palestinian people rather than Hamas.
While White House officials tout Biden’s record of supporting the Muslim community, Arab and Muslim American leaders say they are more concerned with the president’s response to the Israel-Hamas war than what he was doing for their people before the conflict, Politico reported.
Filipinos hold up an effigy of US President Joe Biden as they take part in a protest to condemn the recent air strike at a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds, on October 18, 2023 in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
In his first major address after the attack, Biden mentioned that Hamas “does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination” and that the terrorist organization uses “Palestinian civilians as human shields,” Politico reported. Biden’s comments did not emphasize enough that the terrorist organization does not represent the Palestinian civilians, Arab American and Muslim leaders told the outlet.
Hani Almadhoun, a Washington, D.C.-based humanitarian worker, told Politico a group chat he is in called “Arab Americans for Biden” used to be for pro-Biden activists to discuss their support for the president. Now, Almadhoun says, the chat has evolved into “a Let’s Go Brandon situation.”
“I have been one of [Biden’s] biggest fans,” Hala Hijazi, a Democratic donor and fundraiser, told Politico. “I feel betrayed. I feel like my humanity is not equal to anyone else’s humanity.” She doesn’t typically speak to reporters, she added, but “my family is going to be dead [in the coming days] and I can’t be silent.”