President Joe Biden reportedly repeated stories about his late son Beau after Muslim-American activists called out the president for lacking empathy for Palestinians, sources apparently told ABC News.
After publicly questioning the civilian death toll in Gaza alleged by the Hamas-run health ministry, brought on by the terror organization’s war with Israel, Biden and some of his aides reportedly met with Muslim-American activists. They urged the president to call for a ceasefire and to have more empathy towards Palestinian civilians in Gaza, ABC News reported, citing five sources from within the meeting.
When Dr. Suzanne Barakat, a Muslim activist, told Biden he was “lacking empathy toward Palestinian suffering,” the president responded by recounting some of his own trials, including Beau’s battle with brain cancer and his late son’s recovery from a 1972 car crash that killed Biden’s late daughter and wife, the five people in attendance told ABC News.
Dr. Suzanne Barakat and Katy Tur speak onstage at the 2018 Women In The World Summit at Lincoln Center on April 14, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)
Rami Nashashibi, a Palestinian-American participant, told ABC News that Barakat spoke about how her brother, his wife and her sister were murdered eight years ago in what she deemed a hate crime. Barakat reportedly told the president they “both shared the loss of loved ones — in her case, to horrific hateful violence.”
“You are lacking empathy toward Palestinian suffering… We need your same level of human empathy for the Palestinian suffering,” Barakat reportedly told Biden.
Palestinians inspect the destruction caused by Israeli strikes in Wadi Gaza, in the central Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023, amid a truce in battles between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)
Barakat linked the story of her relatives to Biden’s late son, daughter and wife which caused Biden to appear “deeply affected” and tell the stories about his experiences with Beau, two of the meeting participants told ABC News.
Actress Cynthia Nixon speaks as she announces a hunger strike calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the White House on November 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. Nixon, who was joined by state legislators, community leaders and activist, demands that President Biden call for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and stops military aid to Israel. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The president has previously used the story about his late son’s death as a way to relate to those suffering. A mother of one of the 13 U.S. Service members who were killed during the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan slammed the White House in August, reporting that the president compared the death of her son to the death of his, the New York Post reported. In a Memorial Day speech to grieving families, Biden spoke about how he lost Beau to his battle with brain cancer.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and his son Beau acknowledge the crowd during the Democratic National Convention August 27, 2008 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“His words to me were, ‘My wife, Jill, and I know how you feel. We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag-draped coffin,’” Cheryl Rex, the mother of one of the 13 U.S. Servicemembers killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal said, according to the New York Post. “My heart started beating faster and I started shaking, knowing that their son died from cancer and they were able to be by his side.”
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, Biden and his administration have committed their support to Israel during their war with the terrorist organization. Though many Democrats and Muslim-Americans have urged the president to call for a ceasefire, the White House has remained clear that they believe a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas.
The president has attempted to extend help to Palestinian civilians, announcing during his trip to Israel that the United States will be sending $100 million in humanitarian aid to the West Bank and Gaza. (RELATED: ‘Genocide Joe’: Young Swing State Dems Threaten To Withhold Votes For Biden Over His Pro-Israel Stance)