Arab American leaders see Biden’s Gaza shift as too little, too late
WASHINGTON — Seven months into Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, Muslim and Arab American leaders say their channels of communication with President Joe Biden’s White House have largely broken down, leaving the administration without a politically valuable chorus of support for his significant shift on the conflict last week.
Biden’s announcement he had paused a shipment of 3,500 bombs to Israel and would not help with a ground invasion of Rafah was a sea change in U.S. policy that Arab American and Muslim leaders have demanded for months. But those who desired it the most have long ago written off the administration as complicit in a war Gaza officials say has killed more than 34,000 people, arguing it was, essentially, too little, too late.
“The president’s announcement is extremely overdue and horribly insufficient,” said Abbas Alawieh, one of the leaders of a protest-vote movement against Biden that began in Michigan this year. “He needs to come out against this war. Period. That would be significant.”
Biden’s White House aides engaged in considerable outreach at the outset of the Democratic primary season, when the movement to cast protest votes in early states emerged as a surprising political headache. A cadre of high-level aides traveled to Dearborn, Mich., and Chicago to demonstrate their interest in listening, but Arab American leaders told them that without a momentous shift in U.S. policy — such as support for a permanent cease-fire — there was no need to keep talking.
By and large, prominent Muslim and Arab Americans have now concluded they are irrevocably at odds with the Biden administration over its foreign policy, according to interviews with more than a dozen people involved in the talks. And many of them say they are tired of hearing they should vote for Biden simply because former President Donald Trump would be worse.
“I have told them frankly: ‘Don’t waste your time anymore unless you have something substantial. This is a waste of time,’ ” Osama Siblani, the publisher of The Arab American News, an influential newspaper in Dearborn, said of White House officials.
The inability to maintain useful lines of communication with groups that represent a vocal, if small, bloc of Democratic voters could pose a significant problem for Biden’s reelection, given the contest is likely to be determined by narrow margins in a few battleground states. The protest effort against Biden garnered double-digit support in some states during the Democratic primaries, although Biden aides believe voters will ultimately see Trump as the bigger threat, and that issues like abortion, democracy and the economy will take precedence over Gaza.
Biden has ensured the White House, rather than his reelection campaign, handles outreach to Arab and Muslim communities angry about the war in Gaza, since their dispute centers on policy rather than electoral politics.
A White House official, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said the administration would engage with people critical of Biden’s handling of the conflict but had cut ties with those who praised the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, made antisemitic statements or questioned Israel’s right to exist.
If some voters do break with Biden over Gaza, they are more likely to stay home or opt for a third party than vote for Trump. The former president has a long history of using anti-Muslim language, and he banned travel from several predominantly Muslim countries while in office. On Thursday, he voiced support for the invasion of Rafah.