A delegation of senior Biden administration officials plans to meet with Muslim and Arab American community leaders in Michigan Thursday, a day after dozens of state officeholders announced plans to vote “non-committal” in the state’s upcoming Democratic primary.
The Detroit meeting comes as hostility toward President Biden grows among Muslim and Arab Americans — a large voting bloc in the Great Lake State — over his support for Israel’s war on Hamas terrorists.
Tom Perez, senior adviser and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; Samantha Power, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development; Jon Finer, principal deputy national security adviser; Mazen Basraw, National Security Council director for global partnerships and engagement; Steve Benjamin, senior advisor to the president and director of the Office of Public Engagement; Jamie Citron, principal deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement; and Dan Koh, director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs will be among the Biden administration officials participating in the White House-directed effort, according to multiple outlets.
Samantha Power, head of USAID, will be among the Biden administration officials traveling to Michigan. REUTERS Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer also made the visit. AP
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre teased the forum last week when the 81-year-old commander-in-chief traveled to Michigan to meet with unionized auto workers, telling reporters that the official planned “to hear directly from community leaders on a variety of issues that are important to them. and their families, including the conflict in Israel and — and Gaza.”
About a dozen Michigan elected officials, officeholders and Muslim and Arab American community leaders declined to meet with Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez last month after the planned summit sparked “outrage” in the community, with some invited attendees protesting the move. The Israeli military in Gaza expressed disapproval. that campaign officials are sent to the states instead of policymakers.
Tom Perez, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, is a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. William Farrington Steve Benjamin serves as a senior adviser to Biden and is the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Shutterstock
Honorable Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud, who was one of the officials who refused to meet with the Biden campaign last month, revealed on Wednesday that he had signed on the pledge to cast a “non-committal vote” in the February 27 Democratic presidential primary in Michigan over Biden’s “destructive decision-making” on the Israel-Hamas war.
“Under the direction of President Joe Biden, our government has failed to act to protect the lives of innocent men, women and children,” Hammoud said in a post X. “Worse, President Biden and his administration have proposed that there be exceptions to the rule this when it involves Palestinian life.”
“There continue to be destructive decisions: eliminating funding for [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency], the agency responsible for supporting millions of refugees suffering from hunger and starvation; and continued support for billions of unlimited US taxpayer dollars for Benjamin Netanyahu and his radical government’s genocidal campaign.”
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The Palestinian death toll from roughly four months of war has reached 27,478, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its count but claimed most of the dead were women and children.
“We demand a better future and we intend to make our voices heard on February 27,” Hammoud said. “I encourage you to join me in taking the pledge to vote ‘Not Committed’ in the upcoming presidential primary election.”
The pledge, organized by “multiracial and religious, anti-war” individuals under the banner, “Listen Michigan,” has so far been signed by 34 state and local officials.
It called the “ongoing tragedy in Gaza” an “insult to our common humanity” and demanded an immediate “call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza” from the Biden administration.
President Biden’s support among Muslim and Arab Americans has declined since Israel’s declaration of war against Hamas. AFP via Getty Images
Biden’s support among Arab Americans has plummeted after his support for Israel in its war against Hamas – the terrorist group that killed about 1,200 people in the Jewish state and kidnapped about 240 on Oct. 7. 2023.
Only 17.4% of Arab American voters said they would vote for Biden in 2024, according to a John Zogby Strategies poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute last October.
In 2020, the same poll measured Arab American support for Biden at 59%.
The White House and the Biden campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
