One of President Biden’s top advisers told furious Michigan Arab-American and Muslim-American community leaders this week that the administration had made “mistakes” in supporting Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. He said he did.
“We are very aware that we have mishandled this crisis since October 7,” Vice President for National Security John Finer said at a Thursday conference in Dearborn, Michigan. he said during a Thursday meeting with state officials and Muslims and Arab Americans, including Arab Americans. According to local Democratic Party elected officials, new york times.
“We have left a very damaging impression based on what has been a woefully inadequate public explanation of how much the president, the administration, and the country value Palestinian lives,” Finner said. he added. “And, frankly, it started pretty early on in the conflict.”
Mr. Feiner spoke in Michigan on February 27 in response to growing hostility toward Mr. Biden over his support for Israel among Muslims and Arab Americans, a large voting bloc in the Great Lakes state. He was part of the White House delegation sent to Michigan ahead of the Democratic presidential primary. The war effort comes after 1,200 people were massacred in the Jewish state last October.
Dozens of Michigan elected officials and community leaders accused Biden, 81, of ignoring the Palestinian death toll in the conflict and failing to call for a ceasefire. is strongly criticized.
During the meeting, Finer expressed regret that the Biden administration had been weak in condemning Israeli officials who “likened Gaza residents to animals.”
“In many cases, we do so out of a desire to have some focus on solving problems rather than an unwillingness to engage in rhetorical exchanges with people whom we all find distasteful to some extent. They didn’t fully demonstrate that they completely rejected that sentiment.” I didn’t agree with that sentiment,” Feiner said.
He also said that Biden’s policies Statement of January 14th On the 100th anniversary of the Hamas attack, he did not mention the Palestinian lives lost in Gaza.
“There is no mention of the loss of Palestinian lives in the first 100 days of the conflict,” Feiner said. “There is no excuse for that. It should never have happened. We believe something like this will never happen again. But we know that there was great damage. ”
Biden aides went on to say they had no confidence that the Israeli government would take the steps necessary to establish a Palestinian state.
“We’re going to have to do something for Saudi Arabia that’s very unpopular in this country and in Congress,” Feiner said. “Is Israel willing to do the difficult things that are going to be required of it that will be a meaningful step forward for the Palestinians on the two-state issue?” I don’t know if the answer to that is “yes.” I have no confidence in the current Israeli government. ”
Attendees at the meeting told The New York Times they were disappointed that Biden officials would not commit to policy changes.
Some participants had refused to meet with Biden’s campaign manager as part of a tour to hear the concerns of Muslims and Arab Americans about the president.
More than 30 Michigan state and local officials have vowed to vote “irresponsible” in the state’s Democratic primary over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
A John Zogby Strategies poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute last October found that only 17.4% of Arab American voters said they would vote for Biden in 2024.
The same poll in 2020 showed Biden’s approval rating among Arab Americans was 59%.
