In an early election headache for Biden, the political alliance between Democrats and Muslims in America remains strained as many in the Muslim community leadership are angry at Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Most Muslim community leaders refused to attend Biden’s White House special dinner for Muslims – the Iftar – held annually to recognize Muslim Americans during the Islamic month of Ramadan.
The Associated Press reported that the leader of Muslim advocacy organization Emgage and others refused to attend Biden’s Iftar dinner because of Biden’s support for Israel’s siege of Gaza. Accordingly, Biden’s White House scaled down its list of guests and included only those Muslims who worked for his administration.
The rejection of invitation by Muslims led the White House to repurpose the event to a general “listening session” as Rolling Stone termed it on Thursday (April 4), adding that it was a disaster. The event had only six attendees and the only Palestinian-American attending the event, a medical doctor, stormed out of the room while the session was still in progress. Dr. Thaer Ahmad later appeared on CBS News and said that Biden is not doing enough to help the Palestinians in Gaza.
Leftist daily The Independent wrote on Thursday that Biden failed to hold Israel accountable therefore “his chickens are coming home to roost.”
Simply put, Biden has offered zero response or consequences for Israel.
Commenting on the story of Muslims in America jilting Biden over Israel’s Gaza war, Ben Kew wrote on the conservative news site The Gateway Pundit that this boycott indicates the growing anger among Muslim Americans against Biden’s lukewarm stance on Israel’s operation against Hamas in Gaza. Kew pointed to the notable drop in support for Biden in the Democrat Primary this year while Biden promises Muslims to make efforts for ceasefire, but no such real effort is visible yet.
Meanwhile Biden’s Israel policy continues to hurt him among Muslims in the ongoing primaries for 2024. In New York, an estimated 12% of Democrat voters shunned Biden on Tuesday by casting blank ballots, as reported by Tribune News Service on Thursday.
Since the start of Israel’s military crackdown on Hamas in the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel, the Biden administration has vetoed multiple UN resolutions demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza. However late last month, the US switched gears and led a ceasefire resolution in the UN to “protect civilians on all sides.” The resolution was vetoed by Russia and China arguing that it failed to urge an immediate ceasefire in clear terms.