President Joe Biden quietly hosted a meeting Thursday for a handful of Muslim leaders, according to four sources familiar with the White House gathering, as he faces pressure from the Arab-American community over what they contend is his comparative disregard for the Palestinian civilian deaths and domestic threats arising from the war between Israel and Hamas.
One person who attended the session on Thursday said they would have preferred if the White House acknowledged the meeting and publicized the president’s remarks.
“The optics don’t look good,” the attendee said, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk freely about the discussion with Biden.
“We hope the White House moves forward with providing equal measures of transparency, inclusion and respect.”
Biden, in the meeting, “made it very clear that his administration is working very hard to avoid escalation,” the participant said.
Many Arab-American leaders remain dissatisfied with Biden’s rhetoric, even though he is talking more about the importance of Israeli restraint.
A year away from the presidential election, Muslim leaders are warning that Biden could face a voter backlash over his handling of the war.
If successful, the White House’s extensive outreach campaign could help mollify a constituency that is especially important in Michigan, a battleground state that Biden won in 2020.
Rami Nashashibi of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network held a news conference in Chicago on Friday to lay out what took place.
In addition to Nashashibi, the guests of the secret meeting included Keith Ellison, who had been the first Muslim elected to Congress and is now attorney general of Minnesota; Wa’el Alzayat, the CEO of Emgage, a group devoted to educating and mobilizing Muslim voters; Suzanne Barakat, board chair of Our Three Winners, which aims to curb prejudice against Muslims; and Imam Mohamed Magid, of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society.
Read More Here: With no fanfare or acknowledgment, Biden hosts White House meeting with Muslim leaders
