WASHINGTON (AP) — Last year, President Joe Biden hadn’t even said a word during the White House’s Ramadan celebration before someone shouted “we love you.” Hundreds of Muslims were present to mark the end of the holy month which requires fasting from sunrise to sunset.
There are no such joyful scenes during this Ramadan. While many Muslim Americans are outraged at Biden’s support for Israel’s siege of Gaza, the White House opted to host a smaller iftar dinner on Tuesday evening. The only participants were people working for his administration.
“We’re just in a different world,” said Wa’el Alzayat, who heads Emgage, a Muslim rights organization. “It’s completely surreal. And it’s sad.
Alzayat attended last year’s event, but he declined an invitation to break his fast with Biden this year, saying: “It is inappropriate to hold such a celebration when there is famine rages in Gaza.”
After pushback from Alzayat and others, he said the White House adjusted its plans Monday, telling community leaders it wanted to hold a meeting focused on administration policy. Alzayat always said no, believing that one day was not enough to prepare for an opportunity to influence Biden’s mind on the conflict.
“I don’t think the format will lend itself to serious political debate,” he said Tuesday afternoon.
The refusal to break bread – or even share a room – with the president is further evidence of the divide between Biden and the Muslim community, six months into their current war between Israel and Hamas.
When the Democratic president took office three years ago, many Muslim leaders were eager to turn the page on Donald Trump’s intolerance, including his campaign promise to implement a ” total and complete stop Muslims entering the United States.
But now Democrats fear that Biden’s loss of support among Muslims could help his Republican predecessor return to the White House. This year’s elections will likely hinge on a handful of battleground states, including Michigan, which has a large Muslim population.
“There are real differences between the two,” Alzayat said. “But emotionally, there may be no difference for some people. And that is the danger.
He added: “It’s not enough to tell people that Donald Trump is going to be worse. »
Several Muslim leaders attended the meeting Tuesday with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Muslim government officials and national security officials. The White House did not want to name them.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “community leaders have expressed a preference” for a “task force meeting,” which she described as an opportunity to “get their feedback.”
Regarding iftar, Jean-Pierre declared that “the president will continue his tradition of honoring the Muslim community during Ramadan.”
No journalists were allowed to film either the iftar or the meeting with community leaders, a change from previous years. Neither was on the president’s public schedule. Some people who had attended events in previous years, like Mayor Abdullah Hammoud of Dearborn, Michigan, were not invited.
Outside the White House, activists gathered in the rain for their own iftar Tuesday evening in Lafayette Park. Organizers handed out dates, a traditional Ramadan food, so people could break their fast at sunset.
Boycott of Biden invitation reminiscent of trip by White House officials in Detroit earlier this year. They faced a frosty reception from leaders of the American Muslim community in the swing state, where more than 100,000 Democratic voters cast ballots in the primaries. Protest votes for “uncommitted” as part of an organized demonstration of disapproval of Biden’s approach to the war.
A similar campaign was underway in Wisconsin, another political battleground. Organizers encouraged residents to vote “without instruction,” the equivalent of “without commitment,” in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
The fighting began on October 7 when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in a surprise attack. In response, Israel killed approximately 33,000 Palestinians. The figure comes from the Gaza Ministry of Health. It is unclear how many are fighters, whom Israel accuses of operating in civilian areas, but the ministry said two-thirds of the dead are women and children.
The Biden administration has continued to approve arms sales to Israel, even as the president urges Israeli leaders to be more careful about civilian deaths and encourages them to authorize more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he encourages other Muslim leaders to decline invitations to the White House if they receive them.
The message, he said, should be: “Unless he calls for a ceasefire, there will be no meeting with him or his representatives.”
“I believe the president is the only person in the world who can stop this,” Awad said. “He can pick up the phone and literally say to Benjamin Netanyahu: no more guns, arrest him, and Benjamin Netanyahu will have no choice but to do it. »
Awad has previously clashed with the White House over his comments on the October 7 Hamas attack. Gaza has spent years under an effective blockade by Israel. with the help of Egypt – and Awad said he was “happy to see people breaking the siege” so they could “freely enter their lands where they were not allowed to enter.”
After the comments were released by a Middle East research organization founded by Israeli analysts, the White House issued a statement saying “we condemn these shocking and anti-Semitic statements in the strongest possible terms.”
Awad called it a “manufactured controversy” and said he criticized the targeting of Israeli citizens in his same speech.
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Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
