WASHINGTON — “Outrage,” “point of no return” and “absolute disaster” are how some American Muslim organizers have described their reactions to an aid package for Israel that is making its way through Congress for President Joe Biden to sign into law.
Many American Muslims were already furious with the Biden administration for its handling of the Israel-Hamas war, with activists organizing Democrats to vote “disengaged” rather than support the president in some state primaries this year.
For several activists and leaders of prominent American Muslim organizations, Biden’s support for $26 billion in aid to Israel reaffirms their view of the November elections: They cannot support Biden for a second term.
Ahead of the House vote to approve the Israel aid package on Saturday, American Muslim organizations urged voters to contact members of Congress to demand that they vote against the aid. Ultimately, it passed by a vote of 366 to 58, with 37 Democrats and 21 Republicans voting against the aid and seven members absent.
If Biden signs an aid package for Israel, as he intends, “this cruel decision could mark the point of no return for what remains of the White House’s relationship with the American Muslim community and other Americans who oppose the genocide in Gaza,” he said. the advice. about American-Islamic Relations director of government affairs Robert McCaw in a statement.
“The government is already at an all-time low in its relationship with the American Muslim community,” McCaw said.
For others, it is too late.
The conflict between the president and American Muslim voters is unlikely to be repaired “unless the president can undo what was done over the last six months” in Gaza, said Osama Abu Irshaid, executive director of Americans for Justice in Palestine Action.
Abu Irshaid, who lives in Virginia, voted for Biden in 2020 but does not plan to vote for Biden or former President Donald Trump in November, he said.
More than 33,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. About 1,200 people in Israel were killed during the Hamas attack on October 7, according to the Israeli government, and more than 240 people were taken hostage. More than 100 hostages remain in Gaza, although it is unclear how many are alive.
The aid package, which now heads to the Senate for likely approval next week, would mark a significant boost in U.S. support for Israel, even though the U.S. has already sent weapons to the country since the start of its war with Hamas. Democratic lawmakers have also increasingly criticized arms support for Israel. Earlier this month, more than three dozen members of Congress — including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. – signed a letter asking the White House to “reconsider its recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new weapons package to Israel.”
Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., is among the lawmakers who voted against aid to Israel on Friday. She said she and her colleagues were working to “ensure that we do not send any more weapons” to Israel as part of the aid package.
“Just because we authorize it doesn’t mean it has to be sent immediately,” she said.
Biden praised the House’s approval in a statement after the vote, urging the Senate to “quickly send this package to my desk so I can sign it into law.”
“This package will provide critical support to Israel and Ukraine; provide desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and other places affected by conflict and natural disasters around the world; and reinforce security and stability in Indo-Pacific,” the statement said. said the president in declaration.
In a close election, anger over Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas could be key in swing states that the president won in 2020 by a slim margin.
Biden outperformed Michigan, which has a sizable Arab-American population, winning the state by about 154,000 votes in 2020. In 2016, Trump won the state by about 11,000 votes. But during the 2024 presidential primaries, more than 100,000 Michiganders voted uncommitted, many of them as an act of protest.
But the relatively small proportion of unpledged delegates – just 0.008% of Democratic delegates awarded so far – points to uncertainty about the movement’s impact on the November general election. Although Biden has more than 3,000 delegates, only 26 have been designated as “uncommitted.”
Biden also carried Arizona in 2020 by a narrow margin, defeating Trump by just over 10,000 votes.
Ahmed Ewaisha, president of the Muslim Alliance of Arizona, said he is “very excited” for Biden in 2020. Now, he serves as co-chair of the Abandon Biden campaign in the crucial swing state. Ewaisha said he is “definitely worried” about Trump, adding that he would “never, ever support Trump.”
Still, he said he wanted to vote against Biden as punishment for the president’s policies toward Israel and Gaza.
In a statement, a Biden campaign official said that “the President believes that making his voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans.”
“He shares the objective of putting an end to violence and a just and lasting peace in the Middle East”, continued the official. “He is working tirelessly toward that end.”
Separately, a White House official referred to the administration’s numerous meetings with state, local and interfaith leaders, as well as outreach to Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities.
Biden administration officials also traveled to Michigan and Illinois to meet with Arab-American and Muslim community leaders.
“White House officials have had more than 100 conversations with local and state leaders about the conflict and humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” the official said.
Ayah Ziyadeh, advocacy director at Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, said she voted for Biden in 2020 and tried to “convince everyone to vote for him.”
Now her organization is working alongside other groups on an American Muslim Election Task Force, which she says will guide how she votes in November. The task force’s recommendations are expected in a month or two, she said.
When criticizing Biden’s response to the war, she said she doesn’t know “that anything can change my opinion because I had to watch six months of genocide against my people.”
As the war progressed, Biden increasingly sharpened his rhetoric against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli military tactics.
After an Israeli airstrike killed aid workers in Gaza, Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” and argued that “Israel also did not do enough to protect civilians” and aid workers.
Similarly, Biden expressed support for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s public rebuke of Netanyahu.
The New York Democrat harshly criticized the Prime Minister of Israel and called for new elections to be held in the country. Biden later said Schumer “gave a good speech and I think expressed a serious concern shared not just by him but by many Americans.”
While several American Muslim organizations criticize Biden’s policies toward Israel, organizers are considering how their votes in November could impact Trump’s prospects of winning back the Oval Office.
In the early days of his 2016 campaign, Trump released a policy plan calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” In October last year, he called for expanding travel bans from several Muslim-majority countries and banning potential refugees from Gaza from entering the US.
However, several American Muslim organizers say it is up to Biden to win back their votes to avoid handing the election to the former president.
“We don’t think it’s our fault. It’s Biden’s fault,” said Abu Irshaid. “If our votes and the votes of people who support Palestinian human rights are so important, then Biden should be listening.”
Activist Linda Sarsour echoed his sentiments, arguing that “trying to explain that Joe Biden is better off now during a genocide is not a topic of discussion that reaches our communities.”
Sarsour is the executive director of the Muslim grassroots organization MPower Change and one of the organizers of the vote-free campaign to protest Biden. She said she voted for the president in 2020.
“There is no community in this country that knows that Donald Trump is worse than we know him,” she said, referring to the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries.
Salam Al-Marayati, chairman of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, voted for Biden in 2020 “because I really care about our democracy. I saw what Trump was doing.”
He said he has not yet decided how he will vote in November. His organization has not yet decided whether it will support the presidential election, adding that some feel “no one is worth supporting.”
“My concern is that we have a presidential candidate who can no longer hold any public events for fear of protests, who will not be able to galvanize his own party because it is fractured and is not listening to his own base in his own party. ,” said Al-Marayati.
Biden continues to hold public events, although he has faced anti-war protesters who interrupted his speeches. At an event in March, he admitted that the pro-Palestine protesters who interrupted his comments “have a point.”
“We need a lot more care in Gaza,” he said after protesters, who called for care in Gaza, were escorted out.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
