Biden invited a small group of Muslims to meet with him at the White House: “Muslim leaders criticize Biden over his Palestinian death toll remarks in private meeting,” by Holly Otterbein, Politico, October 27, 2023:
Along with Nashashibi, other Muslim leaders who attended included Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota; Suzanne Barakat, a physician and outspoken advocate in fighting Islamophobia; Wa’el Alzayat, CEO of the Muslim advocacy group Emgage; and Mohamed Magid, an imam and former president of the Islamic Society of North America, according to the three people present.
The Biden aides who attended included his Homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall; deputy national security adviser Jon Finer; senior adviser Tom Perez; domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden; Small Business Administration deputy administrator Dilawar Syed, the administration’s highest-ranking Muslim official; and national climate adviser Ali Zaidi, the top-ranking Muslim official in the White House, the people and others familiar with the meeting said.
Biden was there for the majority of the roughly 90-minute meeting, they said.
Nashashibi was the only Palestinian American invited to the table, which also prompted criticism from the group. Muslim leaders said they were upset with the lack of Palestinian representation at the meeting and requested more White House conversations with Palestinian Americans….
Why would Biden have invited to this White House meeting people who had already attacked him with extreme bitterness for the supposed favoritism he shows the Jewish state? It would only be asking for trouble. Biden was willing to listen to those whom he deemed might be willing to hear what he had to offer — greater empathy to be expressed for “innocent civilians” in Gaza, though there would be no change in his denunciation of Hamas — but not to those spewing unhinged criticism of the kind some Palestinian-Americans have leveled at him.
The administration is not going to call for a “ceasefire”; nor will it criticize, publicly, the IDF actions in Gaza, unless there is some of disaster — say, an attack on the tunnels underneath the Al Shifa Hospital that goes horribly wrong, and instead of terrorists, hundreds of doctors and patients are killed. The Bidenites know perfectly well that the IDF tries in every way to minimize civilian casualties. It does this by warning civilians away from targeted sites, using messaging, telephoning, leafletting, and the “knock-on-the-roof” technique. Its pilots routinely call off attacks if they detect too many civilians in the area. Finally, the IDF has tried every possible way to persuade Gazans to move from the north to the south of the Strip, so that they will be out of the way of the brunt of the fighting; it is still trying, even as it has reached the outskirts of Gaza City. About 80% of the pre-war population in the north has heeded Israel’s warning and moved south; those who remain knew that there were Israeli airstrikes in the south and so decided it was not worth moving; they failed to realize that once Israel actually invaded northern Gaza, the airstrikes would become much more frequent in the north, while in the south, precisely because that is where another 800,000 civilians are now living in makeshift tent cities and in such public buildings as schools and hospitals, those air strikes are almost certain to diminish. And of course, Hamas is doing the best it can to keep 200,000 Gazans from leaving the north; Hamas operatives need them to hide behind.
“I know many of you in the Muslim American community or the Arab American community, the Palestinian American community, and so many others are outraged and hurting, saying to yourselves, ‘Here we go again,’ with Islamophobia and distrust we saw after 9/11,” Biden said.
This fear of a renewal of “Islamophobia” similar to what “we saw after 9/11” is greatly exaggerated, in order to win sympathy for Muslim-Americans. There was no wave of “Islamophobia” — defined as the “irrational fear and hatred of Muslims” — in this country after 9/11; there were less than a dozen so-called “Islamophobic” attacks across the country. Not all fear, or even hatred, of Muslims, can be dismissed as “irrational.” There was good reason for both in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, given the widely-disseminated videos showing Muslims at allahu-akbaring celebrations, complete with the handing out of candies and pastries, that were observable throughout the Muslim lands in the aftermath of 9/11.
The Muslims were assured of the President’s empathy. What they did not obtain from him was any promise to work for a ceasefire. Nor did Biden backtrack on, or apologize for, his calling into question the casualty figures released by Hamas, which was the statement that most angered Muslims. Let’s hope that this little meeting is the end of the matter; there should be no more attempts to placate the permanently outraged Muslims. Those Muslims who are unsatisfied now are going to be even more unhappy in the coming weeks and months, as Israel’s effort to destroy Hamas grinds on, and the Americans resupply Israel with Iron Dome batteries and ammunition, and send many more billions to help Israel defend itself. They will be outraged that the two Naval Battle Groups now off the coast of Lebanon will hold Hezbollah in check, through the threat of their enormous firepower, should Iran’s proxy entertain the idea of opening another front against Israel.
Not a bad meeting, all in all. Biden did not withdraw or modify his remark about not trusting casualty figures from Hamas. He said that civilian casualties are a fact of war. And how furious must the political standard-bearers of Muslim-Americans — Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar — now be, but what can they do in the next election? The Republicans are much more solidly in Israel’s camp than the Bidenites. Will the Muslims in Michigan abstain from voting, out of anger with Biden, as some have talked of doing, and thereby let the Republican candidate win the state and possibly — horribile dictu — the election? Worrisome questions, disturbing thoughts.
Bexarkat says
Paraphrasing Michelle Obama…”For the first time in my life I am proud of President Biden.”
bagsgroove says
It baffles moral people how the palestinians and the rest of the moslems can be so enthranced by killing human beings, both moslem and non moslems ,victims of moslem blood lust. Soon it will be the turn of murderers to pay the piper and the world will be joyful when the moslems cry out in fear and agony.
somehistory says
mozlums are never satisfied. mozlums would only be satisfied if every non-mozlum either became a fellow slave to evil, or died on the spot.
This will never happen.
But, they persist in complaining, whining, lying and demanding and then following up with threats.
Since no mozlum ever concedes to the other side’s argument, nothing is gained by talking to them.
TyAlder says
When all the unbelievers are lying with their necks slit, they will turn on each other. Islam thrives on hatred and killing.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Why are these muslim leaders talking to Biden, rather than the real puppet-masters behind the scenes, be it Obama, Podesta, Neera Tandon, Susan Rice, et al? Whoever in the corridors of power who decided not to go all the way and take the side of Iran/Hamas in this conflict – they are the ones that these jihadists should be pissed at!
VictorMc says
Even the senile half-wit sicko Biden and his ‘supporters’ realise this would be a waste of breath. Wow, surprise, surprise.
George says
Islamophobia you say? Has there been ANY denunciation of the horrific attacks from the muslim community? Instead, only support, encouragement, and claims of victimization.
Yeah…I’ll stick with my Islamophobia and give any perceived or imagined muslim a wary eye.