Arab-American groups in Chicago have spurned a meeting with the White House, which reached out to them on Thursday. Chicago is a prominent town in Illinois where the Democratic primaries are scheduled to be held next week.
In a letter issued to the White House, the groups said there was “no point” in additional meetings as they believed there had been no serious action by the White House on ending the war on Gaza.
“We believe another meeting would only act to whitewash months of White House inaction followed by meek handouts. We are interested in serious action. Offering a belated trickle of aid, whether airdrops or temporary piers, to captive Palestinian civilians who continue to be shot like fish in a barrel, but remain unwilling or unable to cease the killing is like dishing out Band-Aids with one hand, while wielding an axe with the other.”
According to a report in the Guardian, more than 100,000 Arab Americans live in Chicago, according to the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, while at least 350,000 Muslims live in Illinois.
Last month, Biden officials had made an outreach to Arab-American voters in the state of Michigan, where Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer had been heard telling community leaders in a private recording on CBS.
“We have left a very damaging impression, based on what has been a wholly inadequate public accounting for how much the president, the administration, the country, values the lives of Palestinians. We are very well aware we have mistepped in the course of responding to this crisis,” he was heard saying in the recording.
Vice-president Kamala Harris has also failed to reach out to voters. The vice-president’s office attempted to host a virtual meeting with Arab representatives across the country in February, but it failed to take place because of the administration’s handling of the Gaza crisis.
Tensions in the Arab-American community are expected to rise even further as the holy month of Ramadan has begun and Prime Minister Netanyahu has spurned a ceasefire coffer from Hamas.
Biden is already the confirmed nominee for the Democratic Party and is expected to sail through the primaries but the administration is worried about swing votes in crucial key states come November’s elections.
The results are expected to be close, and Arab-American voters maintain a sizeable presence in states such as Michigan and Minnesota. According to an Axios report, the group turned out to vote for Biden after Trump’s Muslim ban in 2020 helping influence results in a very close election.
Should they not vote or even vote for Trump, it could influence results in states such as Arizona and Georgia where the president won by just 11,000 votes according to the report. Other states such as Michigan and Minnesota are also expected to be vulnerable this year for the Democrats.
