|"WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration is making public and private efforts to address concern from some Democrats, including Arab and Muslim leaders, over its staunch support for Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
President Biden met with Muslim-American leaders at the White House on Thursday, as his administration expressed more openness to backing a temporary pause in the conflict to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and renewed calls for a two-state solution.
Biden's closed-door meeting with Muslim-American leaders, who support a cease-fire, came days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met separately with members of the Jewish-, Arab- and Palestinian-American communities. The discussions followed criticism from many Muslim and Arab-American groups over what they see as an inadequate response by the Biden administration to mounting civilian casualties and a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Ahead of the meeting, the president showed more support for the Arab world in recent comments than he did immediately after the Oct. 7 assaults, denouncing Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank and offering a vision of what comes next.
"In our view, it has to be a two-state solution," Biden said at a press conference on Wednesday. "It means a concentrated effort from all the parties -- Israelis, Palestinians, regional partners, global leaders -- to put us on a path toward peace."
But the administration's efforts to reassure communities that could play a key role in Biden's re-election campaign has faced challenges.
In his comments, Biden cast doubt on the death toll in Gaza and suggested the loss of innocent Palestinians was the cost of war, prompting a fresh wave of anger among Muslim- and Arab Americans. The White House doubled down on the comments Thursday, saying Hamas controls the Gaza health ministry and that civilian casualties are inevitable in war.
Biden's meeting with Muslim civic and political leaders, although billed as a discussion on efforts to combat anti-Muslim views, included a robust discussion of the situation in Gaza, according to an attendee.
Participants told the president he needed to show more empathy and compassion for Palestinians and draw a more direct connection in public between Israeli policies and the rights and suffering of civilians in Gaza, the attendee said. They also called for a cease-fire, while sharing their view that a military solution wasn't feasible, and added that Biden's comments casting doubt on the death toll in Gaza were harmful.
Biden appeared empathetic to their concerns, the attendee said. The president also said he meant to say he didn't trust Hamas when talking about the death toll in Gaza but acknowledged it wasn't interpreted that way, according to a person familiar with the discussion. The White House declined to comment.
The meeting was attended by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison; Wa'el Alzayat, chief executive of Emgage, a group that seeks to turn out Muslim voters; the interfaith leader Imam Mohamed Magid; Rami Nashashibi, a Palestinian-American who works on social-justice issues in Chicago and Suzanne Barakat, whose brother was killed in 2015 in what prosecutors called a hate crime.
Prominent Muslims in the administration -- Dilawar Syed, deputy administrator of the Small Business Association; Rashad Hussain, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom; and White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi -- also joined the meeting.
Biden has sought to draw a distinction in public between Hamas militants and ordinary Palestinians, and his administration has worked to get humanitarian aid into Gaza through its border with Egypt.” [1]
1. U.S. News: Biden Tries to Ease Muslim Leaders' Concerns on War. Siddiqui, Sabrina; Tarini Parti. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 27 Oct 2023: A.4.
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