Election Risks for Biden’s Rerun in the White House Because of the Suffering of Muslims in Gaza

When challenged about President Joe Biden’s decision to unambiguously support Israel’s bombing and ground invasion of Gaza, hairdresser Linda Shawish gets right to the point. The 45-year-old American Palestinian who had previously supported Democrats told AFP outside the well-known Halalco supermarket in Falls Church, Virginia, “they’re standing for genocide.”

“I most likely won’t vote at all if Trump is the Republican candidate, and I most definitely won’t be voting Democratic.” The support that Arab and Muslim Americans have for Joe Biden is on the verge of collapsing due to his Middle East policies, which may potentially flip many states in the year remaining before the 2024 presidential election.

According to some voters surveyed by AFP, Israel had the right to retaliate after a vicious assault on October 7 by Hamas militants, which led to the most recent flare-up in the protracted war. All six individuals who consented to be interviewed, as well as a few more who refrained due to concerns about potential negative effects on their careers, agreed that the US had not used its influence on Israel, an ally, to reduce the number of Palestinian civilian casualties.

Democratic strategist and former senatorial spokesperson for Vermont Bernie Sanders Waleed Shahid told AFP that “something has fundamentally broken in the hearts of many Muslim and Arab American Democrats.” “They perceive an unequal treatment of Israeli and Palestinian lives by the president.”

According to the unofficial US Religious Census, Muslims make up 4.5 million individuals, or 1.3 percent of the US population, but Shahid predicted that the election “will be decided by a couple of hundred thousand votes in a handful of states.” Battleground states Michigan, Virginia, Georgia, and Arizona were won by Biden in 2020; nevertheless, the president’s term in office may be shortened if Muslim voters abandon him in those states.

– DISSURGENCE –

Muslims in the US have “been marginalized in American politics since 9/11— and this discriminatory support to Israel is just going to further isolate and distance Muslim voters,” Somali-American Hadia Barre told AFP.

She claimed to have been a Democrat for thirty years, but due to the party’s stance on transgender issues, she had begun to drift away from it. Biden’s “blind support” for Israel proved to be decisive for her. The 52-year-old said, “I won’t vote for Democrats or Republicans.”

After the suffering of the Trump years, the community at the neighboring Dar Al-Hijrah, one of northern Virginia’s principal mosques, constructed in 1991 by developer Mohamed Hadid, father of models Gigi and Bella, expressed optimism for Biden, according to Imam Naeem Baig.

“You feel Democrats have much more to offer when it comes to the issues of racial justice and economic justice,” he added, noting that Donald Trump, who put visa restrictions on numerous Muslim nations, did not try to disguise his animosity.

Following the 2020 election, the Council on American-Islamic Relations released an exit survey which revealed that 69 percent of Muslims supported Biden while only 17 percent supported Trump. However, Baig said that the terrible news and pictures emanating from Gaza had left a feeling of pain and sadness. He said, “As of right now, I will not vote for President Biden,” calling his prior endorsement “very embarrassing.”

– DEMANDS FOR A CEASEFIRE

Khalid Mekki also expressed sorrow. He was raised in a Gaza refugee camp and believes it is his responsibility to stand up for his people, especially the relatives he is unable to contact due to Israeli communication restrictions.

The 52-year-old businessman, who owns the Bawadi Mediterranean Grill in a Falls Church neighborhood well-known for its Arab-owned bakeries, restaurants, and hookah bars, said, “We love this country, it’s our country.” However, “I don’t want blood on our hands; it cannot be in my name.” Numerous respondents said that Biden’s perceived insensitivity made the issue worse.

For example, it took the US president five days to get in touch with the family of the six-year-old Palestinian American kid who was tragically stabbed in a hate crime. He has also openly questioned the death toll given by Gaza’s health ministry, which has generally been reliable.

In an effort to allay these worries, the White House said that it will unveil its first anti-Islamophobia plan. Self-promoter Biden has become more impassioned while discussing Palestinian losses.

However, “actions speak louder than words” in the opinion of 72-year-old Black Muslim Mahdi Bray, who attributed his support for Palestinians to his experiences growing up in segregation in the US South. He suggested that Biden may still win him over if the president backed international demands for an end to hostilities.