Muslim leaders called upon President Joe Biden to support a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Additionally, they voiced their concerns about comments made by the President earlier in the week regarding the Palestinian casualty count. This information was shared by three individuals who were present at the meeting.
The private discussion Thursday afternoon, which included a small group of civic, elected and religious officials, took place amid growing fury in Muslim and Arab American communities over how Biden has handled the Israel-Hamas war.
Rami Nashashibi, a MacArthur fellow and founder of the Inner City Muslim Action Network, attended the meeting and said he “very explicitly” talked to Biden about his remarks on the death count.
“I said this while sitting a few inches away from him, that I know I’m talking to a person who has shown profound capacity for human empathy and suffering,” said Nashashibi. “And yet, the way his comments have been interpreted, not just in the United States but across the globe, as recently as that moment he got up on a mic and started to question the body count, was perceived by so many as gut-wrenchingly painful. Literally, I know people who felt like they had just been hit in the gut watching that.”
Muslim leaders conveyed their deep concerns to President Biden and his team regarding a statement he made at a recent news conference. In that statement, the President expressed “no confidence” in the death toll statistics provided by Palestinian officials, according to three individuals present during the discussion, as reported by POLITICO. Muslim leaders called
On October 7, Hamas, a group recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, launched a surprise attack on Israel. Israeli authorities claim that this attack resulted in the death of more than 1,400 people. However, both the United Nations and the World Health Organization have indicated that the figures provided by the Hamas-controlled health ministry are generally accurate.
According to Palestinian officials, retaliatory attacks by Israel have claimed the lives of upwards of 7,000 people in Gaza, as per their figures.