President Joe Biden is receiving flak from Arab American grassroots organizations, with one calling for him to resign because of his support for Israel and urging voters to select "uncommitted" for Michigan's Democrat presidential primary on Feb. 27.
Arab American are feeling betrayed by Biden's support for Israel in its war against Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip after Hamas massacred more than 1,200 Israeli citizens and took about 250 others – including infants and women – hostage. Biden hasn't outright called for a cease-fire and has tried to negotiate with Israel for a temporary pause to allow for the return of the remaining hostages, some of whom are believed to be Americans.
The U.S. on Tuesday also vetoed a widely supported U.N. resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in the war, the third time it has vetoed a U.N. cease-fire resolution.
The Abandon Biden National Coalition doesn't appear to want to give Biden any slack.
"He's got to do the right thing for the party and for … the country itself, and he should step down as soon as possible because he's deeply toxic, and we will never ever support him," Hassan Abdel Salam, a member of the coalition, told The Hill on Tuesday. "He can't do anything for us to support him. No one can tolerate a policy of death that lasts this long; people have to be held to account."
The Abandon Biden movement seeks to withhold votes from Biden in primaries in battleground states such as Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Florida, The Hill reported, as a way for pro-Palestinian Americans to protest. Biden won all but Florida in 2020.
"We're looking into finding ways to build a mechanism of coordination between all the swing states so that we're constantly working together to ensure that Muslim Americans will come out in all of these states, and that Mr. Biden will lose each and every one of them," Abdel Salam said in December during a news conference in Dearborn, Michigan, according to Politico. Dearborn reportedly has the nation's highest congregation of Arab Americans and Michigan has the most Americans with Middle Eastern ancestry.
The death toll among Palestinians in the Gaza war is unknown. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said it's at more than 29,000, but it doesn't differentiate between its fighters and civilians. Israel reportedly said it has killed more than 10,000 Hamas terrorists and is doing everything it can to prevent civilian casualties. It blamed the high death toll on Hamas fighting in residential areas and using civilians as shields.
Biden is in a bind because he doesn't want to anger Jewish voters, who traditionally have been among the most fervent backers of Democrat presidents. But he also doesn't want to alienate Arab voters, especially in battleground states such as Michigan, which he narrowly won in 2020 and which Trump won in 2016.
Trump's campaign is seeing an opening, and the Detroit Free Press reported Sunday his campaign met with three Republicans from the Arab American community before his rally Saturday in Waterford Township, Michigan.
Mike Hacham of Dearborn, a Republican who supports Trump, told the Free Press that after the meeting with Trump campaign officials, he and a few others had a sidebar meeting with them. He said the officials said there will be future discussions and an online meeting about "what can the Trump campaign do for Arab Americans and ... Muslim Americans."