Muslim community leaders in Nevada, a critical swing state, pledged Monday to actively campaign against President Biden because of his refusal to call for a cease-fire in Gaza.
During a press conference in Las Vegas on Monday, Nevada’s Muslim leaders announced their plans to ditch not only Mr. Biden but other politicians who have not pushed for a cease-fire.
“Why should we vote for you when you won’t even do the most basic moral action of calling for a cease-fire,” said a woman who identified herself as Sister Nadia at the press conference.
She said Mr. Biden’s actions have “disgraced and disappointed” Muslim Americans across the country.
The president has tried to balance his support for Israel with calls for restraint in its military response to the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7. But he’s been unwilling to urge Israel to pursue a cease-fire.
That reluctance has spurred accusations in the Muslim-American community, including in the pivotal state of Michigan, that the president has abandoned them as Palestinian civilians continue to die amid Israel’s relentless onslaught in Gaza.
“Our community’s voice is powerful, and we are using it to hold leaders accountable,” said Alazis Eddebbarh, a social activist and religious leader in Nevada’s Muslim community. “We cannot support a presidency that turns a blind eye to the genocide of innocent Palestinian children.”
At least 17,487 Palestinians have been killed since Israeli forces unleashed an aerial and ground blitz against Hamas in Gaza, following the terrorist group’s sneak attack on Israel, according to data released last week by the Gaza Health Ministry.
Roughly 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack on Israel, according to numbers released by the Jewish state.
Agencies continue to warn that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening each day, with most of the 2.3 million people there homeless with little food, water, medicine, or food.
“The Muslim community’s support is not unconditional,” said Fateen Seifullah, the Imam of Las Vegas’ oldest mosque. “Biden has abandoned our values, and therefore, we abandon Biden.”
Despite withdrawing its support for Mr. Biden, it doesn’t mean that the Muslim community will embrace former President Donald Trump, who is GOP frontrunner in 2024 but also is strongly pro-Israel and has called for limiting immigration from Muslim-majority countries.
Sister Nadia suggested as much when she called for reforming America’s two-party political system so voters don’t have to decide between “the lesser of two evils.”
As the war between Israel and Hamas continues to rage, Muslim Americans have soured on Mr. Biden.
A Reuters/Zogby poll released last month found that just 17% of Arab Americans support Mr. Biden, down from 59% in 2020. In contrast, 40% of Arab American respondents said they would vote for former President Donald Trump in 2024.
The same poll revealed that for the first time since 1997, a majority of Arab Americans did not identify as Democrats. Now, 32% say they are Republicans and 31% identify as independents.
Mr. Biden has tried to mollify Muslim Americans by announcing a series of meetings and initiatives aimed at improving relations. In November, he established the first national strategy to fight Islamophobia. White House officials met with Muslim and Arab American leaders to discuss ways to be more supportive of their communities.
During an October meeting with Muslim-American leaders, Mr. Biden apologized for his comments questioning the veracity of the Palestinian death count reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas.
Mr. Biden told the group that he was “disappointed in myself” and vowed to “do better,” the Washington Post reported. The apology was prompted by fierce criticism of his comments by Muslim leaders.
The Muslim-American leaders urged Mr. Biden during the meeting to show more sympathy toward the Palestinians, and he hugged one of the attendees at the end of the meeting, according to The Post.
At private Democratic Party events last month, protesters in what should have been friendly crowds repeatedly heckled the president with demands that he secure a cease-fire.
For Mr. Biden, the need to soothe angry liberals and Muslim Americans is about his political survival.
Arab Americans account for just a fraction of the U.S. population and about half the number of Jewish Americans. But their communities reside in battleground states that could shift an election if they withhold their support from Mr. Biden in 2024.
Mr. Biden squeaked about a victory in Nevada in 2020 over former President Trump by about 34,000 votes. Although the Muslim population in the state is about 7.400, any erosion of support could be fatal to Mr. Biden’s reelection chances in the Silver State.
In several other swing states, the U.S. Religious Census, which tracks statistics for faith communities, found that the Muslim adherent population in several states exceeded Mr. Biden’s margin of victory in 2020.
Mr. Biden won Georgia by about 12,000 votes, and its Muslim population is around 123,000. He won by about 154,000 votes in Michigan, which has more than 242,000 Muslim adherents. Wisconsin, which Mr. Biden won by 21,000 votes, has 69,000 Muslim adherents.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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