“All they are trying to do is convince us that there is some kind of movement toward where we want,” Siblani said. “But it’s too slow and it’s dragging. It’s more death and casualties that are happening.”
The highest-profile example of the stonewalling came last week when a Palestinian American doctor walked out of a meeting with Biden. But interviews with Muslim and Arab American leaders reveal how that face-to-face protest was only the most conspicuous case of a fracture that has damaged crucial relationships and closed avenues needed to repair them.
But the situation presents a challenge for a president who believes in the political power of personal relationships and has prized his history of sitting down with opponents and critics. It could also jeopardize his reelection this year, with some Muslims warning they are unwilling to support Biden even it that risks returning Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, to the White House.
Salam Al-Marayati, who lives in Los Angeles and leads the Muslim Public Affairs Council, described the attitude as, “Forget them. They have to learn a lesson. And if they lose, that’s the lesson they should learn.”
If you’re an American it seems like your choices really are between Biden and his slow genocide or Trump with his quick one.
It doesn’t seem like you can really rely on your political leaders to help resolve this conflict in a way that doesn’t lead to more suffering and death, only the pace at which it happens. If those are the only two options, I don’t blame Muslim and Arab Americans for giving up on Biden.
I think it would just be more honest to acknowledge there’s no real support amongst any American political leadership to minimise the suffering of either the Palestinian or Israeli people.
What suffering of the Israelis? They’re partying and listening to shitty techno music and getting showered in free American money and weapons.
Palestinians are living in tents and starving. They’d love to be subjected to America’s treatment of Israel.
Both Palestinians and Israelis see each other as existential threats. Ignoring this basic reality means there will always be conflict in the region.
Palestinians are suffering en masse right now, I don’t think anyone reasonable is denying that.
But what do you think happens if the underlying, justifiable, fear that they each have of the isn’t addressed? There will be more massacres and more war, and like in every war, innocent people will pay the price.