Washington
CNN
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A Palestinian-American doctor walked out of a meeting with President Joe Biden on Tuesday night before it ended, amid high tensions, anger and anger in Arab, Palestinian and Muslim-American communities amid the Israel-Hamas war. highlighted concerns.
Dr. Sair Ahmad, an emergency physician from Chicago who visited Gaza earlier this year, told CNN that Vice President Kamala Harris, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, other administration officials, and the Muslim community have given guidance. He said he abruptly left a meeting attended by a small group of people.
The president has often faced protests and disruptions at public events in recent months, but Ahmad's decision to leave the meeting is likely the first since Israel's Gaza operation began in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack. It may be the most intimate moment of protest a president has ever faced. . This gives the president a clear picture of the political challenges facing key members of the coalition, including Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and progressive voters, as the administration continues to stand by and support Israel's war in the Palestinian enclaves. It reminds me of that.
CNN previously reported that plans for an iftar dinner to break the Ramadan fast were changed to a rally after participants did not feel comfortable eating a celebratory meal while hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are on the brink of starvation. Ta. This is another example of the administration's deteriorating relationship with the Muslim American community. Other attempts to hold meetings in key provinces have been hampered by refusals of invitations, and relations with key community groups have also deteriorated since the war began.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris know that this is an extremely painful moment for many in the Muslim and Arab communities,” White House officials said in a statement after the meeting.
Biden said he would “make clear that we mourn every innocent life lost in this conflict” and “secure an immediate ceasefire as part of an agreement to free the hostages and significantly increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.” “We will continue to make efforts to achieve this goal,” the official said. ”
Ahmad was in Gaza as part of a team of doctors from the NGO MedGlobal, and was working in the city of Khan Younis as fighting intensified around Nasser Hospital. He spoke out against the expected Israeli military offensive in Rafah, recounting his experiences on the ground, citing the huge number of displaced, injured and dying people.
“I told the president that I was disappointed that I was the only Palestinian here and that I was leaving out of respect for the community,” Ahmad told the president.
Before departing, he handed Mr. Biden a letter from Hadir, an 8-year-old orphan living in Rafah.
“President Biden, please stop them from entering Rafah,” a translation of the letter shared with CNN reads. US officials have warned Israel not to expand military operations into Rafah without a comprehensive plan to protect civilian lives.
Mr. Ahmad said Mr. Biden told him he understood that he needed to leave.
Mr. Ahmad said he felt it was important to attend the meeting, but reiterated his belief that it was inappropriate to talk about death and hunger over dinner. Multiple guests declined the invitation.
“I wanted an opportunity to stand up and separate myself from the decision-making people in the same way that I separate them from my people,” Ahmad said.
Ahmad plans to return to Gaza within the next few weeks.
“There's a tremendous amount of survivor's guilt that all Palestinians are feeling right now,” he said. “We live this, we breathe this. Our whole lives have changed. I think about the people who are here and are suffering over there, especially the people who have two daughters. It's hard to live a normal life while doing so.”
Mr. Ahmad also said he wanted to refute claims that Hamas uses hospitals, shelters and schools as bases and command centers.
“We had never seen anything of that nature,” he said.
Dr. Nareen Ahmed, a Philadelphia ICU doctor who also attended the meeting, told CNN that her colleague, Mr. Ahmed, made a “heartfelt plea” before leaving the meeting.
“This wasn't him as a doctor, it was him as a Palestinian American who witnessed the atrocities firsthand. Tarr and I were both in Gaza together. “I watched him die when he arrived at the emergency room,” said Ahmed, medical director of the NGO MedGlobal.
“That voice is a voice that is not invited to the table, so they can't vent their frustrations or talk about how much it's affecting them. So it's really important to be able to exercise that right.” It was a great moment,” she added.
After Ahmad left, five other attendees from the Muslim-American community took turns speaking on various topics at the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, leaving some participants frustrated, Ahmad said. Told.
“I felt like maybe this wasn't necessarily a meeting where something actionable was going to happen or was promised, but it was kind of a PR move to be able to say that I met with the Muslim community. I think it felt like that,''' Ahmed said.
One doctor explained what is happening on the ground, including the distribution of relief supplies and the strain on hospitals.
Another delegate discussed the need for maritime support. Ahmed said one imam called on Biden to reset his moral compass. Mr. Ahmed then detailed “the dire situation of malnutrition and violations of international humanitarian law and its impact on patients and hospital systems.”
After the listening session, Ahmed said that Biden initially focused his response on the Oct. 7 attack.
“He went back to that and said, 'I hear what everyone is saying, but I want you to think about the young people who were killed on October 7th.'” “It kind of ignored the more than 30,000 deaths that occurred in the United States,” she said.
According to Ahmed, Biden went on to discuss the complexities of eliminating Hamas and ongoing discussions with regional leaders toward a ceasefire.
Ahmed told CNN he plans to return to Gaza in the coming weeks because he feels it is important to empathize and humanize the suffering he witnessed firsthand in Gaza.
Ahmed said it became clear the moment Harris asked what people in Gaza were eating.
“I said, 'Well, most of the time they're not eating anything. But if you're asking about animal feed, then yes, people are eating animal feed. ’ And she seemed to hear it for the first time with conviction,” Ahmed said.
“This confirmed to me that these conversations need to happen and need to continue,” she said.
The White House had changed plans for Mr. Biden to host an iftar dinner with Muslim community leaders on Tuesday night to break the Ramadan fast, but the administration said the administration was unable to host Arab, Palestinian and Muslim Americans. Faced with anger and concern from the community, it decided to hold a meeting with the group instead. War between Israel and Hamas.
White House officials announced earlier Tuesday that Biden would instead host a small dinner with Islamic regime officials, but only outside attendees would be allowed to attend after significant opposition from those planning to attend. He was expected to attend, sources told CNN.
“There was considerable pushback from attendees who felt it was inappropriate to bring up the humanitarian crisis in Gaza during the dinner,” a person familiar with the meeting told CNN. “There is famine in Gaza, and 23 children starved to death in northern Gaza. I don't think anyone would feel comfortable sharing those stories and images over dinner.”
Another person familiar with the planning said there was little interest from participants to celebrate by eating, and it became clear that policy discussions would be more appropriate.
CNN previously reported that several people invited to attend declined, citing dissatisfaction with the administration's support for Israel amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
And a third source told CNN: “Basically, the sentiment we've heard over and over again is that anyone who goes to iftar while Palestinians are being killed and starved should be ashamed. It was something,” he said.
This moment is significantly scaled back from previous Ramadan observations under the Biden administration. Last year, the White House did not host an iftar dinner (the break of the daily fast after sunset), but invited nearly 350 people to a reception celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the festival that marks the end of Ramadan.
“Continuing the tradition of honoring the Muslim community during Ramadan, President Biden will host a meeting with Muslim community leaders to discuss issues important to the community,” a White House official said. Ta.
A White House official described the iftar after the meeting as “a short break of fasting, prayer, and iftar among senior Islamic government officials.''
This year's Ramadan comes amid more than 32,000 deaths since Israel launched an intense operation against Hamas in Gaza following the terrorist group's brutal attack on October 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Biden has called for an immediate ceasefire, but has not mentioned a permanent ceasefire or a halt to arms deliveries to Israel.
White House officials held several meetings with prominent Arab American and Muslim leaders in various cities. Last month, White House officials met with leaders of the Arab, Muslim and Palestinian American communities in Chicago. The meeting included White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Tom Perez and Director of Public Engagement Steve Benjamin, among others. However, some invited participants declined to attend due to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Anger and concern over the administration's handling of the conflict also poses political problems for Mr. Biden, including in battleground states like Michigan, which is home to more than 200,000 Muslim American voters. In the state's Democratic primary in February, more than 100,000 Democratic primary voters chose “irresponsible” to send a message to the president. Biden has also been repeatedly interrupted by activists on the campaign trail.
This story has been updated with additional developments.