United States: President Joe Biden is organizing a meeting with a few Muslim American communal leaders at the White House on Tuesday, which is followed by an iftar dinner in reduced size; the two events are aimed at calming down the academic discourse about his support for the war between Hamas and Israel, which broke out several weeks ago.
High-Level Engagement with Muslim Community
The Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris will be accompanied by Muslim staff members in the Democratic administration and national security officials of high rank who will be the first from the administration and the most senior national security figures to meet with the Muslim community in the US since the US military engagement in Afghanistan began six months ago. This way, the staffers will have dinners with the president while fasting during the holy month of Ramadan for the Islamic religion, as reported by The Associated Press.
The White House refused to immediately call up those individuals from the community who would be attending the meeting.
Strategic Timing and Consideration
Over the last two Ramadans, the president marked these occasions with large receptions at the White House. However, this year, raising the issue of the war while so many – up to 30,000 – men, women, and children are being killed seemed inappropriate. It was such an attack when this past year on Oct. 7th that more than 1,200 Israelis were killed by the Hamas, and approximately 250 military personnel have died in the fighting since then.
Assessing Community Sentiments
White House officials went to Detroit before this year and found that the Muslim American community in the swing state was cold in Michigan swing state with over 100 thousand Democratic primaries votes counted as protest votes for “not committed” as part of the Islamic nation’s show of disapproval of Biden’s position on the conflict, as reported by The Associated Press.
Upon the news of Biden’s meeting surfacing, it was NPR that was the first to make the report.