Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison; Imam Mohamed Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Sterling, Virginia; Wa'el Alzayat, a former State Department official who is now CEO of Emgage, a group that mobilizes Muslim-American voters; Rami Nashashibi, a Palestinian-American who is executive director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network in Chicago; and Suzanne Barakat, whose brother was a Muslim student in North Carolina murdered in 2015 were at the White House at the invitation of the President to hold undeclared and secret meeting with the highest official of the only Superpower to talk about Ghaza.
No one knows what happened behind the curtains. The attendees learned what to reveal and what to conceal. They were happy that the President called them and listened to their concerns. These leaders do not have a mandate to speak on behalf of either the Palestinians or Muslims. They did not go to their community before the meeting to finalize the talking point. They were naive to believe that the president was unaware of the Gaza situation or the Palestinian issue. They could not remember Biden's famous quote in the US Senate, in which he said that "if there were no Israel, the US would have to invent one to protect its interests. They could not even recall that the US had already sent its special forces in the region to preserve the apartheid state.
They went under the assumption that the US was neutral and would listen to the cries of the people of Gaza. How could they expect empathy from a President who was the first one to propagate the lies of the forces of the Chosen People, blaming Hamas for beheading 40 Israeli babies? The President shamelessly claimed to have seen such a pic. Later, the disciples of Gobbles withdrew their assertion.
They even ignored the fact that the United States of America is, in reality, the United States of Israel. It exists to serve Israel, and its resources are to improve the lifestyle of the Jewish state.
They neglected the fact that Jews are the wealthiest religious community in the world. According to a study, the median net worth of people believing in Judaism is 150,890 USD, while the median net value of conservative Protestants (including Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and Christian Scientists) was US$26,200.
They could not remember that Jews are 8.91 of New York, 5.86% of New Jersey, 4.54% of the District of Columbia, 4.075 of Massachusetts, 3.99% of Maryland, 3.287% of Florida, 3.288% of Connecticut, 3.189% of California, 2.69% of Nevada, 2.311 of Illinois and 2.29% of Pennsylvania. These states have 201 of 538 electoral college votes, and Jews have heavily voted for the Democratic Party. Overall, about seven in ten identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, including 68% of Jews by religion and 77% of Jews of no faith. Since 1968, 71% of American Jews have voted for Democratic candidates, and 26% chose Republicans.
Israel is the largest recipient of the US foreign aid. Since 1947, it has used $317 billion in tax dollars (inflation-adjusted) to improve the life quality of its Jewish citizens.
Muslims who attended the meeting thought they would convince the President of the value of human life and the worth of freedom for all. But they were wrong. The President was more concerned with convincing Muslims to condemn Hamas and to recognize the right of Israel to act in self-defense. They did not ask the President how many of the 2000 children killed by the apartheid state were Hamas cardholders. They did not even talk about the Baptist hospitals bombed by the Zionist state. For them, it was the handshake with the President that counted most. It made no difference to them that the hand was dripping with the blood of innocent Palestinians.
If the Muslims were serious about their meeting with the President, they could have consulted prominent Muslims on the agenda and made it known to the public.
President Biden is not sincere in bringing peace to the region. If he were, he could have asked the apartheid to halt the resettlement and return the occupied territories to Palestinians. But he would not. He listens to power elites who are after the destruction of the Palestinians. The US political structure does not have the morals and courage to question the legitimacy of the occupation of the Palestinian land by Israel.
The way out for those who question the apartheid structure of Israel is electoral politics. In the 2024 presidential and senate elections, four states, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Milwaukee, would determine the victor.
Can Muslims develop a strategy in these four states to choose a candidate who appears to understand the value of peace? Otherwise, Muslims who feel good after shaking hands with the President would not hesitate to sell the human rights and human lives of marginalized people all over the world for a few positions.