A lengthy Friday night meeting between Joe Biden‘s Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Arab American leaders proved less than productive for the 81-year-old Democrat incumbent’s efforts to shore up the critical voter demographic. The representatives from the Arab American community, a critical voter block in the presidential election battleground state of Michigan, ended with the community leaders expressing their continued dissatisfaction with the Biden government’s handling of U.S.-Israel policy.
Warren David, president of Arab America — a national media organization covering the Arab world — expressed the community’s frustration, stating there is little the Biden government could do to mend its deteriorating relationship with Arab Americans. “In Arabic, we say ‘khallas,'” David said in a recent interview with NOTUS. “Khallas” roughly translates to “finished, enough” or “done.” David attended the meeting alongside nearly a dozen representatives from six Arab American organizations.
ARAB AMERICAN AGENDA.
The leaders presented Blinken with their long-standing demands, collectively called the “Arab American Agenda.” These include an immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages, a complete Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to Palestinians. The community has championed these points for months amid continued U.S. support for Israel’s military actions against the Hamas terrorist group.
Despite the meeting extending beyond its planned 45 minutes, participants left feeling their concerns were inadequately addressed. “He said, ‘Thank you, I understand where you’re coming from,'” David said of the meeting with Blinken. He added: “He just kind of left it at, he will, you know, take into consideration what we said.”
The Biden campaign has scrambled to shore up support among Arab and Muslim American voters in Michigan before November’s presidential election. The critical voting bloc, in part, turned out against the Democrat incumbent during the state’s primary election, setting off alarm bells among national Democrats.
