A planned meeting between Biden re-election campaign officials and Arab-American and Mulsim leaders in Dearborn, Michigan, was canceled after it drew mass opposition from members of the city’s Arab community. President Joe Biden has come under increasing fire from Arab and Muslim Americans over his handling of the Israeli-Hamas War.
Assad Turfe, who organized the sit-down, said he canceled the meeting — initially scheduled for Friday afternoon – as it was “in the best interest of the community.” He added: “As the community got to learn about the meeting, there was definitely a lot of outrage and, ultimately, the decision was made to cancel the meeting.”
“Unless something drastic happens, you have lost the Arab American and Muslim community. At this point, from what I can see, there’s no winning them over. That was the idea of the meeting,” the Lebanese-American and the deputy county executive of Wayne County said, adding: “Until there’s a cease-fire, the overall consensus in the community is they’re not welcome here, essentially.”
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the campaign manager for Biden’s re-election campaign, was initially set to meet with about a dozen local leaders in the majority Arab-American community before the cancellation. The Detroit News reported that Rodriguez did meet with members of the Dearborn community individually.
The Biden campaign has turned up efforts at outreach to minority communities in critical swing states like Michigan to reverse flagging approval numbers. While Biden’s popularity has dropped among Black and Hispanic voters over the last year, it has taken an even more significant hit among Arab-American and Muslim voters since the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. Biden has also faced increasing opposition from his political staff and Democrat Members of Congress.
