Joe Biden privately apologized and promised a group of Muslim Americans to do better for expressing “excessive skepticism” about the number of Palestinian deaths released by the Hamas-run Health Department.
The 81-year-old president faced angry five community figureheads a day after he publicly rejected the Palestinian death toll on Oct. 25. One person who organized the meeting said the process was a “s**tshow.”
At the White House press conference, Biden, who has steadfastly supported Israel since October 7, said: “I have no idea that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are being killed.”
The next day, October 26, Biden had heated discussions with five public figures who were outraged by his comments. Their group’s back-and-forth exceeded Biden’s allotted time by 30 minutes.
All five participants were handpicked by the White House.
Image of President Joe Biden at a press conference on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. Biden said, “I have no idea that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are being killed,” angering the focus group
According to the Washington Post, the guest list included: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Chicago resident Rami Nashashibi, interfaith leader Imam Mohamed Magid, Muslim lobbyist Wa’el Alzayat and health care advocate Suzanne Barakat.
One person involved in the conversations told the Post: “Why would you sit down with him without agreeing to him retracting that statement and apologizing?”
“Which spot at the table are you negotiating for, the toilet seat?”
One attendee told the Post that the goal was to press Biden on the issue of a ceasefire. Those invited were “angry” that Biden debated the death toll just a day earlier – instead of accepting that thousands were killed in Gaza.
As Hamas, the terrorist organization that slaughtered 1,300 Israelis, announces the death toll in Gaza, the numbers were approached with caution at the start of the conflict.
All five at Biden’s meeting said they knew people affected by the ordeal in Gaza.
One of those present said they had lost 100 family members.
At this point, Biden reportedly apologized for his words and actions.
He reportedly told them, “I’m sorry.” I’m disappointed in myself. I’ll do better.’
Imam Mohamed Magid and Suzanne Barakat were among the five who attended the meeting with Biden
Rami Nashashibi, a Chicago-based Muslim community organizer, and Wa’el Alzayat of the Muslim lobbying group Emgage, both of whom were involved in the meeting
Keith Ellison, Minnesota Attorney General
One participant told the Post: “We said, ‘Palestinians are dying.’ We don’t agree that the number of their deaths is controversial.”
The meeting was supposed to last only 30 minutes, but instead it lasted more than an hour.
At the end, the president hugged one of the participants and vowed to “do better.”
Keith Ellison, one of the five in attendance, told the Washington Post: “Muslim community leaders told President Biden that the suffering of innocent Gazans trying to survive in extremely difficult circumstances has actually increased the likelihood of Islamophobic attacks in the United States. “
“The President listened carefully, responded sincerely, and showed empathy and compassion for everyone’s suffering. I hope he will act on that empathy.”
Biden and his officials have met with various groups of Muslim, Palestinian and Arab Americans in recent weeks as the conflict in the Middle East continues to divide public opinion.
And the war could also have an impact on Biden’s prospects for 2024. Swing states like Michigan have dense Arab-American communities whose opinions on Biden’s response to the conflict will be fresh in next year’s election.
Currently, the terrorist-run Ministry of Health reports that more than 14,000 people have been killed in Gaza.
It is estimated that about 10,000 of them are women and children, reports NYTimes.
According to the Post, at another meeting organized by the White House, a dozen Palestinian Americans told his advisers that Biden would lose Arab and Muslim voters because of the war.
An aerial view of heavily damaged buildings following Israeli attacks on the third day of the humanitarian pause in Khan Yunis, Gaza
Palestinians sit on a couch amid the rubble of the residential areas
On Sunday evening, a young American orphan, turning four, was held hostage by Hamas, one of nine child and youth hostages that the terrorist group Hamas handed over to the Red Cross.
A total of thirteen Israelis, two Thai nationals and one person from Russia have now been freed from the militant group, including four-year-old Israeli-American Abigail Idan, whose parents were killed in Hamas’ deadly October 7 incursion.
The other children held by Hamas in Gaza’s underground tunnels over the past seven weeks are: Ella Elyakim, eight, Dafna Elyakim, 15, Ofri Brodutch, 10, Yuval Brodutch, eight, Oriya Brodutch, four, and Agam Goldstein , 17, Tal Goldstein, nine, and Gal Goldstein, 11.
Other hostages released today under the Hamas-Israel deal, which calls for the release of around 50 women and children held by the terror group in exchange for a brief ceasefire, include: Hagar Brodutch, 39, Chen Goldstein, 48, Alma Avraham , 84, and Adrian Aviva Siegel, 63.
All but one of the 13 Israeli hostages were taken to Israel, while an elderly Israeli woman was taken to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt along with Thai and Russian nationals driven in a Red Cross van.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was committed to returning the approximately 200 hostages held by Hamas.