President Joe Biden will host Muslim American community leaders for a previously undisclosed meeting at the White House on Tuesday.
The president has seen a significant drop in approval among Arab and Muslim Americans in critical battleground states as civilian casualties continue to mount in Israel’s Gaza offensive. That sentiment has spread throughout the Democratic Party, resulting in heavy protests at Biden’s 2024 campaign events.
Senior administration officials previously met with community leaders in Michigan, yet Biden himself had not been present for those discussions.
A senior White House official told the Washington Examiner that Tuesday’s meeting, reported by NPR on Monday night, will continue Biden’s “tradition of honoring the Muslim community during Ramadan.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and members of Biden’s national security team will also take part in the meeting, after which the president will host “a small breaking of the fast, prayer, and Iftar with a number of senior Muslim administration officials.”
Biden has previously hosted Muslim community leaders for an Iftar dinner commemorating the end of Ramadan, but they will not join the president and Muslim administration officials for dinner Tuesday night. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that distinction was made at the request of Muslim Americans to hold serious discussions regarding Gaza.
“This was actually a request from members of the community. This is what they wanted,” she told reporters during Tuesday’s press briefing. “They wanted a working group meeting. They wanted it to be private.”
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Biden, whose support for the war has waned since the Oct. 7 invasion by Hamas, is under heavy pressure from members of the Democratic Party to bring about a protracted, if not permanent, ceasefire in Gaza.
The president has steadily distanced himself from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two nations held virtual talks on Monday after the United States abstained from a United Nations ceasefire vote last week, leading Netanyahu to pull Israeli envoys out of in-person discussions in Washington, D.C.
