‘War criminal’: Arab Americans rebuff Biden campaign outreach over Gaza

US Arab officials in the swing state of Michigan say they will not discuss 2024 elections with a ‘genocide unfolding’ in Gaza.

Arab Americans are angry.

And they let United States President Joe Biden know it when they shunned his campaign manager as she visited Michigan to reach out to their communities this week.

Many elected Arab-American officials, including municipal leaders and state legislators, declined to meet with Julie Chavez Rodriguez, arguing that as long as there are mass killings in Gaza, they will not discuss the elections.

“It’s unfathomable at this point in time that we’re trying to talk about electoral politics with a genocide unfolding,” said Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb.

“This is not a time to talk about politics. This is a time for our humanity to be recognised, and for us to be sitting down with decision-makers and policymakers to talk about a change of course of what’s unfolding overseas. And it does not happen with campaign staff.”