Illinois Muslim, Arab Groups Decline White House Meeting Over Gaza Policy

Muslim and Arab teams in Illinois are refusing to fulfill with White House officers because of the Biden administration’s lack of coverage change on Gaza, highlighting the president’s incapability to sq. his unconditional help of Israel’s army offensive together with his constituents’ requires a right away cease-fire.

With simply days till Illinois holds its main election, White House officers had requested to fulfill with Palestinian, Arab and Muslim American teams and leaders in Chicago this week. In response, dozens of pissed off teams signed a letter despatched to the White House on Thursday.

According to the letter, the teams discovered “no point in more meetings” when the White House is already conscious of the place taken by Muslim and Palestinian Americans and their allies. The signatories cited prior conferences with the Biden administration, press statements, letters to elected officers, media interviews and “enormous street action within earshot of the Oval Office” to protest the U.S. authorities’s position in Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, which has reached 5 months and not using a everlasting cease-fire.

“The White House has not only refused to call for a ceasefire, but also enabled this blatant campaign of ethnic cleansing to take place by providing financial and military means, as well as diplomatic support at the United Nations,” the letter acknowledged. “A meeting of the minds is nowhere in sight.”

Neither the White House nor Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) instantly responded to HuffPost’s requests for remark. The governor has served as one among Biden’s strongest allies within the Midwest, and Chicago is getting ready to host the Democratic National Convention in August.

The rejection echoes that of Muslim and Arab leaders in different states ― particularly Michigan, which led a motion for Democratic voters to forged their main poll for “uncommitted” as a substitute of for President Joe Biden. The purpose of the motion, which noticed an unprecedented 100,000 votes for uncommitted, was not essentially to dam Biden from profitable Michigan’s main, however fairly to point out him that persevering with to help Israel in its army marketing campaign will value him in November.

In Illinois, there will probably be no poll choice to vote uncommitted in Tuesday’s main. But some Muslim civic engagement teams and native Palestinian organizations are encouraging voters to both write-in “Gaza” for president or to easily depart the choice clean.

“There is no confusion as to our consistent demand for an immediate ceasefire to end the mass murder of civilians and stave off the worst humanitarian crisis in modern times,” the letter by the Muslim and Arab teams learn. “We believe another meeting would only act to whitewash months of White House inaction followed by meek handouts. We are interested in serious action.”

Just days after Hamas militants launched a lethal assault on Israel ― and the Israeli authorities in flip launched its army offensive in Gaza ― Illinois was put below the highlight when a person killed a 6-year-old Muslim boy within the closely Palestinian Chicago suburb of Plainfield. The deadly stabbing of Wadea Al-Fayoume is being investigated as a hate crime by the Justice Department.

Illinois’ Cook County, which incorporates Chicago, is residence to extra Palestinians than every other county within the nation. With Mayor Brandon Johnson casting the tie-breaking vote, the Chicago City Council handed a decision in January calling for a everlasting cease-fire. The symbolic declaration, which additionally requires humanitarian help and the discharge of all remaining hostages, made Chicago the biggest metropolis but to formally demand a cease-fire.