U.S. President Joe Biden narrowly won Michigan in 2020, but his reelection campaign’s trip to the key swing state on Friday made clear that his support for Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip is angering Arab American and Muslim voters.
Assad Turfe, a deputy Wayne County executive, was coordinating a Friday afternoon meeting with Biden’s delegation, led by campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez. He reached out to over 10 Arab and Muslim leaders in the Dearborn area.
“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,” he told The Detroit News, adding that the cancellation was “in the best interest of the community.”
Turfe also publicly warned the Democrat’s campaign that “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,” he said. “Until there’s a cease-fire, the overall consensus in the community is they’re not welcome here, essentially.”
Dearborn is saying NO to #GenocideJoe
Can’t kill our people then ask for our vote. See you in November, @JoeBiden. pic.twitter.com/SOROfmcfkc
Democratic Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud was among the local leaders who declined an invitation to the scrapped meeting.
“The lives of Palestinians are not measured in poll numbers. Their humanity demands action, not lip........