Arab and Muslim voters and community leaders in Michigan rejected a listening session with President Joe Biden’s campaign set for Friday afternoon, amid frustrations that the White House has taken their votes for granted as it continues to support the Israeli assault on Gaza.
Members of the Biden campaign reached out to local leaders in the metro Detroit area — home to the country’s largest Arabic-speaking population — to set up a meeting with Arab and Muslim community members so they could discuss voter concerns, mainly the war in Gaza, according to organizers.
Some Arab and Muslim leaders initially hoped to use the meeting, set at an undisclosed location, for participants to voice their misgivings about the White House’s support for Israel’s offensive, which has been ongoing since Oct. 7. They were also concerned about the president’s recent comments dismissing vows by Arabs and Muslims to not vote for him.
But the plans were derailed after many members of Arab and Muslim communities hesitated or refused entirely to consider such a meeting, several Michigan residents told HuffPost.
Assad Turfe, the deputy county executive director for Wayne County — the most populous county in Michigan — told HuffPost that the campaign had reached out to him about the listening session. The meeting was supposed to bring together Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez and 10-15 Arab American elected officials and representatives from large community organizations, Turfe said.
Turfe said that he aimed to use the meeting to showcase the potential for significant Arab and Muslim voter turnout — and how dangerous it would be to depress those votes.
“They really and truly don’t have a grasp and understanding on the situation on the ground and the situation on the ground in the Arab American community,” said Turfe, referring to the Biden campaign. “The idea of the meeting was to lay the foundation to let them know they are in bigger trouble than the…
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