The Democratic Party is facing a crisis of identity. After Hamas invaded Israel on October 7th, killing well over a thousand people, including many women and children in the most brutal ways, the far-left found itself with a decision to make. Would it apply some nuance to the situation, or would it fall into its default of openly supporting Hamas?
Unsurprisingly, they chose door number two, with massive pro-Hamas protests breaking out across the country, many of which have included genocidal language against Jews. That has left the most vocal segment of the Democratic Party in conflict with the President of the United States.
While Joe Biden and his handlers have often made equivocating and confusing statements regarding the war, it would be dishonest to suggest that they haven't broadly supported Israel's right to self-defense. Call it a stopped-clock moment or a remnant of the old left remaining, but that tension is now leading to an open revolt of Muslims against the Democratic Party.
“What’s happening is betrayal,” Abdel Salam told HuffPost. “Betrayal of what we assumed was a promise and commitment to listen to us, at the very least.”
Abdel Salam is one of a growing number of Muslim and Arab voters who say they are frustrated with the Democratic Party, and are vowing not to cast their votes for Biden in 2024. Muslim and Arab organizers said they cannot in good faith encourage their communities to support Biden’s reelection, and some say they won’t vote for any down-ballot Democrats either. Muslim organizers and advocacy groups have signed petitions, written letters and taken to social media to announce their disapproval of the president’s Israel strategy.
How durable of a concern this will be for Biden going into the 2024 election has yet to be seen. It's possible this is just the political equivalent of a toddler kicking and screaming with the expectation that they will forgive and forget half an hour later. Certainly, despite a mention in the article, I do not believe there's going to be a rush of Muslims voting Republican because Biden is too supportive of Israel. That math just doesn't calculate.
But while the latter might be an empty threat, the threat to simply not vote at all is far more compelling as a political possibility. In a state like Michigan, Muslim voters sitting at home could be decisive. The same is true, albeit to a lesser extent, in Pennsylvania. Biden needs those voters to show up at the polls because the margins are expected to once again be slim.
“Muslims have never been united in America, until now,” Hussein said. “We feel the bombs dropping on our homes as is dropping on Gaza, and then we feel the weight of our nation who is behind it and we feel helpless that we can’t do anything about it.”
I find it rather disturbing that the one thing that has united Muslims in America, at least according to these activists, is Israel attempting to take out Hamas, a terror government that just perpetrated the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. That would seem to be a pretty big indictment against U.S. immigration policies.
It'd be one thing if we saw the same level of energy opposing Hamas as we do opposing Israel's act of self-defense, but we don't see that. There have been no anti-Hamas rallies put on by the Muslim community in the United States. Why is there such an obsession with leaving a terrorist government in power instead of calling for its downfall?
Regardless, this is a problem for Biden, and it's a needle he can't thread. There is nothing that will appease the Muslim community except total denunciation and opposition to Israel. That's not going to happen, and the White House is now at risk of losing one of its most loyal voting blocs.