Editor’s note: Harun Moghul is the author of “Two Billion Caliphs: A Vision for the Muslim Future.”” A scholar, educator, and leadership consultant, he lives in Cincinnati. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.read more opinions On CNN.
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In another world, President Joe Biden’s decision Thursday to sanction certain Israeli settlers involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank might make sense.confronting the world we live in The shocking violence by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza war, which Biden enabled, authorized, and supported, is a particularly egregious example of too little, too late.
Provided by: Haroon Moghul
Harun Mogul
Biden’s support for Israel is causing many people in heavily Democratic constituencies, from young voters to black Christians, to reconsider their support for Biden. American Muslims may be among the most disillusioned of Muslims. For the past 20 years, we have primarily supported the Democratic Party. Over the past few months, I’ve talked about politics with hundreds of fellow Muslims. Not voting for Biden would effectively mean voting for former President Donald Trump if he wins the Republican nomination, but how many Muslims say they still support him? can be counted with one finger.
After the undeniably horrific October 7 attack carried out by Hamas against Israelis, Mr. Biden chooses to acknowledge history and pursue a response that equally considers the lives of Israelis and Palestinians. It could have been done. Instead, he oversaw what former State Department adviser Wael al-Zayat called an “illogical disaster,” offering ruthless and toothless criticism of Israel’s military tactics while killing 27,000 people. It continued to provide arms shipments and diplomatic cover for a war in which more than 1,000 people died. The people of Gaza in just a few months. These figures are collected by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is part of the Hamas government in Gaza, and the statistics are trusted by the United Nations.
For the American Muslims I spoke to, these choices are impossible to ignore. Mr. Biden did not have to pursue his own agenda. The world is suffering from its effects, and we are now witnessing an escalation of bigotry and bigotry in our own countries.
Amina Barhoumi, executive director of the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told me that anti-Muslim “hate crimes, assaults, and discrimination incidents” have skyrocketed since Oct. 7. Reports of such incidents increased 172% annually across the United States. He said “in the four weeks since Oct. 7, admissions to CAIR and the state of Ohio office have increased 600% year-over-year” and that “elected officials on both sides have “remarks” that contributed to these numbers.
The Intercept reported that Muslims across the United States have faced violence, including at Columbia University, where students protesting over Gaza were targeted with chemical agents. In Georgia, a young student’s teacher was allegedly threatened with decapitation. Three Palestinian college students were shot in Vermont, leaving one paralyzed for life. Her mother, Hanan Shahin, was brutally attacked in her home. Although she survived with severe injuries, her 6-year-old son Wadea Alfayoume died after being stabbed 26 times.
When people ask me how American Muslims can abandon Biden in the face of Trump, I wonder if they understand what we’re doing. How can anyone understand the incredible moral differences in the workplace?
Like many American Muslims, I support a ceasefire in Gaza and a subsequent commitment to a meaningful and fair process that brings peace, security, and dignity to the Palestinian people. Instead, through our government’s largely uncritical support for Israel, the United States is promoting violent military operations, fueled by overtly exclusionist rhetoric, and without determined U.S. support, You will face many obstacles.
In doing so, Biden appears to have abandoned even the pretense of neutrality that the United States is supposed to uphold. That is morally outrageous. It’s also strategically strange. After all, we too benefit from international institutions. So this approach is not just unprincipled; That’s dangerous. Many analysts have warned that Biden’s policies are putting American lives at risk. With recent attacks in Jordan killing three of our soldiers and injuring many more, we are entering increasingly alarming territory.
Authoritative observers warn that the fires will spread further, putting more American lives and resources at risk. As far as I know, not a single American voted for this chaos and conflict. Most Americans, including half of Republicans, support a ceasefire, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. But Mr. Biden has repeatedly refused to use the United States’ enormous influence to foster detente.
Have we learned nothing from recent history? After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, our nation’s elites led us into a short-sighted and sometimes disastrous response worth trillions of dollars, the worst of which was Iraq. Countries that pose no credible direct threat to us have been invaded based on false assumptions. Thousands of Americans and about 300,000 Iraqis died, but no one was held accountable.
Biden, then a U.S. senator and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, voted in favor of a resolution authorizing the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but has largely acknowledged no responsibility for the disaster. Worse, he may not believe he has to.
We Americans deserve better. We too should seek better. For a long time, establishment Democrats have been touting Trump as a threat. They warned us that if we didn’t vote for us, we would vote for him. But if these Democrats were truly concerned about what President Trump represents, they would draw a sharper contrast. If they can’t convince us to vote for Biden, that’s the party’s fault, not the voters’. Biden gave a preview of what to expect when he visited Michigan on Thursday.
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Despite having just issued an executive order against violent Israeli settlers, he was treated to reduce representation from the American Muslim community, which holds significant votes in electoral districts in Midwestern battleground states. . Days before Biden’s visit, local Muslim leaders were among those who canceled meetings with the president’s campaign manager. Last December, Muslim leaders gathered in Dearborn, Michigan, the city with the highest per capita Muslim population in the United States, to formally launch the “Abandon Biden” effort.
Trump’s second term as president will be difficult, even disastrous. But I believe the United States can survive four more years under the Trump administration. Otherwise, I’m not sure we can survive another four years with so-called good people who clearly act.