Palestinian community leaders refuse to meet with White House officials in Chicago in protest of Gaza war

At least two-dozen Palestinian, Arab and Muslim community leaders declined to meet with White House officials in the Chicago area on Thursday in protest of the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, several sources confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The White House had hoped to regain support after similar rejections by leaders in Michigan — home to the largest Arab American population in the nation — and the decision by more than 100,000 Democratic voters in that state to select “uncommitted” on their ballots instead of President Joe Biden in Michigan’s Feb. 27 primary election.

But top White House officials may be facing the same push-back in Chicago with early voting already underway in Tuesday’s Illinois primary and as President Joe Biden has been stepping up pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A source familiar with the meeting said the White House officials expected to travel to the Chicago area were: Mazen Basrawi, White House liaison to Muslim-American communities; Tom Perez, White House intergovernmental affairs director; Perez’s deputy Daniel Koh; Steve Benjamin, White House public engagement director; Benjamin’s deputy Jamie Citron; and Curtis Ried, the National Security Council chief of staff.

Their visit also came as Chicago is preparing to host the Democratic National Convention in August and as the Israel-Hamas war has created rifts among Democrats in the wake of the mounting death toll in Gaza as a result of Israeli bombing attacks.

A letter signed by 20 local community organizations and 14 local leaders was sent to the White House Thursday explaining the decision to rebuff the administration officials. The letter noted that the U.S. has continued to fund Israel and blocked votes at the United Nations calling for a cease-fire, meaning a “meeting of the minds is nowhere in sight.”

Groups that indicated their intent to boycott the meeting included the Palestinian American Council, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, Doctors Against Genocide, the Muslim Civic Coalition, American Muslim Health Professionals, the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Human Dignity Project and the Muslim Bar Association of Chicago.

Sources said a few Muslim and Arab community members were expected to meet with the White House officials.

The Chicago area is home to the largest Palestinian and Palestinian American population in the country. State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, D-Berwyn, the only Palestinian American elected official in Illinois or Chicago government, said he’s among those who declined the meeting because “really there isn’t much more to be said.”

“There have been many meetings and conversations since October with the White House,” Rashid said. “And the reality is our position is extremely clear that there needs to be a permanent cease-fire and we need our country to stop providing arms to Israel.”

Rashid said he hopes the rejection shows the White House that it “ought to listen to the American people, who overwhelmingly support a cease-fire.”

Rashid wouldn’t say if he planned to participate in an organizing effort to boycott Biden in next Tuesday’s Illinois primary, saying he’s “voting only for Democrats as I always have.” Illinois doesn’t have a choice for “uncommitted” on its ballot like other states, so community leaders have urged those who want to protest the war to write in “Gaza” or leave the presidential ticket blank.

A source familiar with the White House’s plans said officials planned to hold a private meeting to hear community leaders speak openly about their concerns on the war in Gaza and rising Islamophobia here in the U.S.

Asked for comment on the meeting, a White House spokesperson confirmed “senior officials are in Chicago for a series of meeting with community leaders, part of an ongoing process to engage with communities impacted by the Mideast conflict.” They didn’t say how many meetings would be held.

Biden’s recent public rhetoric has reflected an effort to distance his administration from ongoing Israeli attacks that have now killed nearly 31,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children. The UN has said the risk of starvation and famine in Gaza is acute, as efforts have failed to bring needed food and medical supplies into the besieged enclave. Biden had consistently supported Israel after a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed around 1,200 people in Israel, with hostages taken that day still held captive in Gaza.

The U.S. airdropped aid into Gaza this month, and Biden announced in his State of the Union address last week that the U.S. military is building a pier off Gaza’s coast to deliver supplies coming through the Mediterranean Sea.

But humanitarian groups have said all efforts to deliver relief — land, sea and air — are falling short as children are beginning to die of malnutrition.