President Joe Biden’s administration is privately developing a national strategy to combat Islamophobia, according to people briefed on the matter, as it faces skepticism from many Muslim Americans for its staunch support of Israel’s military assault on Hamas in Gaza. The White House originally was expected to announce its plans to develop the strategy last week when Biden met with Muslim leaders, but that was delayed, three people said. Two said the delay was due partly to concerns from Muslim Americans that the administration lacked credibility on the issue given its robust backing of Israel’s military, whose strikes against Hamas militants have killed thousands of civilians in Gaza. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the White House plans.
Quick Read
President Joe Biden’s Anti-Islamophobia Strategy
- Context: The Biden administration is working on a national strategy to combat Islamophobia. This move comes as the administration faces criticism from many Muslim Americans due to its strong support of Israel’s military actions in Gaza against Hamas.
- Original Announcement Timing: The White House had planned to announce this strategy during a meeting between Biden and Muslim leaders. However, the announcement was postponed.
- Reason for Delay: According to three sources, the delay was influenced by concerns from Muslim Americans. They felt the administration’s strong support for Israel’s military, which has led to civilian casualties in Gaza, undermined its credibility on addressing Islamophobia.
- Previous Efforts: Earlier in May, the administration released a strategy to combat antisemitism that briefly mentioned countering hatred against Muslims.
- Development Timeline: The strategy against Islamophobia is expected to take several months to finalize. The process will be similar to the one used for the antisemitism strategy, involving various government agencies.
- Recent Events Impacting Hate Crimes: Hate crimes against Jews and Muslims have surged following a significant attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s subsequent actions in Gaza. One notable incident in the U.S. was the killing of a 6-year-old Muslim boy and the injuring of his mother in Illinois, believed to be motivated by Islamophobia.
- Biden’s Statement: After the Illinois incident, President Biden stated that such acts of hatred are contrary to American values.
- General Consensus: Many Muslim Americans believe there is a need for a strategy against Islamophobia. However, the recent Israel-Hamas conflict has complicated the timing of the announcement. Some prominent Muslim American groups view the issues of Islamophobia and the Israel-Hamas conflict as interconnected, while the administration seeks to separate them.
- Meeting with Faith Leaders: Administration officials hinted at the development of an anti-Islamophobia strategy during a meeting with faith leaders. Rami Nashashibi, a participant in the meeting, expressed skepticism. He believes the strategy might not be well-received unless the U.S. administration takes a firmer stance against certain Israeli officials and addresses hate crimes against Muslims and Arab Americans more aggressively.
- Further Concerns: Nashashibi and other leaders want clarification or an apology from Biden regarding his comments on the Palestinian death toll from Israeli strikes. While the administration has expressed skepticism about the numbers provided by the Hamas-run Health Ministry, various international bodies have found the ministry’s counts credible in the past.
- White House National Security Council’s Statement: Spokesperson John Kirby mentioned that the administration doesn’t accept the Health Ministry’s figures at face value but acknowledges the high civilian casualties in Gaza.
- Potential Conflation: Nashashibi voiced concerns that supporting Palestinian rights is being wrongly equated with promoting antisemitism and supporting extremists. He stressed that the White House must address these concerns before rolling out its Islamophobia strategy.
The Associated Press has the story:
Biden works on a strategy to combat Islamophobia. Muslim Americans are skeptical
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP)
President Joe Biden’s administration is privately developing a national strategy to combat Islamophobia, according to people briefed on the matter, as it faces skepticism from many Muslim Americans for its staunch support of Israel’s military assault on Hamas in Gaza.
The White House originally was expected to announce its plans to develop the strategy last week when Biden met with Muslim leaders, but that was delayed, three people said. Two said the delay was due partly to concerns from Muslim Americans that the administration lacked credibility on the issue given its robust backing of Israel’s military, whose strikes against Hamas militants have killed thousands of civilians in Gaza. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the White House plans.
The launch of the anti-Islamophobia effort has been anticipated for months after the administration in May released a national strategy to combat antisemitism that made passing reference to countering hatred against Muslims.
The new initiative is expected to take months to formalize, following a similar process to the plan to counter antisemitism that involved various government agencies.
Incidences of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate have skyrocketed in the United States and abroad since the surprise Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel that killed more than 1,400 people and saw hundreds taken hostage, and Israel’s response in Gaza, where it has pledged to use force to “destroy” Hamas. One of the most prominent attacks in the U.S. was the killing of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of his mother in an attack in Illinois that prosecutors allege was driven by Islamophobia.
“This horrific act of hate has no place in America and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are,” Biden said afterward.
There had been widespread agreement among Muslim Americans on the need for a national strategy to counter Islamophobia, according to a fourth person familiar with the matter, who added that the Israel-Hamas war has made the timing of the White House announcement more complicated. The person, who was also not authorized to speak publicly about the internal deliberations, said the administration wants to keep the two issues separate, while some prominent Muslim American groups see them as interrelated.
Administration officials, during the meeting with a small group of faith leaders last week, indicated things were “in the works” for an anti-Islamophobia strategy, said Rami Nashashibi, the founder of the Inner City Muslim Action Network in Chicago and a participant in that session.
Nashashibi said he believed such an effort would be “dead on arrival” with the Muslim community until the president and administration officials forcefully condemn members of the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who have openly called for the eradication of Palestinians from Gaza and until the administration more aggressively calls out hate crimes targeting Muslims and Arab Americans.
He and other leaders also want Biden to apologize, or at least publicly clarify, his recent comments in which he said he had “no confidence” in the Palestinian death count from Israel’s retaliatory strikes, because the data comes from the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The United Nations and other international institutions and experts, as well as Palestinian authorities in the West Bank — rivals of Hamas — say the Gaza ministry has long made a good-faith effort to account for the dead under the most difficult conditions. In previous wars, the ministry’s counts have held up to U.N. scrutiny, independent investigations and even Israel’s tallies.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the administration is “not taking the Ministry of Health at face value” but he acknowledged there have been “many thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza” in the conflict.
Nashashibi also said the White House strategy could land flat at a moment when many Muslim Americans feel that advocacy stands for Palestinian self-determination is being unfairly lumped in with those espousing antisemitism and backing of extremists.
“That conflating is in great part contributing to an atmosphere where we could see even more deadly results and more targeting,” he said. Nashashibi added, “The White House does not have the credibility to roll out an Islamophobia strategy at this moment without publicly addressing the points we explicitly raised with the president during our meeting.”
