US President Joe Biden risked losing support from Muslim voters during the November 2024 elections after he ordered strikes on Yemen in support of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, according to the Newsweek.
Biden ordered airstrikes on several provinces across Yemen, including the capital Sana’a and Hudaydah, early Friday in response to the Yemeni pro-Palestine strikes on vessels linked to the Israeli regime. The US military carried out the strikes with Britain.
Citing its interviews with activists and community members, Newsweek said “airstrikes in Yemen launched on the orders of President Joe Biden appear to be another nail in his coffin for Arab and Muslim voters.”
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told Newsweek on Friday that the civil rights group is “deeply disturbed” by the “illegal” airstrikes in Yemen, slamming the US administration for failing to address the root causes of the tensions in the Red Sea.
“We’re deeply disturbed to see the Biden administration escalating this crisis by bombing Yemen without congressional approval, instead of simply addressing the root of the crisis, which is the ongoing genocide in Gaza. If the genocide comes to an end, the temperature in the region will come down,” Mitchell said.
“From our perspective, this strike done without Congressional approval is illegal, it’s dangerous and ultimately it’s not going to bring peace, it’s just going to escalate the risk of war,” he added.
Mitchell believes that “many people are disturbed that our government is quick to protect commercial shipping, but not quick to protect the thousands of children who are being murdered in Gaza. It’d be great to see us caring about both.”
Mitchell’s criticisms of the Biden administration’s failure to seek Congress’s approval echoed remarks made by Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and the only Palestinian American member of Congress.
Biden “is violating Article I of the Constitution by carrying out airstrikes in Yemen without congressional approval.
The American people are tired of endless war,” Tlaib’s said on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
According to Newsweek, a coalition of Muslim Americans have gone as far as to launch a #AbandonBiden campaign, calling on voters to not reelect the president this year over his stance on the war in Gaza.
“I think Biden’s standing [with Arab and Muslim voters] has already suffered tremendously because of his Israel-Palestine policy and his unconditional support for [Benjamin] Bibi Netanyahu.
Despite mounting evidence of war crimes and possibly genocide,” Newsweek cited Wa’el Alzayat, the CEO of Emgage as saying.
“We are hearing from Muslim, Arab voters that they’re extremely unhappy, disappointed and many are saying as of right now, based on what they have seen, they will not be voting for Biden,” Alzayat added.
Polls also showed a decline in Biden’s popularity among Muslim voters.
According to a survey released by Engage in early November 2023, only 5.2 percent of Muslim Americans it sampled said they would vote for Biden in the upcoming election.
This marks a steep decline from the 86 percent of Muslim Americans who voted for Biden in 2020, according to a survey conducted by polling firm Change Research on behalf of Emgage and the Muslim American nonprofit, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).
The strikes on Yemen were also slammed by Jill Stein, a candidate for the Green Party’s nomination in the 2024 presidential election, who said the US is now “risking serious escalation.”
“It’s not only Muslim Americans who are horrified by this.
So too are youth and many in our communities of color. In fact, a landslide majority of US voters want a ceasefire and an end to this genocidal war—much of it paid for with our tax dollars.
Congress and the White House, however, are listening to AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] and the war profiteers instead of the people,” Stein explained.
“There is a growing movement to use the power of democracy to demand our elected officials listen to us, not the lobbyists, super PACs and big campaign donors.
Specifically, people are pledging not to support pro-genocide candidates in the upcoming election, and to give their support to candidates working for a cease fire and an end to occupation, apartheid and genocide.”
Stein said that Biden’s response to the conflict in West Asia “further undermined the confidence and support of the American people, contributing to the continuing downward slide of his poll numbers and prospects for November.”
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7. Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 24,100 Palestinians and injured 60,834 others.
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