Blinken to meet with Arab and Palestinian Americans amid rising tensions with Biden administration

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to meet with Palestinian and Arab American leaders Friday evening, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

The gathering has been in the works for about a month and the leaders plan to urge the Biden administration to make a number of policy changes towards the Israel-Hamas war, one of the sources said. Several of the leaders slated to attend requested a meeting with Blinken, and they worked to find a mutually agreeable date, the second source explained.

The meeting comes as tensions between the Biden administration and the Palestinian, Muslim and Arab American communities are on the rise. It also comes as the administration struggles with its efforts reaching out to Arab American voters who have taken a general stance of boycotting such meetings and voting uncommitted in the presidential primaries.

Pro-Palestinian college protests calling for an end to US support for Israel’s military have sprung up on campuses across the country in recent weeks. On many college campuses, chants broke out such as: “Biden, Biden you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

And while Biden halted one shipment of bombs to Israel last week and said he would halt some other shipments if Israel launches a major invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah, the administration also says that US military support for Israel’s defense will continue.

A State Department spokesperson did not comment on the meeting.

The Biden opposition from some Muslim, Arab American and progressive voters over the war in Gaza is a mounting problem for the president’s reelection campaign as the November elections approach. And the last few meetings between Biden administration officials and members of these communities have not paved the way for growing collaboration.

Blinken has met with members of these communities twice since October 7, and Friday will mark his third meeting. The meeting this week is consistent with his previous engagements, said the second source, adding that Blinken has also met with Jewish leaders a number of times. His last meeting with Palestinian Americans in February was marked by a number of invitees deciding not to attend, convinced that they could not shift the administration’s policy.

Biden hosted several Muslim leaders at the White House to discuss Gaza last month but the meeting was upended after its sole Palestinian American participant – Dr. Thaer Ahmad, who has traveled to Gaza to treat wounded civilians – walked out in protest after handing Biden a letter from an 8-year-old orphan girl living in Rafah.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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