AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Muslim community leaders from across the US will hold a news conference in Chicago on Saturday, urging voters to withdraw their support for President Joe Biden over his handling of the Gaza crisis.
The organizers of the #AbandonBiden campaign say they are disappointed by Biden's refusal to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 21,500 Palestinians since October.
They accuse Biden of betraying the Muslim Americans who helped him win the 2020 election, and violating the Democratic Party's promise to respect life domestically and abroad.
The campaign, which started in October, has been targeting voters in swing states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, where Biden won by narrow margins. It plans to expand its message to all 50 states and mobilize voters of all faiths to "abandon him because he's abandoned us".
The news conference will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn at McCormick Place, coinciding with the annual convention of the Muslim American Society and Islamic Circle of North America, which is expected to draw more than 30,000 attendees.
The campaign's leaders, Hassan Abdel Salam, a sociology professor at the University of Minnesota, and Jaylani Hussein, the head of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, say they have received support from some Democratic insiders and elected officials, but they are not ready to go public with their endorsement.
“We never expected the president would have this paralysis around an issue that is so clear,” said Hussein, Chicago Sun Times reported on Saturday.
“The Muslim community in the U.S. as a whole may be small, but it is well-connected … We helped vote him in, and we’ve been betrayed in such a significant way that we must help vote him out.”
They also say they do not support former Republican President Donald Trump or any of the GOP candidates in the primary field, but they are willing to sacrifice four years of Republican rule for the sake of the Palestinian cause.
"Four years of any Republican is not comparable to a single day in Gaza," Salam said. "We may get hurt if Trump comes into office, but the long-term benefit is showing both parties that we won't stand for this again."
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