Biden under pressure to call for ceasefire or lose Muslim voters

President Joe Biden is facing more pressure to call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, this time from Muslim voters who say they may withhold their support for his 2024 reelection bid if he continues to back Israel.

The National Muslim Democratic Council, which includes party leaders from key battleground states such as Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, sent a letter to Biden on Monday urging him to broker a ceasefire between the Palestinian terrorist organization and the Jewish state by 5 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday.

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The letter, titled “2023 Ceasefire Ultimatum,” warns Biden that Muslim leaders will mobilize “Muslim, Arab, and allied voters” to “withhold endorsement, support, or votes for any candidate who endorses the Israeli offensive against the Palestinian people.” They also call for the establishment of humanitarian aid.

“It has become evident that our voices are being ignored, but our votes will not be. Simply put, as Gaza turns red, so could crucial battleground states,” the Muslim leaders wrote.

The leaders emphasized that many Muslim and Arab voters reside in states that were pertinent to Biden’s 2020 election win, such as Georgia. In Michigan, an exit poll from the Associated Press found that 64% of Muslims voted for Biden in 2020, compared to the 35% who voted for former President Donald Trump. So losing that voting bloc could have damning consequences on the president’s reelection campaign.

Vice President Kamala Harris is also receiving pressure from former campaign aides who wrote a letter imploring her to back “Squad” Democrats in their calls for a ceasefire in Israel. The Biden administration has declared “unconditional” support for Israel, but he has also defended the Palestinian people, distinguishing them from Hamas, the group that carried out a terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7.

Since then, Arab and Muslim Americans have said they feel betrayed by Biden’s financial, military, and vocal support for Israel’s counterstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials are reporting more than 1,400 deaths since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, and officials from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health said on Monday that over 8,300 people died in Israeli counterstrikes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Tuesday that his country would not agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, comparing the attacks to those against the United States when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.

“Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of Oct. 7,” Netanyahu said. “Calls for a ceasefire or calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorists, surrender to barbarism, that will not happen.”

Biden has implored Netanyahu to allow more protection of Palestinian civilians and to permit more aid to flow into Gaza, but critics say that would not be enough to address the crisis in the Middle East.

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The Arab American Institute released a poll on Tuesday that showed Biden’s support among Arab Americans has fallen to 17%, compared to 59% in 2020. The poll marked the first time since its inception in 1997 that a majority of Arab Americans do not identify as Democrats — 32% now identify as Republicans and 31% identify as independents.

Forty percent of those polled indicated that they would vote for Trump in 2020, which is up by 5 percentage points from 2020.