US President, Joe Biden privately apologized to a group of Muslim Americans for casting ‘excessive skepticism’ over the number of Palestinian deaths released by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
The president, 81, met with five community figureheads who were furious over his comment after he publicly dismissed a Palestinian death toll on October 25. One person organizing the meeting said the process was a ‘s**tshow.’
At the press conference at the White House, Biden said: ‘I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed.’
The next day on October 26, Biden had fraught discussions with five community public figures who were incensed by his comments. Their group back-and-forth went over Biden’s allotted scheduled time by 30 minutes.
All five attendees had been hand-picked by the White House.
The guest list included, according to the Washington Post: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Chicago-based Rami Nashashibi, interfaith leader Imam Mohamed Magid, Muslim lobbyist Wa’el Alzayat, and health-care advocate Suzanne Barakat.
One person involved in the talks told the Post: ‘Why are you sitting down with him without any agreement that he’s going to retract that statement and apologize?
‘What seat at the table are you negotiating, the toilet seat?’
One participant, speaking to the Post, said the goal was to press Biden on the issue of ceasefire. The invitees were ‘livid’ that Biden was debating the fatality data just one day before – rather than accepting that thousands were being killed in Gaza.
Because Hamas, the terrorist organization who slaughtered 1,300 Israelis, are the body who release Gaza’s death toll, the numbers were approached with caution at the beginning of the conflict.
All five at Biden’s meeting said that they knew people that were affected by the ordeal in Gaza.
One of the people present said they’d lost 100 members of their family.
It was at this point Biden allegedly apologized for his words and actions.
He reportedly told them: ‘I’m sorry. I’m disappointed in myself. I will do better.’
One attendee told the Post: ‘We said, ‘Palestinians are dying. We’re not okay with the numbers of their dead being disputed.’
The president ended up hugging one of the participants and vowed to ‘do better.’
Keith Ellison, who was one of the five in attendance, told the Washington Post: ‘Muslim community leaders told President Biden that the suffering of innocent Gazans trying to survive in extremely difficult circumstances has actually increased the likelihood of Islamophobic attacks in the United States.
‘The President listened carefully, responded sincerely, and showed empathy and compassion for the suffering of everyone. I am hopeful he will act on that empathy.’
Biden and his officials have been meeting with various groups of Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab Americans in recent weeks as the conflict in the Middle East continues to divide public opinion.