Arab Americans were frustrated even before Gaza war

Months after Joe Biden was sworn in as America’s 46th president, his supporters boasted that he had appointed more Arab Americans to administration positions than any other president.

That claim was repeated two years ago on my Arab News-sponsored radio show by members of the Arab Americans in Foreign Affairs Agencies employee organization, which is headed by two Arab Americans and that vets and recommends the appointment of members of the community to the White House and State Department.

Their presence in the Biden administration was supposed to be the actualization of the platform Biden laid out to solidify his support among Arab Americans, especially in the key swing state of Michigan, which Biden barely won in 2020 (he beat Donald Trump by a mere 154,000 votes out of nearly 5.5 million cast).

Biden based his “inclusion” of Arab Americans on a platform he called “A Plan for Partnership,” which was released in August 2020, during his presidential election campaign.

It was absolutely true, of course. Biden did go further than any prior administration in directly engaging Arab Americans by putting them in key positions throughout his administration, instead of merely engaging Arab world leaders like prior administrations did. And Arab Americans enthusiastically applauded the news.

Arab Americans had been excluded from playing significant roles in American politics for many years. One exception came in 1984, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson made Arab Americans a part of his campaign to win the Democratic nomination for president. Although Jackson did not win the nomination, he — in cooperation with Arab American Institute founder and president Jim Zogby — helped forge a Democratic National Committee platform that recognized Arab American and Arab world demands for Middle East peace.

But after setting the record for having the most Arab Americans serving in the White House and State Department, Biden quietly imposed one critical caveat: the Arab American appointees were tightly tethered and prohibited from doing public interviews with the mainstream media. They were even banned from doing interviews in the Arab American media.

Many naive media pundits and analysts think that Biden lost the Arab American vote last year, when he failed to prevent Israel from engaging in one of the most horrendous massacres of Arab civilians in years as it took revenge on Gaza for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. The death toll from the Israeli war on Gaza could ultimately top 186,000, according to The Lancet.

The problems began as soon as the Arab American appointees to the administration took up their roles

Ray Hanania

However, Biden’s problems with the Arab American community actually began before Oct. 7. In fact, the problems began as soon as the Arab American appointees to the administration took up their White House and State Department roles. They were told not to do public interviews because of apparent concern that they might anger Biden’s Israeli allies. So, they were told to work quietly behind the scenes.

Biden’s outreach to the community may have initially gone down well with Arab Americans, but it angered the pro-Israel movement, which has long reigned unchallenged in terms of lobbying and influencing the White House and an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in Congress, ensuring they share Israel’s opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state.

The fear of inciting the pro-Israel lobby was intense and this was behind the policy of keeping the Arab American appointees silent. A few of them did do interviews, but most were carefully choreographed and managed by the administration, including one I did in 2022 with Hady Amr, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli and Palestinian affairs. Amr probably did more interviews than the others and he was always forthright, optimistic and dedicated to ensuring that everyone was treated fairly.

The rise of such Arab American influence was a concern for many pro-Israel groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which in the most recent round of primary elections won all of the 224 races in which it funded a candidate, defeating dozens of pro-Arab challengers.

Most presidents, including Barack Obama, who was constantly attacked by pro-Israel critics, have felt this intense lobbying pressure and tempered their rhetoric in support of Arab and Palestinian rights.

Biden managed to take his support for Arab Americans further only because he has for years declared himself to be a Zionist. Every time Jewish Americans and pro-Israel activists expressed alarm over his cozying up to the Arab community, Biden would emphasize that fact.

This gave him the leeway to reach out to Arab Americans without too much concern for the anger it would produce from Israel’s powerful lobbies. But the bottom line is not perception or image. And it certainly is not empty rhetoric.

Biden has been unable to address the concerns of Arab Americans and his failure to curb Israel’s excessive brutality in Gaza is only a reinforcement of that tragic fact.

• Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist. He can be reached on his personal website at www.Hanania.com. X: @RayHanania