Detroit Evening Report: Arab American leaders refuse to meet with Biden campaign during Michigan visit

President Joe Biden’s campaign manager traveled to Michigan on Friday and found some top Arab American activists unwilling to meet with her.

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The backlash to Julie Chavez Rodriguez’s visit exposes a growing rift between the White House and groups otherwise loyal to Democratic causes amid growing tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Rodriguez spoke throughout the day with some Arab American community leaders, but ended her trip after a late afternoon meeting with Arab American leaders was canceled when everyone invited — between 10 and 15 people — declined to show up.

Other activists went beyond simply not showing up for Rodriguez, as leaders from “Abandon Biden,” a movement discouraging voters from supporting the president in November, spoke to hundreds of people at a local mosque in anticipation of the campaign manager’s visit.

Assad I. Turfe, a deputy Wayne County executive, said he was tasked with coordinating the original meeting, but that it was abandoned due to lack of interest.

Turfe said he reached out to more than 10 Arab American and Muslim leaders after being contacted by the Biden campaign on Wednesday. The leaders then spoke with community members, Turfe said, who made it clear they did not want them meeting Rodriguez because of Biden’s full-throated support for Israel in its war with Hamas.

“I don’t believe that the Biden administration, at the senior top level, understands how big of a problem this is and how upset and angry the community is,” Turfe said.

The developments highlight the acute challenges the president’s campaign faces as it tries to sure up support among Arab Americans, whose votes will be key in Michigan during November’s election.

Story by Joey Cappelleti and Will Weissert, Associated Press. WDET’s Pat Batcheller contributed to this report.

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