Michigan Rep. Says Biden Has A Lot Of Work To Do To Restore Trust Of Muslim Voters
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) on Sunday conceded that President Joe Biden has a lot of work to do to win back the trust of Muslim voters in Michigan who opposed President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Dingell was asked if Biden could restore the faith of Muslim voters in him despite the fact that they strongly disapprove of his pro-Israel position on the Middle East conflict.
“There’s a lot that has to be done, and this is a very serious issue,” Dingell said.
Dingell, who lived in Dearborn for years, the city with the largest Muslim population in the country, said the community there is hurting over the dramatic scenes coming out of Gaza. So far, over 19,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to local officials.
“All of us in this country need to understand what’s happening in Gaza right now,” Dingell said, noting the scale of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding on the ground.
Dingell added that she’s spoken to many constituents who have lost entire families in the war, adding that the U.S. needs to show empathy and compassion to those suffering and push for a halt to hostilities.
“We got to get a cease-fire,” Dingell said. “If anything good comes out of this crisis, we need everybody to come together and get a strong two-state solution.”
While U.S. officials, including Biden, have reaffirmed their support for a two-state solution, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poured cold water on the idea, saying he was “proud” to have prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state.
IDF forces on Friday mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages. Netanyahu mourned their deaths but said the war, which was prompted by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 Israelis, would continue.
However, pressure for a cease-fire appears to be growing, with some of the Israel’s allies in Europe, including Germany and the U.K., joining the calls for an end to the violence.
Biden, who has maintained support for Israel, had previously warned that the “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza would cause the country to lose support on the world stage for its war effort.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. C.Q. Brown on Monday arrived in Israel, where they were expected to call on Israeli officials to take more action to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza.
Still, earlier this month the State Department approved $106.5 million of additional tank shells for Israel under an emergency authority.
The anger many Arab and Muslim voters feel about Biden’s handling of the conflict could be a big challenge ahead of 2024, especially in Michigan, which has the highest percentage of Arab Americans in the U.S. Biden only won the state by over 150,000 votes in 2020.
Meanwhile, Dingell also weighed on Biden’s impeachment probe in the House, which House Republicans formally authorized last week, saying the GOP has so far failed to produce any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the president.
“In order to have the House pass impeachment, you got to have facts, and I’ve talked to numerous Republicans who have publicly and quietly said, there’s no there there,” Dingell said. “They can’t find anything.”
