Senior White House officials will reportedly meet with members of the Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian immigrant communities in Chicago on Thursday, without having commented on the latest wave of antisemitism in that city.
CNN reported:
Senior White House officials are planning to meet with Arab-, Muslim- and Palestinian-American community leaders in Chicago on Thursday, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told CNN, as President Joe Biden continues to grapple with anger and concern across the country about the Israel-Hamas war.
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Among those expected to participate in the meeting, according to sources, are: Tom Perez, the White House’s director of intergovernmental affairs; Steve Benjamin, White House director of public engagement; Mazen Basrawi, White House liaison to Muslim-American communities; Curtis Ried, the National Security Council chief of staff; and aides Dan Koh and Jamie Citron.
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Vivian Khalaf, chairman of the board of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, told CNN that she was invited to Thursday’s meeting with White House officials but declined to attend. In an interview, she made clear her deep dissatisfaction with the Biden administration’s handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The White House did not comment on an outbreak of antisemitism in Chicago, the latest manifestation of which was the cancelation of a concert by the Jewish musician Matisyahu over the “threat of protests” at the House of Blues.
Unbelievable anti-Semitism in my hometown of Chicago. Anti-Semitism enabled by the White House and the Mayor of Chicago.
I guess Chicago is no longer “my kind of town,” because it’s not a town for my kind. https://t.co/pFVzHxe8we— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) March 14, 2024
Biden Administration officials met last month with Arab- and Muslim-American leaders in Michigan, a key swing state in the 2024 presidential election. One of the officials with whom they met is an openly pro-terror leader in the area.
The meeting in Chicago does not indicate that reliably Democratic Illinois is in play in the 2024 election. Rather, it is an acknowledgment of the role played by Chicago communities in Arab- and Muslim-American public opinion overall.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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