Muslim Doctor Storms Out of Biden Meeting over Palestinian Conflict

A Muslim emergency medicine physician, Dr. Thaer Ahmad, said he walked out of a meeting with President Joe Biden on Wednesday because of disagreements over the Hamas-Israel war.

The symbolic action underscores the deepening division within the Democrats’ intersectional coalition over the Palestinian conflict.

Only 47 percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s handling of the Hamas-Israel war, a recent Gallup poll found, down 13 points since October, underscoring a major problem for Biden’s reelection chances.

Ahmad turned his back on Biden out of respect for his fellow Palestinians, he told NPR. He said the White House needs to do more to push Israel to stop defending itself against Hamas, a terrorist organization. Ahmad claimed the region needed more American taxpayer-funded humanitarian aid.

“We’ve been on the ground, we’ve seen just how overcrowded Rafah is — just how little aid is getting in — and that any sort of military activity there would be catastrophic,” Ahmad said.

The White House originally intended to invite Muslim leaders to an iftar to celebrate Ramadan. It retracted that plan when some people claimed it made them feel uncomfortable. Instead, the White House set up a small meeting for Biden with Muslims.

“I wanted to communicate that message, but at the same time, I also wanted it to be clear that up until now — what the White House has done is not sufficient enough,” she said.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Ahmad’s symbolic gesture was an act of freedom of speech. “We understand it’s a very painful time,” she told reporters.

Pro-Palestinian protesters repeatedly condemned Biden’s leadership on the Hamas-Israel war. “F*ck Joe Biden!” protesters shouted last week outside Biden’s high-dollar fundraising event with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. “Genocide Joe has got to go!”

“War pig,” one sign held by a protester inside the event read. “Shame on you, Joe Biden,” another shouted. Others yelled, “Blood on your hands.”

Pro-Palestinian activists are reportedly working in several states to disrupt Biden’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in August, Breitbart News reported. Those efforts are underway in New Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.