United States President Joe Biden apologizes to Muslim Americans for doubting the Palestinian death toll that the Gaza Ministry of Health released.
The Democratic leader made the apologies privately and pledged to do better during his meeting with a group of Muslim Americans. The 81-year-old president met face-to-face with five community figureheads who were angered by his public dismissal of the Palestinian death toll that was released on Oct. 25.
Joe Biden Apologizes for Doubting Palestinian Death Toll
One person organizing the meeting said the process was a "sh**show." During the press conference at the White House on that day, the president said that he had no notion that the Palestinians were telling the truth about the exact number of casualties.
The next day, on Oct. 26, Biden had fraught discussions with five community public figures who were furious by his remarks. Their group went back-and-forth over the president's allotted time by 30 minutes. All five attendees were hand-picked by the White House, as per the Daily Mail.
The guests at the meeting included Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Chicago-based Rami Nashashibi, interfaith leader Imam Mohamed Magid, Muslim lobbyist Wa'el Alzayat, and healthcare advocate Suzanne Barakat.
One person involved in the talks questioned the attendees why they were sitting down with Biden without any agreement that he would retract the statement he made and publicly apologize.
A participant at the talks said that the objective of the meeting was to press the Democratic president on the issue of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The invitees were "livid" that Biden was debating the fatality data just one day before instead of accepting that thousands of people were being killed in the war-torn region.
During the meeting, Biden said, "I'm sorry. I'm disappointed in myself." The president's remarks came as more than 14,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including thousands of children and women, were killed amid the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group, according to the New York Post.
Handling the War Between Israel and Hamas
The Israeli government said that it suffered more than 1,200 deaths, mostly civilians, during the Hamas militant group's initial attack on Oct. 7. The Muslim American leaders who met with the president called on him to show more empathy to Palestinians. Biden reportedly embraced one of the talks' participants at the end of their meeting.
The situation comes as Biden has been facing mounting pressure from members of his administration for a strategy to curtail civilian deaths in Gaza. Some prominent Democrats have publicly disparaged the president's response to the conflict.
Since the beginning of the war, Biden has endorsed America's support for Israel but has also called on the Jewish state to agree to a ceasefire. This would allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. He had also been working to have hostages taken by the militant group freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
On Sunday, Biden said that he had been advocating for weeks to pause the fighting in the region for two purposes. The first is for assistance to reach Gaza civilians who desperately need help. The second is to facilitate the release of the hostages taken by the group, which includes American nationals, said Fox News.
