An Arab American assessment of Biden's failures

Jordan Times

27-01-2025

As Joseph Biden's presidency comes to an end, his National Security Advisor, Secretary of State, and now Biden himself have been making an effort to put a pretty face on their disastrous performance in the Middle East. While his aides have taken to blaming others for failures in a vain effort to absolve themselves, the President, true to form, attempted to paint a portrait of successes. It was, in a word, exaggerated. Some might even say, delusional.
My focus here will be narrower. I will assess the Biden administration's performance through the lens of commitments they made to Arab Americans in 2020.
In the lead-up to the November 2020 election, the Biden campaign issued a document 'Joe Biden and the Arab American Community: A Plan for Partnership.' It demonstrated important outreach to an often-overlooked constituency. There were many promises made in its three pages, only a smattering of which were implemented.
For example, the Biden administration signed the 'Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer NO HATE Act' which improves hate crime reporting. They improved race and ethnicity data collection, including a new category that will enable a more accurate count of persons of Arab descent. And they ended the 'Muslim ban' and extended Temporary Protected Status to various countries in the Arab world, allowing people to remain in the US during the conflicts raging in their home countries.
But aside from these few accomplishments, the story to be told is what the Biden administration did not do. What follows are a list of their failures:
• They promised a 'partnership' with Arab Americans, but nothing of the sort occurred. During the entire four years of his term in office, neither the President nor his Vice President (or National Security Advisor) met with Arab American community leaders. There were meetings which we fought for and won with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, but none with the senior leadership in the White House. This was primarily because for the first three years, the White House subsumed Arab Americans under the Muslim rubric, literally erasing Arab Americans as an ethnic community. When the White House first announced their 'Strategy to Combat Islamophobia,' they spoke of concern with bigotry, discrimination, and hate crimes that negatively impacted 'Muslims, and those perceived to be Muslim,' citing Arabs and Sikhs as examples. This exclusion had an impact across the government. Arab Americans, who for forty years had to fight for recognition and inclusion, were forced to begin the fight anew just be included in meetings and have their concerns heard.
So while the Biden campaign document opened saying, 'Anti-Arab bigotry has been used in attempts to exclude, silence, and marginalise an entire community… Biden embraces the partnership of Arab Americans…', in reality, the White House found a new way to exclude, silence, and marginalize us.
• The administration rushed through Israel's admission into the US Visa Waiver Program, despite documented evidence that Israel had not fulfilled a basic requirement of the program—that is, to guarantee reciprocity to Arab Americans seeking entry to and exit from Israel. Past administrations, Republicans and Democrats had rejected Israel's entry into the VWP given well-documented evidence of harassment, discrimination, and denial of entry to US citizens of Arab descent. The Biden administration knew these practices continued and yet they trampled on the rights of their own citizens and the statutory requirements of their own laws to grant Israel this undeserved privilege.
In addition, during this administration's tenure, Arab Americans have been murdered by the IDF and had their properties stolen and vandalized. The best the US has done, in response, has been to express concern.
• The Biden campaign also promised to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem, and the Palestinian office in Washington. These they haven't done.
• Maybe the most galling failures of this administration are in its handling of the war on Gaza. Granted that this tragedy had not erupted in all its fury when the Biden campaign pledges were made, but there were promises made in the 2020 campaign document which provide a yardstick by which to measure their performance. For example:
'Joe Biden believes in the worth and value of every Palestinian and every Israeli. He will work to ensure that Palestinians and Israelis enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and democracy.'
'Biden opposes annexation and settlement…and will work to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza…'
Throughout the entire war on Gaza, other than expressing hollow concern for Palestinian casualties and humanitarian needs, the administration has given Israel blank-check support as it has pursued its genocidal aims. Lamely claiming that they had limited ability to influence Israel's behavior, the US sent tens of billions of dollars in new arms shipments, deployed US forces to support Israel, repeatedly vetoed UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire, and condemned the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice efforts to rein in Israel's crimes. Even now, as Israel is making it clear that it is establishing a permanent presence in Gaza (and Lebanon and Syria), and Palestinians are being denied food, medicine, and shelter in Gaza, and dying from hypothermia and malnutrition, the administration is rushing another eight billion dollars in arm shipments to Israel. So much for their belief in the equal worth and value of Palestinian and Israeli lives.
While so much more could be said, the bottom line is that for Arab Americans, the Biden administration will be remembered for: its refusal to honor commitments they made; their efforts to erase us and deny us our rights; and their willful enabling of genocide in Gaza. This betrayal cannot be forgotten or forgiven.
The writer is president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute