Still uncommitted

Arab American voters expressing their opinion on Biden's handling of the Israeli war on Gaza at the ballot box. — AFP

MORE than seven months into Israel’s war on Gaza, Muslim and Arab American leaders say their channels of communication with President Joe Biden’s White House have largely broken down, leaving the administration without a politically valuable chorus of support for his recent significant shift on the conflict.

Biden’s announcement that he had paused a shipment of 3,500 bombs to Israel and would not help with a ground invasion of Rafah was a sea change in United States’ policy that Arab American and Muslim leaders have demanded for months. But those who desired it the most have long ago written off the administration as complicit in a war that Gaza officials say has killed more than 35,000 people, arguing it was, essentially, too little, too late.