Arab Americans disappointed with meeting with US Secretary of State on Israel, Gaza

Arab Americans who met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a recent meeting at the State Department said they were disappointed he did not offer any commitments to end the conflict in Gaza and other areas in the Middle East.

Leaders with five Arab American groups, including some based in metro Detroit or with other Michigan ties, met last week with Blinken and other officials at the State Department's headquarters in Washington. During the May 17 meeting, the groups called for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. The Free Press spoke with three people who attended the meeting.

"It wasn't positive," said Bilal Hammoud, executive director of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, in Dearborn, who attended the meeting. "Ultimately, we're disappointed that the administration didn't make any commitments, or indicate that they had a plan for an immediate resolution to this."

The Arab American Institute said this was the first time that Blinken met with an Arab American delegation specifically. Blinken has met before with Arab American advocates, but along with other constituencies, the institute said.

A State Department official told the Free Press on Thursday that Blinken met with representatives of Arab American and Palestinian American communities to hear their perspectives on the Israeli-Hamas conflict, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the situation in the West Bank. The official said the meeting was in response to a request from several Arab American leaders, adding that Blinken has had numerous meetings with Arab American and Palestinian American leaders since 2021, including after Oct. 7.

"It wasn't successful in getting anything," said Hanna Hanania, of Virginia, a member of the Westland-based American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine, who attended the meeting. "We haven't seen any significant change in the policy."

The discussion with Blinken is the latest meeting that President Joe Biden's administration officials have had with Arab American advocates in recent months. In February, several high-ranking security officials in the administration came to Dearborn to meet with local leaders and one of them, Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Finer, apologized to Arab Americans, saying the U.S. government has, at times, dehumanized Palestinians in its public remarks.

In addition to Hammoud and Hanania, other Arab American leaders at the meeting with Blinken included Dearborn native Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute; James Zogby, president of the institute; Northville native Warren David, who runs the website Arab America; and John Dabeet, president of the U.S. Palestinian Council. Accompanying Blinken were other State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf and Hady Amr, special representative for Palestinian affairs in the State Department.

During the meeting, Zogby and others delivered statements, according to a statement released by the Arab American Institute after the meeting. Zogby's statement read: “When we met with Secretary Blinken in October of 2023, I noted that Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza had killed 5,000 Palestinians. I urged an immediate cease-fire to save lives. ... We come back seven months later with over 36,000 dead, most of Gaza’s homes and infrastructure destroyed, millions of Palestinian lives shattered, and Gaza on the verge of starvation."

The Gaza Ministry of Health said about 35,000 have been killed since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people, reported Reuters.

Hammoud's statement released by the institute said that: "There must be a full stop of U.S. military funding that is threatening the security and stability of the whole region, including the cessation of attacks on sovereign Arab nations."

Hammoud said he expressed concern to Blinken about Israel's recent attacks in southern Lebanon, an area that many Dearborn residents have roots in. Wayne County has the highest percentage of Lebanese Americans among all counties in the U.S., according to census data. Hammoud mentioned to Blinken how in 2006, during a war between Israel and Hezbollah, Hammoud and his family were on vacation in Lebanon and struggled to escape as Israel bombed an airport. They eventually left by ship at a port evacuating people, he said. In recent months, Israel and Hezbollah have increasingly attacked each other, leading to a growing number of casualties, Reuters reported. Israel maintains it is defending itself from attacks on northern Israel by Hezbollah.

Hanania said that he has met Blinken several times over the years, including before Blinken became secretary of state. He said that in the past, Blinken and Biden have talked about the importance of equal treatment, but have not shown that over the past seven months.

Protests: Police remove tent encampment at University of Michigan protesting Israel

During his remarks at the meeting, Hanania said he spoke about Arab Americans who have been targeted by Israeli settlers in areas such as the West Bank.

"Justice must be secured for Arab American victims of Israeli violence," Hanania said in his statement to Blinken. "The targeting and killing of American citizens, and the theft of American-owned land by Israel and settlers require independent investigations and full prosecution of the perpetrators."

Hanania said he also asked Blinken to recognize a Palestinian state.

According to Hanania and Hammoud, Blinken responded to his request by saying that recognizing a Palestinian state could eventually lead to starvation in some poor countries because under U.S. law, if a Palestinian state is recognized, the U.S. has to stop all funding for the United Nations. Since the U.S. is the largest funder of the United Nations, children around the world may starve, Blinken said, according to Hanania and Hammoud.

Some Arab American advocates criticized the leaders for attending the meeting.

"Those Arab and Muslim Americans who met with Biden's team before and now with Secretary Blinken are wrong," said Imad Hamad, executive director of the Dearborn-based American Human Relations Council. "They bypassed the community's wishes not to meet. Ironic that they run out to meet, then come out expressing their disappointment and frustration."

In their statement, the Arab American Institute said the groups at the meeting with Blinken endorsed policy suggestions called “In This Moment: An Arab American Agenda," which calls for equal treatment of Arab Americans and Arabs and Palestinians in the Middle East.

Also this week, Detroit businessman John Rakolta, of Bloomfield Hills, co-chair of Michigan's council to improve population growth and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, was in Israel meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reported the New York Times and other media outlets. In recent months, some in metro Detroit's Jewish community have visited Israel to show their support.

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or X @nwarikoo

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Arab Americans meet with Secretary of State Blinken, discuss Gaza