Dear Friend,

It’s been a couple of weeks, and you are getting this late on a Sunday night—but it has been a lot.

On Tuesday, more than 100,000 Michiganders of conscience voted 'Uncommitted' in their Democratic primary and sent President Biden a clear message - stop the genocide in Gaza. The historic effort showed the impact Israel's war on Gaza is having on the entire electorate, not just our community. Arab Americans were joined by thousands of young people, Black voters, Muslim voters, Hispanic voters, Asian voters, progressive Jews, and anti-war activists to vote Uncommitted and tell this administration to stop their complicity in Israel's crimes.

The reaction of the Uncommitted vote was felt nationwide. But as the media and insiders questioned the impact of this campaign, in Gaza, the devastation didn't stop. Less than 48 hours after Michigan's primary, more than 100 Palestinians were killed as they attempted to get food from aid trucks - in what is now being called 'The Flour Massacre.' All this as every hospital in Gaza is in total collapse, little to no aid has reached northern Gaza in weeks, and famine is taking the lives of children.

As you know, aid is beyond desperately needed in Gaza as we have reached the point of death from starvation. While air-dropping food packages is happening, it is not enough. It is also hard to comprehend how the U.S. can do both—supply the weapons to Israel to kill thousands of people while allowing Israel to block desperately needed food assistance from entering Gaza AND drop food packages. It is yet another instance in which historians will wonder what U.S. policymakers were doing during this unprecedented time. And in the middle of all this, the Biden Administration rushed to “pause” aid to UNRWA, the only organization on the ground actively mitigating the horrific humanitarian situation. A group of Congress members responded by organizing a letter to congressional appropriators supporting UNRWA funding. Please take a few seconds to complete this ACTION ALERT to send a letter to your member of Congress asking them to sign onto the let The deadline to sign on is March 6 so please do it as soon as you can.

For this week's Coffee and a Column, Jim was joined by Abbas Alawieh, spokesperson and key leader of Listen to Michigan’s Uncommitted campaign. They discussed the historic campaign, what this means for those who support Palestinians, and how others are looking to organize for a ceasefire in their own states. In case you missed it, you can watch their conversation here. If you want to join us for future Coffee and Column conversations, please email us at [email protected].

Jim also discussed the situation in Gaza and reaction of the Arab American community in several interviews this week including the New York Times, BBC, Democracy Now, WBAI Radio, and Sky News. He also appeared on Tavis Smiley’s podcast to talk about the legacy of Jesse Jackson's 1984 Campaign and its relation to the fight for Palestinian rights.

Maya joined NPR's 1A to discuss the Michigan primary and talked with Vox about its national impact.

Maya met with the Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General Kristin Clarke and Homeland Security’s Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties for the DOJ’s Civil Rights quarterly meeting for Muslim, Arab, and South Asian (MASA) communities. As you can imagine, the conversation focused on the increase in hate incidents and hate crimes in the aftermath of October 7 and the various forms of repression those advocating for pro-Palestinian human rights are facing. We continue to engage almost every federal agency on these issues.

Maya also joined partners at Shoulder-to-Shoulder to speak at their annual meeting. She discussed the very real need to combat anti-Muslim bigotry and emphasized the need to do so in a way that does not erase the very real threat of anti-Arab racism. She expressed concern about the ongoing conflation of the American Muslim and Arab American communities and the way that conflation has been used by some in the aftermath of October 7 to avoid talking about the core issues of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination—dispossession and occupation. Whether framing everything we are seeing today as “Islamophobia” or framing Palestine/Israel as a religious conflict between Muslims and Jews, she explained how those approaches harm both our ability to effectively advocate for Palestinian human rights and the decades-long work done to build and empower the Arab American community as an ethnic constituency. She added that while there is certainly overlap in the two communities, failing to understand this moment’s anti-Arab bigotry dehumanizes Arabs, and more specifically Palestinians. This failing allows anti-Arab bigotry and the misrepresentation of the Palestinian struggle to go unchallenged.

Last Wednesday, the Pilgrimage for Peace came to an end with a protest outside the White House, as dozens of religious leaders finished their weeklong walk from Philadelphia to DC. AAI was proud to be a sponsoring organization for this event and we hope it inspires more religious leaders across all faiths to join in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. As a reminder, please continue to encourage your local officials to introduce their own ceasefire resolution in your town.

We had yet another meeting with Meta while they continue to consider a policy change that will further silence pro-Palestinian voices on their platforms. AAI’s Policy Counsel Margaret Lowry expressed our concerns about both hate speech and censorship on their platforms. Social media has played a key role in disseminating information about the ongoing genocide when traditional media has fallen short. It is critical that the voices of Palestinians and those who support justice are not silenced at this critical moment.

Finally, the tragic loss of life continues. Like millions around the world, we too mourn the death of Aaron Bushnell. In his will, he left his savings to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. We’ve asked you before to donate to them. We thought we should ask again.

Regards,

Team AAI

Arab American Institute Foundation
1600 K Street, NW, Suite 601
Washington, DC 20006
United States