Today, as the International Court of Justice considers allegations of genocide against Israel, the White House will be convening an off-the-record discussion of its “National Strategy to Combat Islamophobia and related forms of discrimination.” First announced on November 1, 2023, following the stabbing death of a six-year old Wadea Al Fayoume near Chicago, President Biden and Vice President Harris said the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia would aim to address the disproportionate hate-fueled attacks and discrimination faced by Muslims and those perceived as Muslims.
The announcement of the “development” of a National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia should be met with a critical eye. The United States cannot effectively combat Islamophobia while simultaneously supporting actions that harm Muslim communities abroad. This meeting announcement comes at a time when the United States faces international scrutiny for its support of Israel, including its military actions in Gaza, which have resulted in the deaths of countless innocent civilians, including children like Wadea Al-Fayoume. This duplicity is almost like watching a magician distract you with one hand while doing something entirely different with the other. In this case, the paradox is condemning Islamophobia domestically while turning a blind eye to U.S. and Israeli military actions soaked with the blood of Islamophobia on the international stage.
Concrete policy changes, accountability for human rights violations, and a commitment to addressing systemic discrimination are essential to making genuine progress in countering hate and bigotry. If the United States is committed to countering Islamophobia, then it can support South Africa’s case against Israel for genocide in the International Court of Justice.
An invitation to today’s event.
Listening session or PR stunt?
Today’s discussion also follows a listening session that took place with Second Gentleman Douglas EmhoffWhite House Domestic Policy Advisor Ambassador Susan Rice, and other officials in attendance on May 2. This meeting aimed to discuss efforts to counter Islamophobia, which is akin to convening a brainstorming session on fixing a leaky faucet while the house is on fire. The participants included prominent Muslim community leaders. However, the pressing question remains: Will their recommendations translate into tangible changes, or will they serve as a smokescreen for international policies contradicting the administration’s domestic rhetoric?
During the convening, Muslim leaders outlined the challenges facing their communities and shared recommendations for confronting Islamophobia and all forms of hate and bigotry. Biden-Harris administration officials conveyed their gratitude to the participants for their leadership and underscored the President’s commitment to countering Islamophobia. The listening session followed President Biden’s White House Reception to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and was part of the ongoing efforts of the President’s interagency task force to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination within the United States.
Participants of the May 2 Listening Session included:
1. Imam Mohamed Magid, Executive Imam, All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS)
2. Dalia Mogahed, Director of Research, Institute for Social Policy & Understanding
3. Suzanne Barakat, Board Chair, Our Three Winners
4. Rais Bhuiyan, Founder and President, World Without Hate
5. Arsalan Suleman, President and Co-Founder, America Indivisible
6. Robert McCaw, Government Affairs Director, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
7. Farhan Latif, President, El-Hibri Foundation
8. Catherine Orsborn, Director of Program Operations, El-Hibri Foundation
9. Wa’el Alzayat, CEO, Emgage
10. Iman Awad, Deputy Director, Emgage
11. Maha Elgenaidi, Founder and Executive Director, Islamic Networks Group
12. Rahmah Abdulaleem, Executive Director, Karamah
13. Omar Farah, Executive Director, Muslim Advocates
14. Salam Al-Marayati, President, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
15. Faiyaz Hussain, Senior Advisor for Strategy, Policy, and Programs, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
16. Rahat Husain, President, Shia Muslim Foundation
In retrospect, that listening session with Muslim community leaders was a cold-blooded PR stunt without any concrete policy changes. Imam Mohamed Magid, Suzanne Barakat, and Wa’el Alzayat were present again in a private White House meeting on October 27, 2023, asking for President Biden to “show more empathy toward Palestinians.” While discussing fixes for a leaky faucet is well-intentioned, it pales in comparison to addressing the root causes of discrimination and bias, including systemic racism, xenophobia, the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes, and the genocide in Gaza.
Enter Steve Benjamin, Neera Tandin, and Rashad Hussain, who will lead today’s event.
Steve Benjamin was the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, making history as the city’s first African American mayor. Prior to his mayoral role, he led the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services as Chief Executive. President Biden was recently heckled in South Carolina at an AME Church in Charleston.
Meanwhile, Neera Tanden established herself as a prominent public policy analyst in the areas of healthcare, national security, and economic policy. During the Obama administration, she worked on health reform initiatives as a senior advisor. Beyond government service, Tanden has steered the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, as its president and CEO. Currently, she serves in the White House.
Rounding out the group is Rashad Hussain, an American lawyer and diplomat currently as U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom since 2021. Previously, he served as the U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) from 2015 to 2017. Within the Obama administration, Hussain tackled the critical issue of countering violent extremism, holding roles such as Special Advisor to the President for Strategic Engagement in Muslim Communities.
Having Benjamin, Tandin, and Hussain lead this discussion is an affront to American Muslims. South Carolina Democrats, where Benjamin served as mayor of Charleston since 2010, were part of the Establishment Guard of the Democratic Party responsible for securing President Biden’s South Carolina primary victory in 2020. More so, Tandin assaulted Bernie Sander’s Muslim campaign manager Faiz Shakir. Hussain wrote President Obama’s 2009 Cairo speech as the Obama White House doused the revolution of the 2011 Arab Spring.
Together, their involvement in this event ensures the discussion will be more of the same-old, same-old. In fact, the entire policy looks that way.
New package, same policy
American Muslims don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the establishment of a National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia, because they can’t help but sense a glaring irony. The U.S. condemns hate and discrimination at home and does nothing about it.
This new national strategy is actually an airbrushed version of early iterations of racial profiling in Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programs that led to discrimination, mistrust, and stigmatization of specific communities, hindering the effectiveness of prevention efforts and diverting resources away from addressing root causes.
Law professor Khaled Beydon has been critical of this new policy. Beydoun told me, “This program has a lot of holdovers from the CVE project that was installed by Obama. Many of the key actors, elements, and interlocutors of this new countering Islamophobia project are holdovers from CVE. In my opinion, I think it’s going to carry forward a lot of the same aims of CVE under the banner of countering Islamophobia. In addition to that, it’s entirely illogical and antithetical to a genuine intellectual or advocacy project around Islamophobia to tie in the Executive Branch and the government, which would indemnify the state from partaking in structural Islamophobia, which is the most damaging form or dimension of Islamophobia.”
The tragedy is that no matter how much Democrats claim to champion anti-racism, healthcare, climate action, and fair housing, the party is simultaneously funding Israeli missile strikes on hospitals, contributing to military emissions from Gaza’s suffering, and ignoring settler colonialism in a territory where 48% of infrastructure has been destroyed. It’s like a chef preaching the virtues of veganism while indulging in a juicy steak on the side.
Actions speak louder than words
For far too long, Muslims in America, along with Arabs and Sikhs often mistaken for Muslims, have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks and discriminatory incidents. The tragic killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian American Muslim boy, and the brutal attack on his mother in Chicago’s suburbs are just recent examples. But sentiments to address this ring hollow when they come from an administration offering Israel a blank check in Gaza.
So yes, it is commendable that President Biden condemns hate and discrimination, but actions speak louder than words. The U.S. cannot claim to be countering Islamophobia while it continues to provide military aid and political support to a country accused of genocide. The administration’s commitment to combating hate and bigotry should extend to addressing its own complicity in the suffering of Muslim communities abroad.
Keep your National Islamophobia Strategy to Combat Islamophobia, Mr. Biden.
Stop the War.
Stop the Genocide.