US President Joe Biden risked losing support from Muslim voters during the November 2024 elections after he ordered strikes on Yemen in support of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, according to the Newsweek.
Biden ordered airstrikes on several provinces across Yemen, including the capital Sana’a and Hudaydah, early Friday in response to the Yemeni pro-Palestine strikes on vessels linked to the Israeli regime. The US military carried out the strikes with Britain.
Citing its interviews with activists and community members, Newsweek said “airstrikes in Yemen launched on the orders of President Joe Biden appear to be another nail in his coffin for Arab and Muslim voters.”
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told Newsweek on Friday that the civil rights group is “deeply disturbed” by the “illegal” airstrikes in Yemen, slamming the US administration for failing to address the root causes of the tensions in the Red Sea.
“We’re deeply disturbed to see the Biden administration escalating this crisis by bombing Yemen without congressional approval, instead of simply addressing the root of the crisis, which is the ongoing genocide in Gaza. If the genocide comes to an end, the temperature in the region will come down,” Mitchell said.
“From our perspective, this strike done without Congressional approval is illegal, it’s dangerous and ultimately it’s not going to bring peace, it’s just going to escalate the risk of war,” he added.
Mitchell believes that “many people are disturbed that our government is quick to protect commercial shipping, but not quick to protect the thousands of children who are being murdered in Gaza it’d be great to see us caring about both.”
Mitchell’s criticisms of the Biden administration’s failure to seek Congress’s approval echoed remarks made by Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and the only Palestinian American member of Congress.
Biden “is violating Article I of the Constitution by carrying out airstrikes in Yemen without congressional approval. The American people are tired of endless war,” Tlaib’s said on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
According to Newsweek, a coalition of Muslim Americans have gone as far as to launch a #AbandonBiden campaign, calling on voters to not reelect the president this year over his stance on the war in Gaza.
