Muslim leaders expand campaign to abandon Biden over Israel-Hamas war

Muslim leaders announced on Saturday that they are going national with an effort to dissuade voters from reelecting President Joe Biden in 2024 due to his failure to call for a cease-fire in Gaza.

The #AbandonBiden campaign officially began earlier in December, led by Muslim leaders in swing states like Michigan, Minnesota and Arizona, who disapproved of Biden’s support for Israel’s counterattacks against Hamas. The counterattacks have come at the cost of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian lives.

Now, the coalition intends to expand the pressure campaign to all 50 states.

“We will save America from itself, by punishing Biden at the ballot box,” said lead organizer Jaylani Hussein in a statement.

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The coalition plans to endorse an independent presidential candidate, Hussein told CNBC. He added that the campaign does not support former President Donald Trump, the current Republican frontrunner, though it is aware of the risks of depleting Biden’s voter base.

“There is a likelihood that our votes may weaken the Democrats that the Republicans may win,” Hussein said. “We’re not fools about that.”

The #AbandonBiden campaign is willing to take that risk, he said: “We will risk an unknown four years of Trump.”

Trump’s track record on protecting Muslim freedoms does not garner optimism though and the former president has been vocal about his plans to pick up where he left off. Should Trump win a second term, he said he wants to reintroduce and expand his Muslim ban, which prohibited U.S. entry of people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Still, Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war has been a blight to his reelection campaign so far, especially among key…