As Biden focuses on Israel, top aide expresses regret over 'missteps'

At a closed-door meeting with Arab-American leaders in Michigan this week, one of President Biden's top foreign policy aides acknowledged flaws in the administration's response to the war in Gaza, saying he had “no confidence whatsoever” had that the Israeli government was willing to take “meaningful steps” toward a Palestinian state.

The comments came after months of public and private exhortations from the Biden administration for Israel to take a more surgical approach in a conflict that health authorities in Gaza say has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians. On Thursday, Mr Biden himself declared that Israel had gone “over the top” in its response to the Hamas attack on October 7.

The Biden aide, Jon Finer, a deputy national security adviser, offered some of the administration's clearest expressions of regret over what he called “missteps” it made from the start of the violence, and he vowed it would do better doing.

At Thursday's meeting with Arab-American political leaders in Dearborn, Michigan, Mr. Finer said: “We are acutely aware that we have made missteps in responding to this crisis since October 7,” according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times. A National Security Council official confirmed the recording was authentic.

Mr. Finer added: “We have left a deeply damaging impression based on what has been a grossly inadequate public accountability for the extent to which the president, the administration and the country value the lives of Palestinians. And that started, to be honest, quite early in the conflict.”

The war in Gaza has become part of a cascade of political problems for Mr. Biden, who has continued to publicly support Israel and resisted demands within the Democratic Party to call for a ceasefire. His stance since Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, along with his comments casting doubt on the death toll from Israeli airstrikes and calling the loss of life “a price for waging war,” has left young, black and voters and progressives who are more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

Mr. Biden himself has acknowledged the pro-Palestinian protesters who regularly attend his public events. Last month, a campaign rally on abortion rights in Virginia was repeatedly interrupted by protesters urging Biden to call for a ceasefire.

After that meeting, Mr. Biden met privately with about 40 invited attendees and urged them not to view the protesters as political enemies. He said they deserved sympathy and that their cause was “very important,” according to three people who attended the meeting.

A spokeswoman for the Biden campaign declined to comment.

But the recording of the Dearborn meeting offers an unusual glimpse behind the scenes of the administration's efforts to shore up support in the critical state of Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population in Dearborn and other Detroit suburbs. Biden's support in the state has eroded, polls show. His allies there have warned the White House in recent months that he risks losing the state he carried in 2020.

Mr. Finer and several other senior Biden administration officials, including Samantha Power, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, traveled to Dearborn on Thursday for a series of meetings, including one that included Mr. Finer's remarks.

Those sessions came a week after Biden campaign aides, including Julie Chávez Rodríguez, the manager of his 2024 bid, quietly traveled to the city and met with a few officials, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American progressive who is spearheading the Democratic Party. calls for a ceasefire.

However, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and several other local officials declined to meet with Ms. Chávez Rodríguez. Mr. Hammoud later issued a statement saying he wanted to speak to policymakers rather than campaign officials. White House officials then rushed to arrange a visit.

During the meetings on Thursday, Mr. Finer expressed the U.S. government's efforts to end the war in Gaza. Building a formal diplomatic relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia, he said, is a crucial step toward creating a Palestinian state. Doing so, he added, will require politically difficult sacrifices from both the countries and the United States.

“We're going to have to do things for Saudi Arabia that will be very unpopular in this country and in our Congress,” Mr. Finer said. “Will Israel be willing to do the tough thing that will be required of them, namely meaningful steps for the Palestinians on the two-state issue? I don't know if the answer to that is yes. I have no confidence whatsoever in this current government of Israel.”

Mr. Finer also said the Biden administration should have been quicker to publicly condemn statements by some Israeli officials who, in his words, compared “Gaza residents to animals.” He said officials had not done so because they were trying to cooperate with the Israeli government.

“Out of a desire to concentrate more or less on solving the problem and not going back and forth in rhetoric with people who, I think, in many cases we all find somewhat repugnant, we have not sufficiently indicated that we completely rejected and I didn't agree with those kinds of sentiments,” Mr. Finer said.

He did not clarify which Israeli officials he was referring to, but in the early days of the conflict, Yoav Gallant, Israel's defense minister, said: “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.” Some other Israeli officials have also been criticized for dehumanizing language.

Mr. Finer's most explicit contrition was in a statement released under Mr. Biden's name on Jan. 14, marking 100 days since the conflict began. The explanation focused on the fate of American and Israeli hostages held in Gaza and made no reference to Palestinians who had been killed.

“It in no way addressed the loss of Palestinian lives over the course of the first 100 days of the conflict,” Mr. Finer said. “There's no excuse for that. It shouldn't have happened. I believe it won't happen again. But we know a lot of damage has been done.”

Mr. Finer, who declined to comment, is the No. 2 official on the National Security Council, led by Jake Sullivan, Mr. Biden's national security adviser.

Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said: “The President and Mr. Finer reflected on the concerns we have had for some time, and will continue to have as the Israeli operation progresses, about the loss of Palestinian lives in this situation . conflict and the need to limit harm to civilians.”

Michiganders who attended Thursday's meetings with Biden administration officials described them as intense and said they were disappointed that the Washington delegation had not committed to policy changes.

For example, administration officials declined to say whether they had or would advise the president to call for a ceasefire, which attendees had requested.

“You're not going to get that answer,” said Steve Benjamin, director of the White House Public Engagement Office.

But the officials agreed to issue a letter clarifying the administration's support for the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, for which the United States temporarily cut funding after Israel accused some of its staffers of participating to the attack of October 7. Biden officials did not respond to questions from Michigan leaders about the president's election prospects in the state.

“We emphasized that in addition to communication, there needs to be a change in policy,” said Abraham Aiyash, a Democratic state representative and the majority leader in the Michigan House of Representatives. “We were clear that there would be no follow-up meetings, in any capacity, if there was no change in policy based on the tangible steps we outlined for them today.”

Abbas Alawieh, a former congressional aide who attended the meeting, said it was “outrageous” that it had taken more than 100 days after the start of the war for the administration to engage with Dearborn, and that Mr. Biden himself had not visited.

Mr. Biden met with Arab and Muslim American leaders in October, amid rising tensions inside and outside the White House, and apologized for questioning the Gaza death toll and other administration messages. But he largely defended his support for Israel's war, citing foreign policy considerations.

In November, administration officials also met via videoconference with Palestinian American leaders who expressed concerns about surveys showing declining support for Mr. Biden in their communities. The officials told them that poll numbers did not dictate the president's foreign policy decisions.

“People feel not just a vague sense of betrayal, but a deep sense of betrayal by President Biden,” Mr. Alawieh said.

Assad I. Turfe, the deputy director of Wayne County, who also heard from Biden aides on Thursday, said Biden should be judged on the speed with which the conflict in Gaza is resolved.

“The Biden administration must act quickly and decisively to end this violence, while respecting the principles of justice and human rights,” Mr Turfe said.

On Tuesday, a group of Arab-American and Muslim leaders in Michigan, led by Ms. Tlaib's sister, announced a campaign to convince Democrats, angry about Mr. Biden's stance on Israel, to vote during the Democratic primary. states “Uncommitted” to voting against the president. election on February 27. While such a move would likely have little practical effect, it could embarrass the president if enough voters chose to participate.

Former Rep. Andy Levin of Michigan called the campaign “a constructive thing for the president” and said he was encouraging fellow Democrats to vote uncommitted — though he declined to say how he planned to vote in the primaries.

“On Gaza, we will have to keep pushing him,” Mr. Levin said in an interview.

Osama A. Siblani, the influential publisher of The Arab American News, a Dearborn newspaper, met with both Ms. Chávez Rodríguez and Mr. Finer's delegation. He said Arab-American voters in Michigan felt betrayed after supporting Mr. Biden in large numbers in 2020, arguing that they had received “nothing but lip service” since then.

“I have been involved in this community day in and day out for 40 years,” Mr Siblani said. “I can tell you right now that I can't convince my community to vote for Biden if I kiss their feet. They won't do it.”