White House Condemns Fox News over ‘Sickening Attack’ on Arab Americans

GUARDIAN US: Network urged to apologize to ‘every single viewer’ after host Jesse Watters seemed to advocate violence against Arab Americans

Jesse Watters, the host of the popular show The Five. Photograph: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
Fox News must apologize to its viewers, a White House spokesperson said, after the rightwing channel’s host Jesse Watters seemed to advocate violence against Arab Americans, amid heightened tensions over the Israel and Hamas war in Gaza.

On Wednesday evening, on the highly rated Fox show The Five, Watters said: “If you’re an Arab American in this country, and you rip down posters of Jewish hostages, American hostages, no. No, no, no. Someone is going to get punched in the face.”

In a statement sent to the Guardian, the White House deputy press secretary, Andrew Bates, called Watters’ remarks “unacceptable” and said: “Fox News owes an apology to every single viewer for this sickening attack on the rights and dignity of their fellow Americans.” » | Martin Pengelly in Washington | Thursday, November 2, 2023

White House denounces Fox News over host’s ‘foul’ remarks on CNN pair: Mark Levin called Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper ‘self-hating Jews’ on syndicated radio show, prompting furious response »

In Michigan, Muslim and Arab American Voters Reconsider Support for Biden

There are about 200,000 registered Muslim American voters in Michigan, by some counts, a significant bloc in a battleground state of 8.2 million registered voters. | Valaurian Waller for The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Many in the swing state say they feel betrayed by the president’s support for Israel.

Sam Baydoun, a Wayne County commissioner in Dearborn, Mich., has been glued to Al Jazeera for weeks to absorb news from the war in Israel and Gaza.

Mr. Baydoun, a Democrat who is Lebanese American, has watched with fury as Israeli airstrikes have caused the deaths of many civilians, including children, following the deadly attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7 that killed many. He saw President Biden visit Israel and pledge full-throated American support.

And he is thinking ahead to the presidential election of 2024, a contest that could hinge on a handful of states including Michigan, whose Muslim and Arab American voters turned out decisively for Mr. Biden three years ago.

“How can I tell somebody who’s watching these atrocities on live TV, today, to vote for President Biden?” he said. “The pulse of the community is overwhelmingly not supportive of Biden now. They feel betrayed.” » | Julie Bosman and Ernesto Londoño | Julie Bosman reported from Dearborn, Mich, and Ernesto Londoño from St. Paul, Minn. | Saturday, October 28, 2023

How the Israel-Hamas War Could Impact the 2024 US Elections | Amanpour & Company

Oct 25, 2023 | President Biden says now is not the time for a ceasefire in Gaza -- a comment that sparked anger among liberal Democrats in Congress as well as young Muslim and Arab American voters. Senior Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid tells Hari Sreenivasan how this could pose a risk for 2024, as politics and passions are ignited by this new war.

Arab-Americans in Crisis Mode over Trump’s Travel Ban

There's growing anger over Donald Trump's recent travel ban on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.