Hatred against Muslims and Arabs is increasing rapidly in America after the start of the Israel-Gaza war. To combat this, President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a long-awaited strategy. He called for continued work to reduce discrimination.
This 64-page document comes a few weeks before Donald Trump’s swearing-in. Let us tell you, Trump had banned the travel of people from some Muslim-majority countries during his first term, which was repealed by Biden on the first day of his tenure.
This shows the comprehensive strategy to fight anti-Semitism by the White House since September last year. However, the move comes more than a year after the murder of a six-year-old boy, Wadia al-Fayoum, who was stabbed by a man. He and his mother were targeted just because they were Palestinian-Americans.
Biden called the attack on the child and his mother in Chicago a heinous act. He also mentioned the rapid increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate crimes, discrimination and bullying. He called it wrong and unacceptable. The President said, ‘Muslims and Arabs also deserve to live with dignity and enjoy every right along with Americans. Policies that cause discrimination against entire communities are wrong and fail to keep us safe.’
Muslim civil rights group ‘Council on American Islamic Relations’ called this strategy too little and too late. Along with this, it blamed the White House for not ending the federal watch list and no-fly list, which includes many Arab and Muslim Americans. At the same time, Trump’s transition team has not immediately commented on this strategy or whether it will support it or not.
The White House said that the Biden administration expects bipartisan support for India-US relations to continue in the next term of the Trump administration. White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said, ‘There has been strong support from both parties to enhance this bilateral relationship. I expect this to continue. He said that outgoing President Joe Biden is very proud of how America’s bilateral relations with India have changed during his administration.’
Responding to a question, Kirby said, ‘I mean, we have taken the Indo-Pacific Quad forward. I don’t know how many meetings he has had so far inside the Quad and bilaterally with the Prime Minister (India’s Narendra Modi). There is a lot in our relationship that has improved military to military, communication … people to people relations, economic relations.’
The White House has said that President Biden is closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and the United States will hold the interim government of Bangladesh accountable for ensuring the safety of religious and ethnic minorities in the country.
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said on Thursday, “The security situation in Bangladesh has become difficult after the ouster of the former Prime Minister. We are working closely with the interim government to enhance the capacity of their law enforcement and security services to deal with this challenge.”
Responding to a question, Kirby said, “We have been very clear in our conversations with all Bangladeshi leaders that the safety of religious and ethnic minorities, safety to all Bangladeshis, whatever their religion or ethnicity. We want to have confidence in them.”
