Palestinian-American doctor leaves White House meeting with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in protest after giving the president a letter from an orphaned girl in Gaza begging him to stop Rafah invasion
- Dr. Thaer Ahmad said he left a White House meeting with President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
- He said the president told him he understood why he was leaving
- Ahmad said he was angry at the White House for continuing to arm Israel while killing civilians in Gaza
A Palestinian-American doctor took the opportunity of a White House meeting with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday to protest Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza by walking out.
Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency physician from Chicago, attended a meeting with Biden and Harris that was initially planned as an Iftar dinner to break the Ramadan fast, but was changed to a meeting because attendees did not feel comfortable sitting together celebrate with the president.
Ahmad described the meeting in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday evening.
A Palestinian-American doctor left a meeting with President Joe Biden before it was over
“We insisted there be no food there. “There was no point in breaking bread while we were talking about a famine that is happening,” he said.
After arriving at the meeting, Ahmad said he told Biden to leave and was disappointed that he was the only Palestinian in the room.
“I come from a community that is reeling, we are grieving and our hearts are broken by what has happened over the last six months,” he said.
Ahmad said the rhetoric from the White House was frustrating to listen to as Palestinians suffered from the war.
His goal, he said, was to get Biden to understand what it was like to hear someone and have him walk away without hearing his response.
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“He actually said he understood,” Ahmad said.
He gave the president a letter from an eight-year-old orphan girl living in Rafah, imploring Biden to stop Israel from invading Rafah.
“Out of respect for my community, I informed him that I am leaving,” he told the president, adding that his community was “shaken” and “mourning” as a result of the war.
He expressed anger at the Biden administration for sending more bombs, more bullets and more fighter jets to Israel to help them continue the war.
“It’s devastating and I’m so frustrated and angry to hear something like this, to hear about the sale of fighter jets,” he said.
Ahmad recalled a visit to Gaza in January, where he could hear the fighter jets and whistles of bombs being launched in the area, where he feared the hospital he was in would collapse.
“I mean, it’s completely unacceptable to think that we’re going to continue to weaponize this,” he said.