President Trump pledged to end the Gaza war and restore peace in the Middle East, but with stalled truce talks and a renewed Israeli military offensive, Associate Professor Saeed Khan shares insight into how the Arab-American community is responding.
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00:00Throughout his election campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to end the war in Gaza
00:06and restore peace in the Middle East, a promise that garnered widespread support.
00:12While a ceasefire took place in January, truce talks have dragged on,
00:16and the Israeli Security Cabinet has now reportedly approved a renewed military offensive in Gaza.
00:23Associate Professor Syed Han from Wayne State University shares how the Arab-American community
00:29is reacting to these developments.
00:33I wouldn't even say that there's been little progress on Gaza.
00:37I think that there is a full-out regression of the conditions there.
00:42Right now, the kill rate in Gaza, the casualty rate, is far higher than it was under the Biden administration.
00:51The severance of all humanitarian aid and the misery on the people of Gaza
00:58is far greater than it was under Biden.
01:01Now, the community is in many ways experiencing a form of paralysis.
01:07They are in shock because of how dire the situation is.
01:13There is also, perhaps among some, a case of buyer's remorse or voter's remorse,
01:19maybe even a bit of guilt that they have in their minds or estimation,
01:24or at least as the accusations are then leveled against them,
01:28contributed to the further misery of Gaza and having made it worse in many ways.
01:35They do try to provide some kind of buffeting of this.
01:39For example, evidence that recently came to light that the Biden administration, in fact, lied.
01:46They did nothing to try to facilitate a ceasefire.
01:51In fact, they did quite the opposite.
01:53So those kinds of snippets that are now coming to the fore provide some kind of rationalization
02:00or some kind of way to dampen the way that the community is essentially feeling completely horrified
02:08by what is not only going on, but what members of the community may have, in an inadvertent way,
02:17contributed to Trump coming to power.
02:21The other problem is, in many cases, they're afraid to speak out
02:25because they see that any kind of criticism about Israel, any kind of support for the Palestinians
02:34may then place them under greater scrutiny.
02:39Anything that they may have posted on social media is being vetted by the State Department.
02:45It could impact travel.
02:47And now we find that the line between being a citizen and the protections that it is supposed to afford
02:56and those who are non-citizens of the United States is a line that is really being blurred day by day.
03:02So the idea then that detentions or even deportations are possible simply based on opinion
03:11and simply based on speech or social media posting have had an absolutely chilling effect on the community,
03:19the likes of which arguably weren't even seen in the days after 9-11.