- Dr. Thaer Ahmad said he left a meeting at the White House 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 civilians were being killed in Gaza.
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A Palestinian-American doctor used the occasion of a White House meeting with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday to protest the ongoing Israeli war in Gaza and walked out.
Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Chicago emergency physician, 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 gathering because attendees felt uncomfortable celebrating with President.
Ahmad detailed the meeting in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday night.
A Palestinian-American doctor walked out of a meeting with President Joe Biden before it ended
‘We were insisting that there be no food there. It made no sense for us to share bread while talking about a famine,” she stated.
After arriving at the meeting, Ahmad said he told Biden he had to leave and said he was disappointed to be the only Palestinian in the room.
“I am from a community that is reeling, we are grieving and heartbroken by what has been happening for the last six months,” he said.
Ahmad said it was frustrating to hear the rhetoric coming from the White House, as Palestinians were suffering as a result of the war.
His goal, he said, was to get Biden to understand what it was like to listen to someone and make him walk away without hearing his response.
US President Joe Biden continues to call on Israel to reduce the deaths of innocent civilians in Gaza while arming Israel.
Vice President Kamala Harris has called for a ceasefire in Gaza, but her demands have come up empty
“He actually said he understood,” Ahmad said.
He gave the president a letter from an eight-year-old orphan girl living in Rafah, pleading with Biden to stop Israel from invading Rafah.
“I let you know out of respect for my community that I’m leaving,” he said he told the president, adding that his community was “reeling” and “hurting” 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 very frustrated and angry to hear something like this, to hear about the sale of a fighter jet,” he said.
Ahmad recalled a visit to Gaza in January, where he could hear fighter jets and the whistle of bombs dropped in the area, where he feared the hospital he was in would collapse.
“I mean, it’s totally unacceptable to think that we’re going to keep putting this together,” he said.