Palestinian American doctor He left the meeting with President Biden. Other Arab and Muslim leaders and activists said Tuesday that he resigned “out of respect for my community.”
Dr. Sair Ahmad, an emergency physician from Chicago who visited Gaza earlier this year, told “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan that the meeting at the White House was because Biden was working on the ground in Gaza. It was the first time he heard directly from the people who had been involved in the project. Gaza from October 7th. He said the president asked him to speak first, detailing his experiences with Khan Younis and Rafah and telling Biden that Israel could not do that. enter safely The southern city of Gaza has been home to more than 1 million Palestinians since the war began.
“And I asked for forgiveness out of respect for those who are grieving, for those who really wanted to be heard, and for my community, which has felt silenced and excluded for so long.” said Ahmad.
Before departing, Mr. Ahmad said he gave Mr. Biden a letter from an 8-year-old orphan in Rafah asking the president not to allow the invasion.
Ahmad said he accepted the invitation because “I think many of us are feeling a deep sense of alarm and panic right now about what's happening in Gaza, especially about the possibility of an impending invasion of Rafah.” .
“It seems to me that there's one person who can probably make a difference and stop this from happening, and that's President Biden,” he said.
Mr. Ahmad said he felt Mr. Biden was not doing enough to prevent Israel from pursuing its invasion plans, and said Mr. Biden was not alone.
Mr Ahmad said he had spoken to members of the UN Security Council delegation and said: “They all felt that if the White House decided to put Mr Rafah on the red line, the war would end tomorrow. “I felt like all I had to do was say 'absolutely no' to President Biden.” This can happen depending on the situation. ”
White House officials have previously said Biden is pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back plans to invade Rafah and increase protections for civilians.
“Our position is that Hamas should not be given a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a White House briefing last month. . “However, a large-scale ground operation would be a mistake. It would result in further deaths of innocent civilians, exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen anarchy in Gaza, and further isolate Israel internationally.” I will.”
Mr. Ahmad said he felt safe leaving knowing that other attendees would also be able to impress upon Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris the dire situation in Gaza.
He said he was initially unsure whether to leave the meeting, but “when the president didn't even actually mention Gaza or Palestine in his first opening comments to me, I knew I needed to leave. I felt it,” he said. At the very least, it needed to express the hurt and pain felt by the entire Palestinian American community. ”
“I'm not speaking for them. I'm just another Palestinian-American,” Ahmad continued. “But given the fact that there were no other Palestinian-Americans in that room, and the fact that so many are suffering right now, at least convey that pain and feel that the president walked away from us.” It was important to me to walk away from the president as he did.” ”
Mr. Ahmad told CBS News that he intends to return to Gaza despite the great risks involved. He said that the last time he visited Gaza, he saw Israeli forces storm the hospital where his family had taken refuge.
“It is important to note that the Israeli military has committed acts like this against multiple hospitals. This is not a one-off incident,” Ahmad said. “So what I saw was families in these hospitals. Children playing in circles. Children affected by this war, children injured by the war; I saw children traumatized by the war…I could name hospital after hospital, but what I really want to go back to is the people in Gaza, the medical workers, the aid workers. Because we realized that people, including those who are under serious pressure and suffering, are under tremendous pressure and suffering, and it is up to people like us to stand by them, when the whole world has turned its back on them. If not, then who else would do it?”
Ahmad also said he had never seen any signs of Hamas activity inside the hospital.
“We’ve seen the opposite,” he said.
“I've been sharing those details since I got back. I've been sharing them with anyone who will listen. Senators, Members of Congress, I told the president and vice president that before I left.” he said. “There are real people there. There are innocent people and families. They have been forced to flee many times. They have lost a lot, including their homes, they have lost everything… I lost my livelihood.
“The idea of an Israeli military invasion of Rafah is one that could indeed have dire consequences,” he said. “To a place that has suffered too much disaster and humanitarian suffering.”
