What's in a statement

Mar 27, 2024

By Lauren Egan, Eli Stokols and Ben Johansen

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When the White House put out a statement last week from President JOE BIDEN marking Nowruz, it included a line addressing the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“The war in Gaza has also inflicted terrible suffering on the Palestinian people,” the statement read, “and we will continue to lead international efforts to get more humanitarian assistance to them — including urgently needed food, water, medicine and shelter.”

While the mention of Gaza may have signaled a heightened empathy on the part of the administration about the humanitarian catastrophe there, it also jumped out for some who celebrate the ancient holiday that marks the Persian New Year.

In particular, some Iranian American organizations wondered why it was included at all. Nowruz, which marks the beginning of spring and has been celebrated for over 3,000 years by many across Central Asia, parts of the Middle East and the Caucasus, is not celebrated in Palestine. It also predates Islam.

“I was a little bit perplexed as to what the thought process was here,” said one leader of a prominent Iranian American organization, who asked not to be named so as to not offend the White House. “This is sort of just painting with a broad brush.”

MICHAEL RUBIN, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in Iran, Turkey and the broader Middle East, argued that it was as if the White House was “trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by forcing mention of Gaza.”

“Nowruz is a cultural holiday. It’s not political. It’s pre-Islamic. It’s celebrated widely, but not by Arabs, including Palestinians. It detracts from the sincerity of the statement to force unrelated topics into it,” he said.

Biden has faced a steady stream of criticism both from members of his own party, as well as Muslim and Arab American communities, who feel he hasn’t quite internalized their concerns. As the conflict has dragged on and as discontent among the president’s supporters threatens his reelection bid, the White House has made more public displays of sympathy towards the horrific conditions in Gaza.

Biden and top officials have mentioned the situation in Gaza in recent remarks and statements honoring Ramadan and Hanukkah and in settings where civil rights struggles have been evoked. At the National Prayer Breakfast last month, he said: “I also see the trauma, the death, and destruction in Israel and Gaza. And I understand that the pain and passion felt by so many here in America and around the world.” During a speech in Selma, Alabama, earlier this month marking the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Vice President KAMALA HARRIS spoke at length about how “too many innocent Palestinians have been killed” and called for a temporary ceasefire.

Iranian American leaders said that those settings, at least, had some connection to the situation in Palestine. Black churches have called for the U.S. to end its financial support of Israel, for example, and Ramadan is widely celebrated by Palestinians.

But the decision to include the Gaza reference in the Nowruz statement was a strategic choice on behalf of the Biden team. The White House typically consults outside advocacy groups and individual stakeholders before putting out statements, seeking input on what different communities want to see reflected in the president’s comments. And even though Nowruz is not a holiday in Palestine, there was a clear interest from some advocacy groups and community leaders close to the administration to make sure that the president’s statement nodded to the conflict.

“The ongoing tragedies are affecting all of us. It’s not just an issue of faith. It’s a human tragedy,” said IMAM ZIA, who, as the founder of the Muslim center MakeSpace in Arlington, Virginia, introduced Biden at last year’s White House Ramadan reception. “Most communities who celebrate Nowruz have this on their mind.”

RAHAT HUSAIN, president of the Shia Muslim Foundation, said he, too, thought that Biden’s decision to mention Gaza in the statement was “entirely appropriate.” He hoped, in fact, to see the president speak more directly to the crisis.

“Most people that I know who are celebrating or commemorating Nowruz in my community and other communities are entirely concerned about Gaza. And it’s colored our celebration of Nowruz,” he said. “How much can you celebrate when people are suffering?”

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POTUS PUZZLER

How did GROVER CLEVELAND’s son FRANCIS gain fame?

(Answer at bottom.)

The Oval

WHY DON’T WE MEET AFTER ALL: Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU is planning to send two senior Israeli officials to Washington as early as next week for talks about an alternative to the country’s planned military operation into Rafah, our ALEXANDER WARD and JONATHAN LEMIRE report. It’s a stark shift from Netanyahu, who just on Monday canceled his delegation’s trip after the U.S. did not veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. And Alex and Jon place the reversal in the context of Biden’s very personal approach to diplomacy with his Israeli counterpart — an approach that has been rocky at best.

Netanyahu’s reversal comes after Israeli Defense Minister YOAV GALLANT held several conversations earlier this week with senior Biden administration officials. Netanyahu is expected to send two of his closest allies, RON DERMER, minister of strategic affairs, and TZACHI HANEGBI, his national security adviser.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by AP’s CHRIS MEGERIAN, who previews Thursday’s star-studded fundraising event with Biden and former presidents BARACK OBAMA and BILL CLINTON, which is being described as a “one-of-a-kind fundraising extravaganza” at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. Their partnership will be on display tomorrow as the Biden campaign looks to expand its cash advantage over DONALD TRUMP and portray a party of solidarity, in contrast to Trump’s isolation from some past Republican leaders.

Thousands are expected to be in attendance. Campaign officials have not said how much money they expect the event to draw, but a similar December event with Obama raised $3 million.

Deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES shared the piece on X, which communications director BEN LABOLT reposted.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This op-ed from the Los Angeles Times’ MARK Z. BARABAK, who speaks with lifelong Democrat VICTORIA THOMPSON, who is not backing Biden this November, highlighting her case as emblematic of other disaffected voters. “‘I have no responsibility to vote for the Democratic [nominee],’ said the 63-year-old retiree, a Democrat for most of her life. ‘Their responsibility is to the citizens. They should put forward a candidate that we want to vote for.’” Thompson instead, will support ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., even if it means helping Trump get a second stint in the White House.

CAMPAIGN HQ

REMEMBER COVID? President Biden has been largely avoiding talk about the coronavirus pandemic. No one wants to be reminded about lockdowns and masking mandates, after all.

But as our ADAM CANCRYN reports, that is starting to change. In recent speeches, Biden has invoked images of the earliest days of the pandemic in an attempt to squash some voters’ nostalgia for the Trump-era. After Donald Trump asked on social media, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?,” it gave the Biden campaign an opening to reinvite memories of the former president’s chaotic handling of the crisis.

It’s an issue Biden advisers say the campaign would not have leaned into if Trump hadn’t gone there first. But now Democrats believe that reminding voters of the realities of life four years ago is critical.

SETTING UP SHOP: The Biden campaign will base their Pennsylvania reelection efforts in Lehigh Valley, Morning Call’s LINDSAY WEBER reports. The headquarters, which will be in the south-side neighborhood of Easton, will hold volunteer trainings, recruitments and canvass kickoffs.

THE BUREAUCRATS

PROTEST RESIGNATION: A State Department official with a focus on human rights stepped down from her position on Wednesday, citing U.S. support for Israel in her reasoning, WaPo’s HANNAH ALLAM and JOHN HUDSON report. ANNELLE SHELINE, foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said that she tried to raise concerns internally but concluded that it was pointless “as long as the U.S. continues to send a steady stream of weapons to Israel.”

PERSONNEL MOVES: ALEX HOWARD is now an assistant press secretary at DHS. He most recently founded Alpha Hotel, a strategic comms firm, and is an AT&T and Bloomberg Industry Group alum.

GREAT, MORE NEWSLETTER COMPETITION: DAVID LAUTER, the long-time D.C. bureau chief for the LA Times, is retiring from editing and taking on a new project: helming a re-launched version of the paper’s Essential Politics newsletter through the election, the paper announced Wednesday. Lauter, who has spent 38 years at the paper, will be writing along with Sacramento-based columnist ANITA CHABRIA.

Agenda Setting

DOUBLE DIPPING: President Biden has overseen a historic U.S. energy boom since taking office, with production of oil, natural gas and renewable power all hitting records, our BEN LEFEBVRE reports. But it’s something the Biden camp has seldom touted. The White House hears criticism from both sides, with Republicans angry over his green energy investments and climate-focused Democrats dismayed with his approval of pipelines and other fossil fuel projects.

The U.S. set an all-time record in crude oil production in 2023, which has been paired with investments in wind and solar power. The result of this has been an “all of the above” energy economy but one that is stirring backlash from voters on both sides.

HELP US, HELP YOU: The Biden administration on Wednesday launched a new strategy aimed at getting 100 million more people to enroll in its student loan repayment plan known as SAVE, our BIANCA QUILANTAN reports for Pro subscribers. A group of senior administration officials launched the efforts today at a “SAVE Day of Action,” where they announced that 40 entities from the federal government, private sector, labor unions, and more would promote the plan to their members and employees.

SOUNDING THE ALARM: Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN was in Georgia on Wednesday, where she warned about China’s rapid development in industries such as solar technology and electric vehicle batteries, calling it unfair competition that “distorts global prices” and “hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world,” AP’s FATIMA HUSSEIN reports.

Yellen will be in China next month, where she will meet with senior Chinese leadership.

What We're Reading

Why VP Harris is seen as critical to Biden’s reelection campaign (NPR’s Asma Khalid)

U.S. Pushes to Shape Israel’s Rafah Operation, Not Stop It (WSJ’s Michael R. Gordon and Vivian Salama)

Biden Loves Ireland. It Doesn’t Love Him Back (Una Mullally for NYT)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

On stage! Francis Cleveland, the youngest son of President Cleveland, was an accomplished actor, starring in Broadway productions of “Dead End” by playwright SIDNEY KINGSLEY and “Our Town” by THORNTON WILDER. He and his wife, ALICE ERDMAN, opened the Barnstormers Theatre in 1931, a New Hampshire theater company where he directed many plays.

A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it!

Edited by Sam Stein.

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