Palestinian Physician Walks Out Of White House Meeting

An emergency room physician who spent three weeks volunteering at Al-Nasser Hospital in Gaza earlier this year on Tuesday walked out of a White House meeting in protest of how the administration has handled the war.

Thaer Ahmad was among the dozen or so people who were invited to the White House for a scaled-back meeting with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and senior White House aides.

“It was disappointing that I was the only Palestinian in attendance, and out of respect for my community who is mourning and suffering,” Ahmad told HuffPost. “I told the president that I’m going to leave. He told me he understood why I needed to leave.”

Ahmad, a Palestinian American based in Chicago who plans to return to Gaza on another humanitarian trip, recounted his experience in Gaza during Tuesday’s meeting and emphasized the need for more aid. He also said he told the president that the U.S. needed to firmly stop the looming invasion of Rafah, the southern border city where over a million people are seeking refuge.

“I was in Gaza, I tried to do everything I can to help my people there. But unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, the situation has gotten worse. Our community is reeling, we are in the state of mourning, we need the President to intervene and demand a ceasefire. I have a tremendous amount of survivor’s guilt. And I know many Palestinian Americans feel the same way,” said Ahmad.

“I was firm, candid and respectful. I hope that my message was received. And I hope my tone of urgency came across,” he added.

The policy meeting to discuss the crisis in Gaza, which was followed by a small dinner predominantly for Muslim White House staffers, was held in place of an iftar