Live updates: Follow the latest from Israel-Gaza
Waving placards reading “Abandon Biden,” dozens of Muslim and Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan, gathered in a school auditorium where they made fiery speeches, chanted and denounced President Joe Biden over his handling of the war in Gaza.
Mariam Tout, a social worker, drove from Ann Arbor, a city 40 minutes away, to attend the event. She said her husband is Palestinian-American and has family in Gaza who he has not heard from in a month.
She blames this squarely on Mr Biden's policies.
“There is nothing that Biden can come here and say to us as an empty platitude to try to win our votes back,” Ms Tout told the National on Wednesday.
“It's all going to be really disrespectful,” she added.
Mr Biden, who is running for re-election in November, is due to visit the battleground state on Thursday, where he will meet members of the United Auto Workers union, who endorsed the Democratic incumbent last week.
But residents of Dearborn say Mr Biden is not welcome in the capital of Arab America.
“He is not welcome in our community,” said Amer Zahr, a Palestinian-American comedian and political activist.
“We are still and we will remain angry and it's irredeemable,” Mr Zahr told the National. “The relationship is broken.”
Michigan is home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the US. It is also a key battleground state, and a must-win for Mr Biden in the 2024 presidential election.
In 2020, Muslim and Arab Americans overwhelmingly voted for Mr Biden, helping him clinch victory.
But since Israel's war on Gaza began on October 7, support for him has dwindled.
“He has no hope of ever getting a single vote from our community,” said Nasser Beydoun, who is running for the US Senate in Michigan.
“I don't want my President to be complicit in a genocide,” Mr Beydoun told the crowd.
“Michigan is gonna make or break this election.”
A recent poll conducted by the Arab American Institute found that 17 per cent of Arabs now support Mr Biden, down from 59 per cent.
In 2020, Mr Biden won the state by three percentage points, or 154,000 votes.
I don't want my President to be complicit in a genocide
Nasser Beydoun,
candidate for US Senate
Records show that Michigan is home to about 200,000 Muslim voters and 300,000 people who claim ancestry in the Middle East and North Africa.
Last week, Abdullah Hammoud, the city's first Arab American mayor and a Democrat, said his office and other Arab and Muslim leaders in Dearborn turned down an invitation from Mr Biden's campaign team.
Residents of Dearborn say not only do they not want to meet Mr Biden or vote for him, they also want to ensure he does not win a second term in office.
But with the election still 10 months away, community organisers say they have not yet decided if they should support a third-party candidate, encourage voters to write in a protest message on their ballots, or stay at home.
A major issue is the fact that Mr Biden is likely to face Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican candidate.
While in office Mr Trump passed legislation that barred nationals from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. He has vowed to reinstate those bans if he is re-elected.
Four years ago, Adam Abu Salah, a Palestinian-American, went door-to-door in Dearborn and in the wider Wayne County to campaign for Mr Biden. He engaged the Arab American community and argued that he would be better for America and for Arab Americans than Mr Trump. He even convinced his elderly relatives to vote for Mr Biden.
“I feel disappointed and betrayed,” Mr Abu Salah told The National.
“This is somebody I knocked on doors for, this is somebody I went to our community and said please vote for this guy – he's better for us,” he said. “And look what he's done to us.”
Mr Biden has been a staunch supporter of Israel's military campaign in Gaza and has refused to call for a ceasefire, despite widespread demands and nationwide protests.
He has said that he supports Israel's right to defend itself and its stated aim of destroying Hamas, the group that attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people.
He bypassed Congress to approve emergency weapons sales to the country and has questioned the number of Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza.
Arab Americans say they were particularly incensed by Mr Biden's questioning of casualties in Gaza, and by a statement last month marking 100 days of the war in Gaza that made no mention of the thousands of Palestinian civilians killed in the conflict.
Israel's bombardment of Gaza has killed about 27,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians. Most of the coastal enclave's 2.3 million residents have been displaced to the southern city of Khan Younis, where they face severe shortages of food, water, shelter and access to medical care.
“The President's going to continue to believe that Israel has a right to defend itself,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday when asked by reporters if Mr Biden's policy in Gaza would alienate Arab Americans.
“And of course we are heart-broken about seeing innocent Palestinians being caught up in the middle of that, and of course we understand how folks are feeling in the community,” she said.
“We cannot forget what happened on that day [October 7], and what has led to where we are today.”
Last week, Mr Biden brushed off losing the support of the community, suggesting there was still time to turn things around before the election.
Mr Zahr says Dearborn's residents are unlikely to forget Mr Biden's actions, even if there is a ceasefire soon.
Several residents were trapped in the blockaded territory for weeks before they were evacuated by the State Department, and many more have lost relatives.
“They asked us in 2020 to save America from Donald Trump and now we have realised that we need to save Palestine from Joe Biden,” Mr Zahr said. “And so that's what we're gonna do.”
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
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Price: On request
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
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The studios taking part (so far)
- Punch
- Vogue Fitness
- Sweat
- Bodytree Studio
- The Hot House
- The Room
- Inspire Sports (Ladies Only)
- Cryo
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
The specs: 2019 Audi A7 Sportback
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 335hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy 5.9L / 100km
