The Biden-Harris campaign has been accused of instituting a “Muslim ban” at its events after a video surfaced in which two women wearing religious head coverings argued with staffers who refused to permit them entry to an event where the vice president was set to speak.
In a video that has gone viral on social media — first shared by Nevadans for Palestinian Liberation (NPL) — two women wearing hijabs who said they were Muslims argued with event staffers at Vice President Kamala Harris’ Get-Out-the-Vote event in Las Vegas. The women accused the staffers of racism for singling them out.
One of the two women who claimed they were denied entry is never seen in the clip because she was filming the confrontation. The other woman appears on camera for just a moment at the end of the four-minute video. She can be seen wearing a mask with a scarf around her head as she questions one of the men barring their entry. She identified the man as part of “the LGBT community” and confronted him for keeping them out.
“You’re going after another group,” she said of the man.
NPL posted the video with the caption: “On Saturday, January 27th at the @KamalaHarris ‘Get The Vote Out’ event in Las Vegas, two visible members of the Muslim community wearing hijabs were not let in by campaign officials. The Biden/Harris campaign is clearly fanning the flames of Islamophobia.”
Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the Biden-Harris campaign, responded to the NPL post by claiming that the women were denied entry because they were identified as protesters who had disrupted previous Democratic events:
“These individuals were among the group of people not allowed to attend Saturday’s event after previously disrupting and shutting down events with Democratic elected officials.”
Moussa’s justification was taken to task by University of Wisconsin political science professor Samer Alatout, who posited, “Why should we believe you? And what does disrupts mean? Asked uncomfortable questions? What exactly?”
Julie Zebrak, a political consultant, offered another viewpoint, posting, “There is no right to be in close proximity to the Vice President of the United States at a campaign event. Folks can protest all they want outside the event (and they do), but not inside. Last week in VA, white disruptive protesters had to leave the campaign rally with POTUS/VP.”
Since the October 7 surprise terrorist attack on Israel by Gaza-based Hamas militants, a political rift has opened up between the Democratic Party and the Muslim community over the latter’s anger with President Joe Biden for supporting Israel in its war with Hamas, which Palestinian authorities claim has resulted in over 27,000 deaths. Biden has been hounded at campaign stops by anti-Israel protesters ever since the Israeli Defense Force began military operations in Gaza.
Unable to ignore or appease the protesters, Democratic leaders appear to be taking a more hardline approach to criticism from the left. On Sunday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the speaker of the House when Democrats controlled the chamber, accused the protesters of following orders from the Kremlin without providing any evidence to back up the claim.
The government affairs director of the Muslim advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Robert McCaw, released a statement on Tuesday, saying, “The American people deserve to know whether these women were profiled and barred from an event featuring Vice President Harris because they were visibly Muslim.”
He added, “Throughout her term, Vice President Harris has been respectful in her interactions with American Muslims, even during a time of intense disagreement. We encourage Vice President Harris to take appropriate action to address this apparent incident of profiling.”
McCaw and CAIR have in the past called the Republican Party “the political epicenter of Islamophobia,” according to Voice of America News.
Former President Donald Trump had long been accused of harboring animus against Muslims for his travel ban from certain countries with majority Muslim populations that were tied to terrorism. Some right-wing commentators noted the double standard when such exclusions are practiced on the left.
Former Texas state official John Basham posted the clip and commented: “The [Joe Biden/Kamala Harris] Campaign Is Ejecting Islamic Individuals Who Show Up To Their Events Wearing Hijabs Or Other Traditional Muslim Garb! Yet Their Campaign Continues To Push The Trope That [Donald Trump] Is An Islamophobe!”
