AUGUSTA, Maine — Several Muslim elected officials called Monday for Maine’s congressional delegation to support an “immediate” ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a move that President Joe Biden and several other world leaders have rejected.
The letter requests that the delegation vote in favor of a resolution from U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Missouri, urging the Biden administration to support an “immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Israel and occupied Palestine” as well as humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“All human life is precious and the targeting of civilians, no matter their faith or ethnicity, is a violation of international humanitarian law,” the group of officials led by Portland City Councilor Pious Ali wrote.
The letter’s signers include state Reps. Ambureen Rana, D-Bangor, Mana Abdi, D-Lewiston, and Deqa Dhalac, D-South Portland, along with Bangor City Councilor Dina Yacoubagha, Bangor School Committee member Marwa Hassanien, Portland Public Schools board member Yusuf Yusuf and Biddeford City Councilor Liam LaFountain.
The call from the Muslim officials in Maine is outside the U.S. foreign policy mainstream, though the group cited a survey released last week from the left-wing Data for Progress that found roughly two-thirds of likely voters agree the U.S. should call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden, a Democrat, said last week there was “no possibility” for a Gaza ceasefire. The Democratic president also told reporters his administration is “still optimistic” about rescuing the nine missing American hostages held by Hamas and will not stop “until we get them out.”
All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation have supported Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas that killed about 1,200 people, while Palestinian health officials said more than 11,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel responded with air and ground strikes.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement that she supports humanitarian assistance for citizens in Gaza, “but I strongly disagree with the assertions in this letter” and that the federal government “must do all it can to support Israel” in eliminating Hamas.
“This is not a close call,” she said. “This is a clear case,” Collins said.
Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, signed onto a letter to Biden last week asking the president to share information on “two clear U.S. priorities: supporting an Israeli strategy that will effectively degrade and defeat the threat from Hamas and taking all possible measures to protect civilians in Gaza.”
Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat representing Maine’s 1st District, signed a Nov. 3 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking him to support a humanitarian pause and to emphasize the need for Israel to “minimize civilian harm,” while a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat representing Maine’s 2nd District, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Bush’s resolution has slim odds of passing a divided Congress, though American diplomats have reportedly warned the Biden administration of growing fury against the U.S. in the Arab world for supporting Israel’s campaign in Gaza that came in response to Hamas’ attack.
Leaders in Germany and the United Kingdom are also among those spurning calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, the strip along the Mediterranean Sea that Hamas, which the U.S. calls a terrorist group, seized control of in 2007. Israel agreed last week to four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in northern Gaza to allow civilians to evacuate to southern Gaza.
In Maine, police arrested seven protesters last week who called for a Gaza ceasefire and refused to leave Golden’s district office in Bangor, with similar demonstrations planned for this week at his Lewiston office.