Rafah Crossing, Biden Islamophobia Plan, Portland Teachers Strike

The White House says it is working on a plan to combat Islamophobia.

I think a lot of people are going to have extraordinary cynicism right now

with this White House.

How can the Biden administration repair frayed relationships with Muslim Americans?

as the teachers' union continues its first-ever strike demanding better pay and benefits.

Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

More people are expected to be allowed to leave Gaza today

through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

And President Joe Biden says the U.S. is working with regional partners

to get more people out and desperately needed aid in.

of critical humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

The number of trucks entering Gaza continues to increase significantly,

but we still have a long way to go.

and as international condemnation of civilian casualties,

especially from airstrikes in the Jabalia refugee camp, continues to grow.

Alyssa, welcome. Thank you for joining us.

What can you tell us about who they are?

includes about 400 people with American passports,

according to a list provided by Hamas.

The list also includes people with passports from other countries,

including Croatia, Mexico, and the Netherlands.

And it is a time-consuming process at the border,

so it's not clear everyone on the list from today will actually get to Egypt.

Yesterday we saw the first people to leave Gaza since the conflict began.

There were critically injured Palestinians, like you said.

There were a handful of American aid workers

and about 300 people with foreign passports from places like Australia, Bulgaria, and Jordan.

Our producer Anas Baba was there on the Gaza side of the crossing this morning

and talked with Yumna Shafi, who was there at the crossing with her mom, Sanaa.

So I'm kind of scared inside, but I'm also happy to leave because I'm going to be able to be safe.

It's been so difficult living in Gaza in the last 25 days.

just for the sake of the kids.

So we know a little bit more about who's getting out.

What about relief supplies going in for the people who desperately need it?

At first, you know, it was just 20 or 30 trucks with things like medical supplies and food,

but that has more than doubled.

Israel has agreed to allow 100 trucks of humanitarian aid a day.

Aid organizations state it's still not enough, you know, given how dire the situation is there.

I talked with Heba Tebe about this.

She is the country director of the NGO CARE in the West Bank and Gaza,

and she's been talking to our colleagues in Gaza who are sheltering in crowded homes,

sometimes with up to 100 people in one house.

They are running out of water and they are running out of food.

They are now on the outskirts of Gaza City.

Before the war, that city had a population of about half a million people in it.

The Israeli military for weeks has told civilians to leave the north of Gaza and head south,

but the U.N. estimates there are still 300,000 Palestinians there.

And Israel has said again and again they believe that Hamas is operating extensively in tunnels underground

under very densely populated areas, under hospitals, under places like the Jabali refugee camp,

which they struck repeatedly.

And as long as they believe Hamas is doing that,

the Israeli military says they are going to continue to go after what they see as legitimate targets

despite this growing international outrage over civilian deaths.

widespread frustration from Muslims in America over the Israel-Gaza war.

and she's with us now to tell us more about it. Good morning, Asma.

because of the President's support for Israel's military actions in Gaza.

And there was this striking poll that was released this week by the Arab American Institute

that found support for Biden has plummeted.

It showed support had fallen from 59 percent in 2020 to now just 17 percent.

Likewise, a survey of Muslim voters found a staggering number of people say

they cannot vote for Biden's re-election.

And, Michel, I have covered campaigns for years.

I will acknowledge that Arab Muslim voters are a sliver of the electorate.

But this is a major shift in a very short amount of time, and that is extremely unusual.

The President knows that many Muslim voters are unhappy.

He heard about it directly when he met with a handful of Muslim leaders at the White House.

The group included Rami Nashashibi. He's a community organizer in Chicago.

And more than an Islamophobia plan, he wants to see the specific issues

they asked the President about during the White House meeting addressed and acknowledged.

with this White House until and unless there are much more explicit ways

that we begin to see policy shifts, including the utter dehumanization

of Palestinians here and across the globe.

I mean, this is a president who campaigned on healing the soul of the nation.

And this is a very fraught time, and you're talking about some very deep divisions.

in the Middle East is itself contributing to Islamophobia at home.

I'm hearing even from some Muslims who work within the administration.

And, you know, when it comes to this specific Islamophobia initiative,

some people feel like it's a distraction from the fundamental issue

of civilian deaths in Gaza.

The White House has invested also in a very important anti-Semitism plan.

And some people told me that they felt like this Islamophobia initiative

was an afterthought.

Then there are others who say it's going to be a challenge for Muslim voters

to hear this message from Biden, given their anger about Middle East policy.

But it is still important.

And here's Salam al-Maryati with the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

as throwing a bone to our community.

It's not. It's very serious, and it's very important,

not just for our community, but for American society.

He pointed out that in this current climate there are new challenges,

specifically around how support for Palestinians may be cast as anti-American

or perhaps anti-Semitic.

But as briefly as you can, what is this White House plan to counter Islamophobia?

What does it do?

This is basically a plan to come up with a strategy.

It'll be spearheaded by the White House Domestic Policy Council

and the National Security Council.

You know, months before this immediate crisis in the Middle East,

the White House did meet with a number of Muslim organizations

who had expressed concerns about things like the terrorism watch list

and harassment at airports.

So this has been a work in progress,

but there is certainly a newfound urgency to show some action.

Asma, thank you so much.

as a teacher strike continues.

which serves around 45,000 students.

The Portland Association of Teachers have been negotiating with the district

since their last contract expired in June.

Here's Renard Adams from the Portland Public Schools bargaining team.

that is more than our increase in revenue.

We know the union's bargaining team believes that it's insufficient

but we cannot responsibly accept their proposed 23% increase.

Lisa Bailick, a reporter with KOIN-TV in Portland, Oregon,

is with us now to tell us more about it.

Good morning, Lisa.

about the conditions that led to the strike,

or at least the conditions that the teachers say led to the strike.

Obviously, higher pay.

They want smaller class sizes and more planning time.

You know, we talk about the pay.

The district is offering currently a 4.5% the first year,

3% each of the next two years.

Teachers want almost double that.

There were hundreds that turned out for a rally yesterday.

They believe the district really can find the money.

It's about $200 million by making cuts and further depleting the reserve fund.

Now, the president, in fact, of the National Education Association

was here in Portland yesterday for rallies.

It's really a sign we may be seeing more of these strikes around the country.

but it's also the working conditions,

like the conditions that the buildings are in, for example,

or things like that, lack of heat, lack of A.C.

Is that part of this as well?

These are some of the issues they are discussing at the table, for sure.

Do you have a sense of, I know this is early days,

do you have any sense of how the broader community feels about this?

because the teachers had given their 10-day notice

and there was a sense this was going to happen even before that.

Families really want more for the teachers.

Having the kids home during the pandemic,

I think they're painfully aware of how much work it is to help kids

with their academics, behavior issues, mental health issues.

Very grateful that the teachers take on that responsibility

of caring for many, many students in their day.

about what officials from the Portland Public Schools are saying.

the teacher demands they would have to make massive cuts,

laying off teachers, shortening the school year possibly.

Even the governor, who is a labor supporter, says the teacher demands

would send the district off a financial cliff.

The district is blaming the state for not giving them enough money for education.

But what happened in Oregon back in 1990

is that voters passed a measure to limit the property taxes,

which essentially pushed the biggest burden paying for schools

to the state through income taxes.

might return to the bargaining table?

they will both be at the bargaining table.

But essentially what this means is no school for a second day today

or on Friday, which was a scheduled day off.

Lisa, thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Michelle Martin.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Michael Sullivan,

Roberta Rampton, Alice Wolfley, and Mohamed Elbardisi.

It was produced by Julie Deppenbrock, Shelby Hawkins, and Chad Campbell.

We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott,

and our technical director is Zach Coleman.

Start your day here with us tomorrow.

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But for a deep dive on one story, listen to Consider This

in the Consider This feed right now.

Egypt's border with Gaza was open for a few hundred foreign nationals

and dozens of critically wounded Palestinians to leave the territory.

But what about the millions of others still trapped?

Listen to Consider This wherever you get your podcasts.