In a closed meeting with Arab American leaders in Michigan this week, one of President Biden’s top foreign policy aides acknowledged mistakes in the administration’s response to the war in Gaza, saying he had “no confidence” that the Israeli government was prepared to take “steps Purposeful towards establishing a Palestinian state.

John Feiner provided some of the US administration's clearest expressions of remorse for the mistakes it has made since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza.

These statements came after months of public and private warnings from the Biden administration to Israel to take a more active approach to the war, which has claimed the lives of more than 27,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden himself announced that Israel had exceeded the limit in its response to the Hamas attack on October 7 (Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on the Israeli settlements surrounding Gaza).

Biden's aide, John Viner, and deputy national security adviser, offered some of the administration's clearest expressions of remorse for what he called the "mistakes" it had made since the beginning of the violence, and pledged that it would do better, according to what the New York Times revealed.

During the meeting held Thursday with Arab American political leaders in Dearborn, Michigan, Feiner said, “We are well aware that we have made mistakes in the response to this crisis since October 7,” according to a recording of the meeting.

An official at the National Security Council confirmed the authenticity of the recording.

“We left a very damaging impression based on what was a woefully inadequate public accounting of how much the president, the administration, and the state value the lives of Palestinians,” Feiner added. “And that started, frankly, very early in the conflict.”

Feiner: We have no confidence that the Israeli government is prepared to take meaningful steps toward establishing a Palestinian state

The New York Times noted that the Israeli war in Gaza has become part of a series of political problems facing Biden, who has remained publicly supportive of Israel and has resisted demands within the Democratic Party to call for a ceasefire along with his statements that cast doubt on the number of victims of Israeli air strikes. He described the loss of life as “the price of waging war,” statements that angered young people, black voters, and the progressive movement most sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

The recording of the Dearborn meeting provided an unusual behind-the-scenes glimpse into the administration's attempts to rally support in the battleground state of Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population in Dearborn and other Detroit suburbs.

Polls show that Mr. Biden's support in the state has eroded. His allies there have warned the White House in recent months that it risks losing the state it won in 2020.

Mr. Feiner and several senior Biden administration officials, including Samantha Power, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, traveled to Dearborn on Thursday for a series of meetings, including the one at which Mr. Feiner’s comments were recorded.

Those sessions came a week after Biden campaign aides, including Julie Chavez Rodriguez, his 2024 campaign manager, quietly traveled to the city and met with a handful of officials, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Palestinian-American progressive who stands at the Democratic Party's forefront in advocating To a ceasefire.

However, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and several other local officials refused to meet with Ms. Chavez Rodriguez. Mr. Hammoud later issued a statement saying he wished to speak with decision-makers rather than campaign officials. White House officials then scrambled to arrange the visit.

During Thursday's meetings, Mr. Viner explained the US government's efforts to stop the war in Gaza. He said that building a formal diplomatic relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia is a crucial step towards establishing a Palestinian state. He added that doing so requires politically difficult sacrifices from both countries and the United States.