Top Biden administration officials met with Arab American and Muslim leaders in Michigan on Thursday for an intense two-hour meeting in an attempt to make amends with Arab and Muslim voters who increasingly say they will not vote for President Joe Biden over his Gaza policy.

The delegation consisted of Jon Finer, a deputy national security adviser at the White House; Samantha Power, who is working on aid for Gaza as the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development; Tom Perez, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee who is a White House liaison to local governments; and Stephen Benjamin, a senior adviser and the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

State Rep. Abraham Aiyash, the majority floor leader and the second-ranking Democrat in Michigan; Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn; and Assad Turfe, the deputy county executive of Wayne County, were among those who attended the meeting.

Abbas Alawieh, a senior democratic strategist and spokesperson for the Listen to Michigan Campaign, a voter engagement initiative, told HuffPost that the meeting was very tense at moments, with some attendees in tears. Some of those who attended made specific demands, including an immediate and permanent cease-fire and to reinstate funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

But Alawieh said officials in the room did not commit to supporting a cease-fire, which he said left many there frustrated.

It isnt just important for saving lives but also, here in Michigan, the level of betrayal. Its not superficial; its bone-deep. People feel it every single day as people endure a collective trauma, Alawieh said.

Alawieh said the officials spent the day in Michigan in meetings between Arab American, Muslim American and Palestinian American community members and elected officials.

[Officials] were lucky to be hearing from the expertise of people harmed by the very policies the Biden administration is championing, Alawieh said.

Alawieh said that, although he was grateful for the meeting, he was skeptical of any meaningful changes in the White House policy on Gaza and predicted that those consequences will not only cost Democrats this election but will be felt for years to come.

If President Biden wants a shot here in Michigan, hes going to need to do something different, he said.