Arab-Muslim Americans have been deeply disappointed by his choices. They feel cheated because, according to their words, he appeared before the election as the President of peace.
Their leaders note that their massive vote for him, which helped him at critical election moments, was in the form of a protest to his predecessor Biden about Israel’s war against it and the attacks on Lebanon.
Today, however, it has chosen to fill top political positions with individuals who have openly declared their support for Israel.
Strong supporters of Israel at the helm of the Trump administration
«Trump won because of us, and we’re not happy with the choice of Secretary of State and others.”said Rabiul Chowdhury, president of the campaign “Leave Harris” in Pennsylvania and co-founder of “Muslims for Trump».
Muslim support for Trump helped him win the state of Michigan. It may also have contributed to other victories in states with dubious electoral results.
For example, Trump appointed Marco Rubio, a Republican senator, as Secretary of State. The latter had recently stated that he would not call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Also, that he believes that Israel should destroy “each itemof Hamas. While he had added that “athese people are vicious animals».
Another indicative choice of Trump, which justifies what the American Muslims and Arabs report. He installed Mike Huckabee, a staunch pro-Israel conservative, as Israel’s next Ambassador. The latter supports the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. He is also against the establishment of two states in Palestine, a solution which he has characterized “not applicable”. Palestine,
An even greater sensation is caused by the placement of Republican Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the United Nations. She had called the UN “cesspool of anti-Semitism” because he had condemned the deaths in Gaza.
Trump in “Zionist overstimulation»
Trump’s choices above have disappointed his Muslim and Arab voters, who feel taunted.
Rexhinaldo Nazarco, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), pointed out that Muslim voters hoped that Trump would choose government officials who would work towards peace, but in practice he has proven otherwise.
«We are very disappointed,” he stated. “FIt seems that this administration has been filled entirely with neoconservative and extremely pro-Israel, pro-war people, which is a failure on the part of President Trump, for the peace movement and the anti-war movement.”.
Nazarco noted that the Muslim community will continue to push to make its voice heard after the massive turnout that helped Trump win. “At least we’re on the map» he adds.
Hassan Abdel Salam, former University of Minnesota professor and co-founder of the campaign “Leave Harris”thought Trump’s above staff came as no surprise. Admittedly, however, it turned out to be even more extreme than he feared.
«It’s like he’s going into Zionist hyper-arousal”he pointed out. “We’ve always been extremely cautious… Obviously we’re still waiting to see where the government will end up, but it looks like our community has been fooled».
It had made another impression on American Muslims
Many of Trump’s Muslim and Arab supporters pinned their hopes on Richard Grenell, the former interim director of the United States’ National Intelligence Service, who for months led outreach to the Muslim and Arab-American communities. In fact, he had also presented himself as a possible next foreign minister.
Similarly positive expectations had been created by Mashad Boulos, the Lebanese father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, meeting repeatedly with Arab-American and Muslim leaders.
Both had promised Arab-American and Muslim voters that Trump was a candidate of peace who would act quickly to end wars in the Middle East and beyond.
Trump himself has made several visits to cities with large Arab-American and Muslim populations, including in Dearborn, a city with an Arab majority, where he said he loves Muslims, and in Pittsburgh, where he called the movement “Muslims for Trump» “a beautiful movement”. “Xthey care about peace. They need stabilityhe had added.
What Trump’s side is responding to
Rola Mackie, the Lebanese-American and Muslim vice chair of outreach for the Michigan Republican Party, brushed off the criticism.
“DI don’t think everyone will be happy with every appointment Trump makes, but the result is what matters.” he said. “I know Trump wants peace and what people need to realize is that there are 50,000 dead Palestinians and 3,000 dead Lebanese and that happened during this administration».
Source: Reuters
