‘There’s so much trauma’: Arab Americans remain fearful and hopeful about Trump’s second term

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On November 1, just days before the presidential election that returned him to the White House, Donald Trump traveled to the crucial swing state of Michigan and stopped at a small Lebanese cafe in the town of Dearborn, near Detroit.

Flanked by security forces, the press and local Arab-American voters, the future president signed a “peace plaque” and then addressed reporters.

“You will have peace in the Middle East,” Trump promised, before cafe owner Albert Abbas presented him with his own plaque “from all the peace-loving residents of Michigan.”

“It was a great experience. I don’t think it could have gone better,” Abbas told Euronews.

Four days later, Trump claimed victory in Dearborn and neighboring cities, which have the highest concentration of Arabs outside of the Middle East. In Dearborn, he won 42% of the vote, while Vice President Kamala Harris won just 36% – a spectacular decline from the nearly 70% Biden won in 2020.

Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament who played a key role as a mediator in the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hezbollah, attributed Trump’s strong performance among Arab-American voters in this key area to the cafe visit.

This all represents a major turnaround from Trump’s first term, when he was harshly chastised by American Muslim leaders for various actions.

During his first campaign, he proposed a “complete and total stop” on Muslims entering the U.S., and shortly after his first inauguration in 2017, he signed an executive order banning entry from several Muslim-majority countries.

He later moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, a highly controversial move, and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights – even though Israel’s presence there was considered an illegal occupation under international law.

But times seem to have changed.

“A very sincere person”

Dressed in black jeans, a black sweater and a black cap, Abbas – who took part in the Lebanese peace negotiations in the 1980s – spoke to Euronews about how Trump’s visit came about, alongside his colleague Faye Nemer, director of the MENA-American Chamber of Commerce (MENAACOC). The two said the Trump campaign first contacted them in September.

“We consider it an iconic meeting,” Nemer said, adding that the Trump team was “very open” to their concerns about Israel’s actions in the Middle East and the need for a ceasefire.

Nemer grew up in Lebanon during the 1982 Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon. Her family was displaced and ended up in a cramped, abandoned office building in Beirut before moving to the United States.

She described watching tanks and fearing for her family’s life and her own.

“I realized that my childhood was traumatic and not a normal childhood.” It was, she said, “something no child should have to experience.”

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Nemer believes Trump understands this.

“We saw the sincerity of his platform, we saw the sincerity of his approach. He was a very sincere person who was very committed to peace in the region,” she told Euronews.

Shortly after his visit to Abbas’ cafe, Trump held a rally nearby where an imam supported the Republican candidate. Imam Belal Alzuhairi pointed at Trump and said: “There is bloodshed all over the world, and this man can make it stop.”

The imam is from nearby Hamtramck, the first Muslim-majority city in the US, where Trump has more than tripled his vote share since 2020.

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When asked by Euronews about Trump’s past relationships with Muslim Americans, he replied: “We’d rather hope for the best and maintain positive expectations rather than focusing on the past.”

Buyer’s remorse

There are already signs that the relative warmth with which Trump was greeted during the campaign may not last.

Just days after retaking the White House, Trump announced a series of controversial political appointments that could have a significant impact on his Middle East policy.

His choice for UN ambassador, New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, has repeatedly criticized the UN as anti-Israel and called for the dissolution of the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA. Even more worrying for pro-Palestinian advocates is Trump’s presumed ambassador to Israel, MikeHuckabee.

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The former Arkansas governor has previously referred to the occupied West Bank by its biblical name Judea and Samaria, a rhetorical device used by far-right Israeli politicians who lay claim to the territory, and has also said there is no such thing “. the West Bank or even the Palestinians – and approvingly described Trump as an advocate of “the most pro-Israel policies of any president in my lifetime.”

There are many people who consider this a cause for concern.

Dr. Burhan Ghanayem is a Palestinian-American businessman and former academic who co-founded the Arab Democratic Caucus in North Carolina. In a phone call with Euronews, which was in the process of auditing the Subway sandwich shop he runs, Ghanayem worried that many Arab Americans did not understand Trump’s threat to the community.

“Many people are too young to remember these people,” he laments. “I mean, Huckabee.”

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Growing up near Nablus in the West Bank, Ghanayem describes losing members of a “second family” of close friends in Gaza when their family’s building in Khan Younis was evacuated and destroyed by IDF soldiers this year.

“Two nephews went back into the house. They were just looking for valuables, some semblance of home, and the IDF shot them,” he tells Euronews.

His fears about Trump are largely based on the president-elect’s first term.

“His last presidency was a disaster. He is against us, he is against Arabs.

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This point was echoed by Khodr Zaarour, founder of the Muslim American Public Affairs Council, who endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein after decades of supporting Democrats.

“It’s definitely concerning for us, not just us, the entire foreign policy establishment,” he said.

Nancy Okail, an Egyptian-American human rights activist who was sentenced to prison in absentia by an Egyptian court, told Euronews she thought Trump’s selection of real estate mogul Steve Witkoff as Middle East envoy was the “most interesting decision,” hinting at it The new president sees the region as “a huge real estate deal” – a view that she warned would undermine the Israelis could further legitimize annexation efforts.

When Abbas was asked directly about these developments, he became more defensive.

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“Let’s let Donald Trump take office before we judge him or his appointees. I think they will all prevail and take a more balanced approach.”

A sobering result for the Democrats

A common theme in the conversations was disillusionment with the Democratic Party, whose presidential candidate has lost more than 50% of its previous support among Muslim and Arab American voters, according to a poll.

Biden had also visited Abbas’ restaurant in 2020, and Nemer and Abbas reported that the Harris campaign came to meet with them in September, but the first thing they said was that there was no change in Middle East policy What Abbas said will give a sense of community like “lesser people”.

Only then did they begin communicating with the Trump campaign.

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Alzuhairi added that the party has “increasingly pushed Arab American voices into the background.” Even Ghanayem admitted that Democrats “have been a series of disappointments” and accused Biden of being “totally complicit in genocide.”

While he voted for Harris, he said the Arab caucus bristled at supporting her and ultimately refused to do so.

Meanwhile, Abbas said some of those who supported Trump were already aligned with conservative values. For others, like Ghanayem and Okail, it was these values ​​that led them to vote for Trump, and not just events in Israel, Lebanon and Palestine.

“I am an American citizen and everything is important to me,” Okail concluded. “I find it a bit insulting that we are pigeonholed.”

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Ultimately, Ghanayam is convinced that the Middle East conflict has led to deep disillusionment on all sides.

“People can’t think clearly. There’s so much trauma.”