Arab American, Muslim Leaders Decry Trump Comments on Gaza

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: US News and World Report/Reuters

Feb. 5, 2025, at 2:52 p.m.


(Reuters) - U.S. Arab American and Muslim leaders, including some who supported Donald Trump in the 2024 election, criticized the president's proposal for the U.S. to take over Gaza and resettle Palestinians as unacceptable and antithetical to the push for lasting peace. The leaders largely dismissed Trump's comments as unrealistic bluster, however, and said he was unlikely to pay a big political price in the community.

"We believe that his ideas, as well intentioned as they might be, rubbed a lot of people the wrong way," Bishara Bahbah, who founded Arab Americans for Trump and helped rally support for him in Michigan and other battleground states, told Reuters. "We're opposed to any transfer of Palestinians, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, out of their homeland." Bahbah said he still supports Trump, seeing him as the best option to avoid conflict in Gaza. He said his organization changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace two days ago, reflecting its shift in focus following Trump's election.

Trump outlined the idea for the U.S. to "take over" Gaza during a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. Trump also floated a proposal to relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries and redevelop the battered territory into a "Riviera of the Middle East." Arab American and Muslim support for Trump likely factored into his wins across several swing states, according to strategists, with the largest impact felt in Michigan, home to the country's biggest population of Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians.

Many in the community voted against then-Vice President Kamala Harris to protest the Biden administration's support of Israel in its assault on Gaza in retaliation for the October 7, 2023 attacks. Some also credit Trump with orchestrating a ceasefire, even though it happened before he entered the White House.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-02-05/arab-american-muslim-leaders-decry-trump-comments-on-gaza

[MarineCombatEngineer]

1. Well just what the hell did they expect?

And those Arab Americans and Muslim leaders who supported and voted for Been A Dick Donald, along with all the others that decided to sit out the election to teach the Democratic Party a lesson?
Fuck off each and every one of you, you helped bring this criminal back into power so fuck your complaints, the time to stop him was on Nov. 5 and y'all blew it.

[Bread and Circuses]

3. Agree

Thanks! USMC. 🩷
I have many connections to 1st Marine Division- Camp Pendleton . I taught GED classes to Marines many years ago,

[MarineCombatEngineer]

6. Way back in the '70's,

I was with the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division at Pendleton.
Had some good times and some not so good times.
Semper Fi.

[mommymarine2003]

11. My father was a career Marine. My sister and I were both born at Camp Pendleton.

My father was headquarters company commander of the First Marines back in the late 50's. I may have his title a little incorrect, but I can remember as a small child going to watch the parades or family day when they were out on maneuvers . Then years later my son joined the Marines and was with the First Marine Division that entered Iraq on the first day of the war. I have a great fondness for Marines. When our son was at war, I would ask Marines for a hug if I saw one. My father was in WWII (fighter pilot in the South Pacific), Korea, and Vietnam. For a good portion of his career, he was an intelligence officer. I cannot imagine how he would feel right now if he were alive.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

24. I may have known your son,

we were tasked with clearing a mine field on Hwy,. 80, dubbed "The Highway of Death' during Desert Storm, we, and a company of Navy Seabees, had front row seats to the destruction of the Republican Guard trying to leave Kuwait.
Funny thing was that a fellow Marine, known here as saristaka, was doing over watch on us while we cleared the mine field.

[mommymarine2003]

42. My son was in the second war. He was in Iraq in 2003 and 2004.

He crossed from Kuwait into Iraq on the first day of the war headed to Baghdad. He wound up at Al-Hilla for his final months. He was in Ramadi for his second deployment, which was a bad place to be. His MOS was communications.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

43. Ok, I stand corrected.

I was already retired for Gulf War 2.
Thank your son for his service.
Semper Fi.

[Alliepoo]

30. Amusing to me that they're

Kissing his A$$ in the way they deliver their “criticism” of donvicts goals. They believe he doesn’t really mean what he said and he’s still the best chance for peace. Do those folks think that soft soaping donvict will get them anywhere or make a difference to him? Guess they figure if they blast him for his lies that he will blast Gaza. I suppose they’re about to find out the hard way that they should have paid attention. I mean Jared stated during the last regime that they desired the oceanfront property to develop. Add that to bibi and donvict being bff’s- can’t believe they truly thought he would bring anything good to the region.

[Bengus81]

32. I like that...Been A Dick Donald. How about too......Let's Go Leon!! Just to piss off the MAGATS

[Bread and Circuses]

2. Buyer's Remorse

The Orange Turd told us who he was and you they still voted for him.

Where’s the student protests???? None?

They dragged Kamala Harris for weeks about Palestine.

Now, nothing. Why aren’t they in the streets? Afraid ? Or were there in fact Putin puppets being paid to attack
Biden and Harris?

We know!

[LauraInLA]

4. Sooooo "well-intentioned". Hahahahahaha!

[tanyev]

7. Right? The only well-intentioned ideas Donald Trump has ever had

were well-intentioned for himself.

[travelingthrulife]

25. I know. How did they pull 'well intentioned' out of anything Trump does.

[RockRaven]

5. Oh man, if only there had been a way to avoid him having the power to do anything like that.

[Raftergirl]

8. Thoughts and prayers for them.

[NNadir]

9. Arab-Americans for the Ethnic Cleansing of Arabs. What a nice organization.

[IronLionZion]

10. So many liberals warned them before the election, it shouldn't be a surprise to any of them

sure the Biden/Harris policy isn't perfect but any Trump policy is guaranteed to be a flaming pile of garbage.

[rpannier]

12. Bishara Bahbah the 21st Century Hans-Joachim Schoeps

If you don't know who he is look up The German Vanguard

[Sessuch]

13. Too late to cry. You voted for Trump because you were mad at Biden

[GoYouPackersGo]

14. Thoughts and prayers nt

[Pototan]

15. Let them all go fuck themselves

Anybody who didn't see Trump as an existential threat to everyone, including them, can now go fuck themselves as far as I'm concerned. I really don't care. do you?

Pass the pop corn.

[twodogsbarking]

16. Trump may be resposible for terrorism in the US but he won't be held accountable; like Jan 6.

[sakabatou]

17. The leopards are already well-fed

[MustLoveBeagles]

18. Unbelievable

They still don't get it.

[Beacool]

19. I don't care about their regrets.

They were warned, some didn't vote and some voted for Trump. So screw them!!! FAFO!!

[patphil]

20. Trump has never been well intentioned.

His intentions are always based on what's in it for him.
To say that this, "rubbed a lot of people the wrong way", tells me that this guy still hasn't grasped the true nature of the beast.
It is impossible for Trump to care less for the Palestinians than he actually does. Zero is zero, it can't go any lower.

[Old Crank]

21. As well intentioned as they might be!!!????

What a fool. He has zero well intentions for you. Your religion. Your race.
If you don't know that by now you are to stupid to be a spokesperson for that group, or any other group.

[JI7]

22. Well intentioned and rubbed people the wrong way V Genocide Joe

[Ray Bruns]

23. "He said his organization changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace two days ago, reflecting its shift in focus"

A turd by any other name , will still stink

[UpInArms]

26. including some who supported Donald Trump

[exboyfil]

27. My own little pet theory is that the GOP power brokers incentivized the leadership of Hamas

to attack Israel. Maybe some other government's intelligence agency can uncover this and disclose it. They used it to fracture the Democratic coalition, and it worked.

I also would investigate these so called leaders of the US Muslim community. I wouldn't be surprised if some money changed hands.

[ms liberty]

28. We all warned them. The information and evidence was readily available to anyone looking for it

They should have been paying attention. Maybe they should not vote for Republicans anymore.

[yardwork]

29. This proves that they were always Republicans.

The leaders largely dismissed Trump's comments as unrealistic bluster, however, and said he was unlikely to pay a big political price in the community.

[EllieBC]

37. They hate LGBTQ and women's rights more

than they give a damn about anyone in the ME.

That’s why they still love Trump.

[yardwork]

38. I know some Palestinian-Americans in North Carolina.

They own businesses. Many of their families have been here for many decades. They are classic business people. I don't know their opinions about other minorities but (1) most immigrant family-business owners are fiscally conservative, (2) most Arabs have very negative views of Jewish people, which can extend to dislike for liberals in general, because many American Jews are liberal, and (3) the way Islam is practiced in Arab culture is highly socially conservative. That doesn't mean that every individual is socially conservative, but it's the environment.

I've always believed that these Arab-Americans in Dearborn and other places in MI and PA are and always have been Republicans at heart.

They're not our voters. We need to focus on other constituents.

[EllieBC]

40. We decided they could be our voters

after 9/11. And we (the royal we here) decided to ignore every cultural aspect that would make them not our voters.

And it’s worked out so well for us.

Yes, let’s court communities who are heavily business oriented fiscal conservatives and social conservatives. Who the hell thought that made sense??

[yardwork]

41. The Democratic Party needs new leadership and new strategies.

Looking at the 1024 results, we saw predictable results:

Black voters chose the Democratic candidate by overwhelming percentages, just like they always do.

LGBTQ voters chose the Democratic candidates by overwhelming percentages.

Most Latino/Hispanic voters, overall, chose the Democratic candidate but it appears that Latino men may have moved toward the Republican. (Hispanic voters are not necessarily recent immigrants. Many, like my conservative BIL, are from families that have been here for hundreds of years. The DNC makes a big mistake considering all Latinos to be the same bloc. They are highly diverse. Many consider themselves to be white, and their views depend a lot on their country of origin (which some consider to be the U.S. since their families have been here that long.))

For the first time in a long time, more college-educated voters chose the Democrat.

As usual, we lost heavily among whites. Especially rural whites. We lost overwhelmingly among non-college educated whites.

The Democratic Party can't win if so many white people vote Republican. Most of those voters should be ours because they are who the Democratic Party helps the most!

We're losing young voters because our economy is becoming more and more lopsided, with policies that benefit older affluent whites and leave everyone else in the dust. Yet those older affluent whites continue to vote Republican!

There's some obvious lessons here, to me:
- Democrats need to figure out how to get the truth of what we're doing out there. Fox News, hate radio, podcasters, QAnon type websites are killing us. We're allowing negative churches to kill us. We're allowing lies to go uncorrected. Our messaging needs to improve greatly.

-Democrats need to reaffirm our commitment to the vision of America that is free, diverse, multicultural, and allows opportunities for all. The Republicans literally co-opted that message!

-Democrats need to propose big bold ideas that they promise to fight for. Much higher minimum wage, healthcare for all, subsidized college tuition (much more palatable than loan forgiveness), etc.

[DallasNE]

31. Keep In Mind

Trump common sense also brought us ingesting clorox as a treatment for COVID-19. Simple solutions for a simple mind.

[Aristus]

33. "Still supports Donald Trump."

Fuck. I fucking hate people who can't admit when they are wrong.

[yardwork]

39. They are Republicans.

[BlueMTexpat]

34. I am SOOOO angry with them

that I can't even think straight!

No common sense whatsoever!

[ananda]

35. Do they? So exactly what did they expect from Bibi's good bud?

Especially after Bibi spoke to Congress campaigning for Trump.

[EllieBC]

36. Oh the leopard came for their faces? No way!

Who could have seen this happening????

How do those “Genocide Joe” chants feel now?