How Trump’s Middle East peace message won over Muslim voters amid Biden backlash over Gaza

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Children gather to receive aid food at Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 6, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. — AFP pic

DEARBORN, Nov 7 — Incoming US president Donald Trump pulled off a surprising feat late in the campaign, making gains with Muslim voters with a characteristically bold promise to end bloodshed in the Middle East.

Now, his new supporters are celebrating his victory and confident he will deliver despite Israel, led by his close ally Benjamin Netanyahu, continuing its 13-month siege of Gaza and bombardment of neighboring Lebanon.

In Dearborn, America’s largest Arab-American enclave, preliminary results showed Trump taking first place — a dramatic swing from 2020, when outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden won handily.

This time around, the left-leaning vote fractured between Vice President Kamala Harris and the Green Party’s Jill Stein.

“People got the message that Trump is trying to bring peace to the Middle East and to the whole world,” said Bill Bazzi, the Lebanese-American mayor of neighbouring Dearborn Heights, speaking to AFP from a late-night hookah bar that transformed into an early-morning party.

But for many, Trump’s first term paints a different picture.

The Republican imposed a travel ban on several Muslim-majority nations, endorsed Israeli settlements in the West Bank — deemed illegal under international law — and moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a major blow for Palestinian statehood.

And during this campaign, he touted his status as Israel’s strongest friend, saying Biden should let Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.

Bazzi dismissed what he called media distortions — insisting the ban was only a matter of closer vetting of select unstable countries to prevent Islamic State militants from getting into the United States.

A Marine veteran who campaigned for Trump in his closing rallies, he added he had been in contact with high-level members of the incoming administration who assured him that “one of the things (Trump) is pushing is to stop the war — he wants more diplomacy.”

Unpopular Biden

Others, like Yemeni-American activist and real estate agent Samra’a Luqman, were defiant after the result.

Like many other Arab Americans, she was outraged by the Biden-Harris administration’s unwavering military and diplomatic support for Israel in the Gaza and Lebanon conflicts, where the civilian death tolls continue to soar.

“They can blame us for Harris’ loss. I want them to,” she said. “It was my community that said, ‘If you commit genocide, we will hold you accountable for it.’”

Outside the Shatila Bakery yesterday morning, Trump voters were jubilant.

“He’s more intelligent, more educated for this position,” said Diyaa Abd, a 48-year-old trucker who immigrated from Iraq, adding that when Trump was in power, there was peace in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“The one that had to win, won,” chimed in Mike Sima, 75.

The Trump team also did what Harris notably did not: show up in Dearborn.

Her campaign’s decision to tour Michigan with former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney — a vocal Iraq War advocate — also alienated many Arabs.

Trump’s outreach, on the other hand, benefited from a new link to the community: Lebanese-American Michael Boulos, who is married to his daughter Tiffany Trump.

Boulos’ father Massad Boulos was a key emissary for the campaign.

Despite lingering scepticism over Trump’s seemingly contradictory stances, Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Trump, had faith in his next president.

“Yes, he said ‘finish the job,’ but when I inquired exactly what that means, I was told ‘stop the war,’” he insisted.

“He’s said it, and he’ll do it. Trump has proven he does what he says.” — AFP