Despite Trump’s stance on Gaza, Mayor Ghalib remains a supporter

About two years ago Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib and the Arab and Muslim community were protesting over then-President Biden’s administration support of Israel’s war in Gaza. Today, those voices are largely silent despite President Trump’s controversial plans for Gaza. file photo

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib has finally broken his silence on President’s Trump’s controversial comments on the future of Gaza.
And metro Detroit is listening.
Recently, Ghalib posted a lengthy comment on his Facebook page about Trump’s views on Gaza, and that has attracted the attention of at least two local media outlets: The Metro Times and Deadline Detroit.
Both noted that, while Ghalib has been mildly critical of Trump, he is still sticking with the president in general.
And the reason for this unwavering support, the media outlets concluded, is Ghalib’s alignment with Trump on being anti-LGBTQ rights, and on other so-called “family values” issues that conservatives embrace.
This is despite Ghalib being an immigrant from Yemen, and Trump imposing a ban on several majority Muslim nations, including Yemen, in his first term.
And, also despite during the recent presidential campaign, Trump at one point referred to immigrants specifically from Yemen as “terrorists.”
In recent interviews, Trump has now called for permanently relocating Palestinians in Gaza to neighboring Arabic countries, such as Egypt and Jordan. Even more recently, in a Fox news interview, Trump says that he “owns Gaza.”
“Think of it as a real estate development for the future,” Trump said.
As for Palestinians, he was asked if they could ever return to their homeland.
“No, they wouldn’t, because they (would) have much better housing” elsewhere, Trump said.
However, no other Arab country has yet said it would take in any of the Palestinian refugees. Trump has also not ruled out sending U.S. military troops to Gaza to clear it out and provide security.
His statements have outraged a number of Arab-Americans and, especially, Arab nations.
Trump has also said that, unless Hamas returns the Israeli hostages this Saturday (Feb. 15) by noon, “all hell is going to breakout” – which is an apparent threat to end the already fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
So, what is Ghalib’s response to all this?
“I made it clear from day one that President Trump and I have some differences and we do not agree on everything. This was the first sentence of my endorsement and he posted it on his Truth Social page,” Ghalib said.
“I also asked people in my endorsement to have realistic expectations and goals, one of them is that the United States foreign policy will not change much and its commitment to support Israel will not change! Didn’t we say that many times?
“Yes, I disagree with the president on the idea of evacuating the indigenous people of Gaza from their homeland, but this idea was on the table during the 15 months war, now it’s still there but minus the war, which Biden failed to stop, but President Trump did stop and delivered his promise of ceasefire.”
Trump’s claim that he engineered the ceasefire is debatable since it took place during the last days of President Biden’s administration and Biden’s staff had been negotiating a ceasefire.
But Biden’s administration did give some credit to Trump’s people for helping settle the matter.
Ghalib’s response about Trump’s aggressive stance on Gaza is in stark contrast to about two years ago when the Arab and Muslim communities held a rally in Hamtramck protesting then President Biden’s continued support of Israel and supplying Israel with military weapons in its war on Gaza.
At that time over 1,000 protestors hit Hamtramck’s streets. Protestors then called for voters to vote “uncommitted” in the Democratic Party’s presidential primary election in an effort to punish Biden.
Mayor Ghalib was one of those voices at the rally two years ago, where he told a gathering in front of city hall that Palestinians have a right to fight back against Israel.
“If you classify a person as a terrorist, other people in different parts of the world consider him as a freedom fighter. So not everyone agrees with our government,” Ghalib said.
The U.S. government classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization.
But now with Trump continuing his support of Israel and talking about owning Gaza, the Arab and Muslim communities have not shown any outrage or held protests.
Ghalib’s Facebook post drew over 200 responses, with a predictable number behind his continued support of Trump, but a number of others who were critical.
Those supporting Ghalib echoed what Moammar Abduallah had said:
“Your agreement with President Trump on some issues and disagreement on others reflects a balanced and realistic stance. This is exactly how political discussions should be — supporting what is positive while criticizing what needs correction.
“From the beginning, you made it clear that U.S. foreign policy would not undergo drastic changes and that the priority was to stop the war, not to expect major shifts in America’s positions.”
Those critical generally always had a common theme:
“He used you. He just wanted all your votes to win Michigan. I tried to tell you he is a snake,” said Pamela Greenman Webb.
The drift of the local Arab and Muslim population away from the Democratic Party toward Republicans was engineered by what appeared to be a calculated courtship from far-right players such as General Michael Flynn, the former National Security Advisor for President Trump, a QAnon follower and Christian nationalist.
Flynn had even once said “Islam is a cancer,” and that America needs to become a one-religion country — a Christian nation.
But that particular rhetoric was missing when Flynn visited in Hamtramck and talked with an invitation-only group of local Arab and Muslim community leaders about how schools are supposedly indoctrinating children, as well as attacking “woke” culture, critical race theory, immigration and promoting the catch-all “family values.”
While there are differences over religion and Middle East issues, Ghalib said it was possible to join with conservatives by stressing, more than once, to “focus on what unites us, and rise above what is trying to divide us.”
Ghalib is now waiting to hear whether he has a position in the Trump administration, as a reward for his effort in getting fellow Arab-Americans and Muslims to support Trump’s presidential bid.
That Arab and Muslim support for Trump in Michigan is credited for Michigan swinging in favor of Trump in the recent presidential election.
In the meantime, Ghalib is contemplating whether to seek re-election as mayor this year.
Posted Feb. 14, 2025