Pro-Trump Arab American Group changes name after the president’s gaza ‘Riviera’ comments

Lansing, Mich. (AP) – a group that played a key role in Donald Trumps Voter Outreach To the Arab American society with his allies transforms themselves after the president said the United States would “take over” the Gaza Strip.

Bishara Bahbah, president of the group, formerly known as Arabomers for Trump, said during a telephone interview with Associated Press on Wednesday that the group would now be called Arab Americans for peace.

The name change came after Trump Held a press conference Tuesday Next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu In the White House and suggested that the United States take “ownership” by converting the area to “Riviera in the Middle East.”

“The lecture on what the president wants to do with Gaza, we are of course completely against the idea of ​​transferring Palestinians throughout the historic Palestine,” Bahbah said. “And then we did not want to be behind the basket in terms of pushing for peace because it has been our goal right from the beginning.”

Araboms to Trump Helped lead the voter’s outreach efforts to Trump prior to the 2024 presidential election in swing states such as Michigan and Arizona.

The group, independent of the Trump campaign, often facilitated meetings between Arab American community leaders and Trump’s allies, including Richard Grenell, who now serves as Trump’s envoy for special missions, and Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany and now A senior advisor About Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.

In the 2024 election, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Dearborn, Michigan – home to the country’s largest concentration of Arab Americans – since 2000 on the way to win the state. Trump visited Dearborn on November 1st.

Bahbah said the group had been thinking of changing its name for “a while” and eventually made the decision on Tuesday. But Bahbah had said during a telephone interview just before Trump’s press conference on Tuesday night with Netanyahu that the group’s name was Arabomers for Trump.

In a press release issued Wednesday by Arab Americans for Peace, the group said its members “appreciate the president’s offer to clean and rebuild Gaza,” but “Take question the President’s proposal to take over Gaza and remove its Palestinian inhabitants.”