Former Arab Americans for Trump Chair Changes Name, Rips Rhetoric

Bishara Bahbah, who founded the group Arab Americans for Trump in 2024, said he renamed it Arab Americans for Peace last year after President Trump started calling Gaza property of the United States. Bahbah said he is chairman of Arab Americans for Peace, still a member of the Republican Party, and involved in the current midterm elections. He said he is a Christian, not a Muslim, and is traveling to Michigan on Wednesday.

The Michigan Senate race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers has drawn attacks on El-Sayed's faith. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said at a rally that El-Sayed sleeps in a "Bin Laden jersey." Rogers has said El-Sayed would be loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood, and Rogers agreed when sports podcaster Dave Portnoy called El-Sayed a "terrorist." President Trump, working to elect Rogers, has said El-Sayed would bring jihadists to America and called him "Muhammed."

Bahbah said he severed ties with Massad Boulos, the Lebanese businessman and Tiffany Trump's father-in-law, after the 2024 presidential election. He said Boulos stopped communicating with him and that promises to the Arab American community were not fulfilled. Bahbah also pointed to a meeting Boulos reportedly held with the head of the Regional Council of Judea and Samaria, whom Boulos called Governor.

Bahbah said he was involved in ceasefire negotiations as a background negotiator between Hamas and the White House, and that the initial Steve Witkoff proposal published was one he wrote for Witkoff. A Trump Administration official said, "None of this is accurate. This individual was not involved in peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas." A ceasefire took effect in January 2025, fighting resumed in March 2025 after Netanyahu convinced Trump to let it restart, and a second ceasefire followed in October 2025, Bahbah said.

Bahbah said Arab and Muslim voters supported Trump in 2024 to end the war in Gaza, and that pleas to Democrats went nowhere. He said the current rhetoric has turned off the community and he does not see it voting Republican this time around. Asked how he will vote in 2026, Bahbah said, "I'm not going to answer that question."

Bahbah said he released a 2024 press release stating that "Palestinian" is not a slur and should not be used as one. He said Trump later applied the term to Chuck Schumer. Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, who backed Trump in 2024, has said Trump apologized privately for calling Yemenis "terrorists" but declined to do so publicly.