Arab American supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump are expressing cautious optimism following his success in brokering a Gaza ceasefire, but many fear the fragile truce may not hold and could test their continued support for the Republican Party.
For Samra’a Luqman, a Yemeni American and lifelong Democrat who became a vocal Trump supporter in 2024, the ceasefire brought both relief and vindication after months of criticism from neighbors who opposed Trump’s backing of Israel.
“It’s almost an ‘I told you so’ moment,” Luqman said. “No other president would have been able to force [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to approve the ceasefire.”
The agreement, announced this week, ends two years of war that Palestinian health officials say killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza. It includes a full ceasefire and the release of the final 20 hostages from the 250 taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, attacks that killed about 1,200 Israelis.
Still, skepticism runs deep among Trump’s Arab American backers.
“We’re all holding our breath,” said Mike Hacham, a Lebanese American political consultant from Dearborn who campaigned for Trump in 2024. “I’ll give him credit, he ended the bloodshed. But this isn’t peace. Those lives lost on both sides can’t be brought back.”
Michigan’s Arab American population, more than 300,000 strong, has been central to Trump’s political fortunes.
Anger over the Gaza war and frustration with Democrats’ handling of the conflict helped Trump flip Michigan in 2024, winning by more than 80,000 votes after losing it to Joe Biden four years earlier.
But community faith in Trump has wavered since, due to renewed travel bans on Muslim-majority nations and what some view as restrictions on pro-Palestinian speech.
“I don’t think Arab Americans have found their political home with Republicans just yet,” Luqman said, noting that continued U.S. pressure on Israel could “solidify support for JD Vance and Republicans in future elections.”
Imam Belal Alzuhairi, who once joined Trump on stage in Michigan alongside other clerics, said he had since withdrawn from politics. “People are upset and afraid after the travel ban,” he said. “There’s a lot of mistrust now.”
To ease growing discontent, Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, a Michigan native, returned to the Detroit area last month to meet community leaders. Facing sharp questions over arms sales to Israel and the travel ban, Grenell told Reuters the dialogue was “important and ongoing.”
“I continue to believe that the Arab and Muslim communities in Michigan are key to winning the state,” Grenell said. “You can’t show up right before an election and expect to be a credible voice.”
For younger Arab Americans like 20-year-old activist Ali Aljahmi, who helped mobilize thousands of Trump voters in 2024, the future remains uncertain. “Trump promised a lot,” he said. “He came, he talked to us, but three years from now, we’ll see what they actually do.”
Whether the Gaza ceasefire holds, and whether Arab Americans credit Trump for it, could determine not only the stability of the Middle East truce but also the political balance in one of America’s most crucial swing states.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
