RSS
Trump Courts Arab American Leaders in Swing States Amid Growing Displeasure With Biden
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US, April 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
Former US President Donald Trump is making an effort to court Arab American leaders amid their growing frustration with incumbent President Joe Biden over several issues, including his policy regarding the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
This week, Trump’s former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, organized a dinner for Arab American leaders in Michigan to try and get them not just to abstain from voting for Biden — but actually to endorse and vote for Trump, according to The Washington Post.
Grenell is not formally a part of the Trump campaign, but he was recently referred to as “my envoy” by the former president.
There has been a measurable shift regarding who Arab Americans plan to vote for in November’s presidential election compared to who they voted for in 2020. A New York Times-Siena College poll released last week found that 57 percent of Arab and Muslim voters in five key battleground states said they planned to vote for Trump, compared to just 25 percent who said they would back Biden.
In contrast, the Post noted, those who said they voted in 2020 reported they had supported Biden 56-35 at the time.
The shift raises questions over how potential endorsements from Arab American leaders in swing states could affect Trump’s rhetoric regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
At times, Trump has called for Israel to quickly finish the war and demurred when asked whether he stood with the Jewish state “100 percent.” However, at other times, he has blasted Biden for being what he described as insufficiently pro-Israel.
But key Arab American endorsements are unlikely to cause a major shift in Trump’s rhetoric. A number of the people invited to the dinner organized by Grenell did not specifically name the war in Gaza as the root of their displeasure with Biden. Some object to his enforcement of sanctions on Syria, while others argue he has not taken any explicit steps to benefit the American Muslim community, according to the Post.
Additionally, recent polling has shown the American people at large support Israel’s war effort against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
The Harvard CAPS Harris poll for May found that 79 percent of Americans support Israel more in the war than Hamas, 70 percent believe Israel is taking steps to avoid civilian casualties, and two-thirds do not believe a ceasefire should happen until all the Israeli hostages seized by Hamas are returned and the terrorist group is removed from power.
A majority of Americans have a favorable attitude toward Israel and believe that Biden not providing certain weapons to Israel would “embolden Hamas and [its] backers.”
Meanwhile, 74 percent of Americans believe Israel should move forward with a military operation in Rafah, and 69 percent — including majorities in both parties and independents — say Hamas is mostly to blame for the current crisis in Gaza.
The post Trump Courts Arab American Leaders in Swing States Amid Growing Displeasure With Biden first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.