Pro-Trump Arab American group changes its name after the president’s Gaza ‘Riviera’ comments

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A group that played a key role in Donald Trump’s voter outreach to the Arab American community alongside his allies is rebranding itself after the president said that the U.S. would “take over” the Gaza Strip.

Bishara Bahbah, chairman of the group formerly known as Arab Americans for Trump, said during a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that the group would now be called Arab Americans for Peace.

The name change came after Trump held a Tuesday press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

“The talk about what the president wants to do with Gaza, obviously we’re completely opposed to the idea of the transfer of Palestinians from anywhere in Historic Palestine,” Bahbah said. “And so we did not want to be behind the curve in terms of pushing for peace, because that has been our objective from the very beginning.”

Arab Americans for Trump helped lead voter outreach efforts for Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election in swing states such as Michigan and Arizona.

The group, independent from the Trump campaign, frequently facilitated meetings between Arab American community leaders and Trump’s allies, including Richard Grenell, now serving as Trump’s envoy for special missions, and Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany and now a senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.

In the 2024 election, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Dearborn, Michigan — home to the nation’s largest concentration of Arab Americans — since 2000 on his way to winning the state. Trump visited Dearborn on Nov. 1.

Bahbah said the group had been thinking about changing its name for “a while” and ultimately made the decision Tuesday. But Bahbah had said during a phone interview just prior to Trump’s Tuesday night press conference with Netanyahu that the group’s name was Arab Americans 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 issue with the president’s suggestion of taking over Gaza and removing its Palestinian inhabitants.”