Trump's pick for US ambassador to Kuwait grilled by lawmakers on Israel

After a months-long delay that saw two other Arab American Trump allies receive their ambassadorships, the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, Amer Ghalib, finally had the chance to make his case publicly to lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

Ghalib, a Democrat-turned-Donald Trump supporter who was the first Muslim mayor to endorse the president last year, was nominated in March to become the US ambassador to Kuwait.

But his outspoken criticism of Israel and other comments on social media from his days as a private citizen have emerged as a major obstacle to his confirmation, particularly after being amplified by the staunchly pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and some right-wing news outlets. 

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, grilled Ghalib on his comments from last year in which he called reports of sexual violence committed by Hamas "a campaign of lies and deception by the Biden administration".

"There is well-documented evidence. Evidence that I have seen personally that Hamas terrorists deliberately use sexual violence against women and children," Shaheen said.

In March 2024, the United Nations said there are "reasonable grounds to believe conflict-related sexual violence occurred" during the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, at the sites of the Nova music festival site, Route 232, and kibbutz Re’im. 

"Reported incidents of rape could not be verified in other locations," the UN report added. "Concurrently, the team determined that at least two allegations of sexual violence in kibbutz Be’eri - widely reported in the media - were unfounded." 

Ghalib said he "was not aware of some" of the evidence Shaheen referenced because he had not seen it himself.

"The only reason I did that, and I think it was in front of the protest, in front of my office, is because President [Joe] Biden, in a statement, talked about beheaded babies," he explained.

The beheaded babies allegations were debunked in the very early days of Israel's war on Gaza. 

"I clearly condemn all kinds of abuses," Ghalib said. "October 7 was a horrible day and tragic day, and all the atrocities that happened after is because of that day."

Republican Senator Pete Rickets pressed Ghalib on allowing an individual to serve on the Hamtramck City Planning Commission despite their comments that the Holocaust was "God's advanced punishment of the chosen people for the savagery they're committing today."

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"That person is a volunteer... he's not an official employee with the city," Ghalib responded. "I clearly said to the media that I condemned what he said, and I don't agree with them." 

Republican Senator Ted Cruz demanded that Ghalib give his personal opinion on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, which the city of Hamtramck adopted in the form of a resolution last year. 

Ghalib distanced himself from the issue.

"The Jewish Voice for Peace group drafted the resolution," he said. "I didn't vote for it because I only vote if there's a tie. So it wasn't my idea. It wasn't my initiative."

"But do you support BDS?" Cruz asked.

"I don't support it, but it was drafted by a Jewish attorney," Ghalib responded. 

On his past opposition to the 2020 Abraham Accords and normalisation with Israel on the whole, Ghalib insisted he has come around, particularly since he only became a supporter of Trump one year ago.

When asked whether he believes Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people, he said, "I believe it can be a home for the Jewish and the Arabs and the Muslims and the Christians as well." 

On the defensive

During his hearing, the mayor often pointed to a resolution passed early under his leadership that condemned antisemitism.

"The Jewish community leaders came to me and thanked me, and they said to the news that this is the only city that passed a resolution without them asking us to do so. So that's how I represent people in my official capacity," he said. 

"Some of these social media posts [highlighted in media reports] were during my time as a private citizen, because I became the mayor in 2022, and I can assure you that the media was biased in translating these posts [from Arabic]. They were misinterpreted. They were taken out of context." 

Ghalib repeatedly called it a "bad habit" of his to "acknowledge" every response he received on social media from 2010-2020, rather than simply ignore them.

But that bad habit included liking those posts, which suggested an endorsement of those sentiments.

"I'm curious, would a statement like 'all Jews are monkeys' - Would that qualify as anti-semitism?" Cruz asked about a Facebook post Ghalib once liked. 

"I don't agree with that statement, senator, and the person who wrote it is mentally challenged," Ghalib said. 

He added that media reports failed to point out how he responded to the individual and told them that such comments were not appropriate in the US. 

Republican Senator Dave McCormick, who was in the 82nd airborne division that helped oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991, asked Ghalib to explain to the Kuwaiti people in particular why he had previously referred to the Iraqi leader as a "martyr" in a social media post from 7 January 2020.

"I was a private citizen... and it was the day when the American military bases were attacked in Iraq. We were attacked by Iran. I was angry that we did not respond to the Iranian regime. And so in a moment of anger, I complimented Saddam Hussein for keeping the Iranian regime in check," Ghalib said.

"He was no doubt a dictator [and] no doubt the invasion of Kuwait was a crime, was a violation of the international law. And for those who are offended by that, those who suffered from Saddam or lost loved ones, I apologise," he added.

'No future in politics'

Ghalib's prepared remarks reflected on his immigration to the US in 1997, when he worked at an auto parts manufacturer to make a living, while also becoming the first person in his family to graduate from high school.

"I started college in 2001 wanting to study political science. My family, friends, and teachers advised me otherwise," he said.

"They convinced me I had no future in politics in the United States due to my background and accent, especially after 9/11. I decided to go for medicine, and for 10 years, that's what I studied."

While he did attend medical school at Ross University in Barbados, local news outlets in Michigan have not been able to confirm that he actually graduated. He is, however, a registered nurse (RN) in the state. 

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Hamtramck is a city just minutes outside of Detroit that boasts a population of some 30,000 people, most of whom are Muslims. In January 2022, Ghalib was sworn in to head the first all-Muslim city council in the US. His day job had been a clinician at a community clinic. 

Ghalib's September 2024 endorsement of Trump undoubtedly moved votes that helped the president secure the swing state of Michigan in the election. 

An editorial in the Yemeni-American News this week urged Republicans in particular to "swiftly confirm the mayor" if they "are serious about cementing their newly formed bridges with the Arab community".

"Ghalib raised some eyebrows last year when he endorsed Trump. The Democratic Party had been the de-facto political home to most Arab and Muslim Americans since Barack Obama’s first campaign in 2008," the editorial said.

"The Hamtramck mayor put a crack in that wall of support that then turned into a flood of Arabs fleeing the Democratic Party largely due to former President Joe Biden’s support for the genocide in Gaza and the community’s conservative stance on social issues," it added.

"If Democrats want to regain the trust of Arab voters, playing politics with Ghalib’s nomination will not further their cause". 

As of his last Facebook post on the matter from nearly two weeks ago, Ghalib said he still has Trump's backing.

But Trump is also notorious for harshly judging his nominees by their television performances, whether at briefings, in interviews or in congressional hearings. 

"President Trump has just called me and emphasised his unwavering support to me to serve as the next Ambassador of the United States to the state of Kuwait, and he thanked our community for their support," Ghalib wrote on 14 October. 

The mayor made a number of trips to the White House in recent weeks, sharing images taken alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. 

Middle East Eye has reached out to Ghalib multiple times since Trump announced his nomination in March, but he has refused interviews.