Arab Americans and the second Trump presidency

Many Arab Americans dropped the ball eight years ago, when Donald Trump first entered the White House, as, instead of focusing on their own needs, they were wound up into bitter political polarization. Their mistake was believing that one side, the Democrats, cared more for them than the other, the Republicans. It took Trump’s 2020 loss to Joe Biden and the latter’s subsequent presidency to expose the truth that neither side would take their concerns seriously.

Under Biden, whose election many Arab Americans celebrated, the Palestinian cause was put on a sidetrack that accommodated Israel’s needs. Biden talked about peace and fairness but did nothing to achieve them. He spoke about opening the doors to government to Arab Americans and giving them a voice, but in fact he silenced them.

Biden and his pro-Israel Secretary of State Antony Blinken ignored the violence committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinian Christians and Muslims and only paid attention to the conflict when Palestinian extremists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

There is a huge misconception among Arabs that America has a single standard when it comes to violence in the Middle East and especially in Palestine. That is not true. It is actually two standards: one for Israel and another for Palestine and the Arabs.

Israel’s needs are the highest priority for American politicians. That priority overshadows concerns politicians claim they have for US citizens who have needs, such as senior citizens, the homeless and military veterans, and even for fighting crime.

How is that possible? Well, the pro-Israel lobby has one of the most powerful political action committees in America and it places millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of members of Congress.

Seniors, the homeless, veterans and the victims of crime do not have that power, nor do they have a lobby that fights for their rights as successfully as the pro-Israel lobby fights to make Israel America’s most important foreign policy concern.

I explain all this because, unfortunately, many Arab Americans are laboring under the misconception that policy decisions are made on the basis of right versus wrong or on the US Constitution and the rule of law. Sorry to disappoint you, but they are not.

The point is that, if you think there is a difference between Biden and the Democrats and Trump and the Republicans, then you are seriously mistaken. And that mistake will only make the situation facing Arab Americans and the issues they care for even worse.

Trump last week issued an executive order targeting extremists who try to enter the US. Some Arab groups immediately denounced it as a restoration of the so-called Muslim ban from his first term.

Many Arab Americans are laboring under the misconception that policy decisions are made on the basis of right versus wrong

Ray Hanania

In 2017, Trump issued a visa ban that targeted seven Muslim-majority nations. This move was an extension of a law that was signed off by President Barack Obama two years earlier. In 2015, Congress passed a law that placed immigration restrictions on travelers who originated from or had recently visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria. Two months later, the Department of Homeland Security expanded it to include three more Muslim-majority countries, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The administration cited “the growing threat from foreign terrorist fighters” from those countries and the mainstream media pretty much shrugged.

The point of Trump’s new order is to stop people who have not been properly vetted from entering the US. It targets any country that is in turmoil, witnessing conflict or does not have strong border controls.

So, instead of exaggerating the intent and attempting to fight Trump on it, why not recognize the order for what it is and discuss it in a respectful manner?

Trump responds to respect far better than he does to confrontation. He is the president. Arab Americans can throw down the emotional gauntlet and reignite the same confrontation that caused havoc during Trump’s first four years, while pretending that Biden and the Democrats were somehow better. But the Democrats were not better. They were just craftier with their rhetoric. Just ask the people in Gaza who suffered immeasurable violence and pain that was funded by the last administration.

Instead, Arab Americans can pursue a new strategy, one that focuses on achieving goals that recognize and strengthen Arab and Muslim rights. This would be better than strategies that are driven by emotions over facts.

Many Arab Americans have a misconception that American politicians will support 100 percent of their goals and needs. They won’t. American politics is built on compromise. If a politician supports 70 percent of your priorities, that should be an acceptable and positive base from which to build.

Arab Americans often want everything at once and shun compromise. If they do not get 100 percent, they feel slighted. Shamed even. Israelis, on the other hand, have generally always taken what they could get — even if it was far less than what they believed they deserved — and built on it. Arab Americans should do the same. The goal is to achieve change, slowly, steadily and through compromise.

The choice is simple. Continue to criticize and attack Trump and push him further into the clutches of the Israeli bulldozer. Or be strategic. Keep the doors open to the president, who is one of the most powerful people in the world. Play to his ego and understand the intentions of what he says rather than interpreting the meaning of his rhetoric.

American politics is malleable. You can change it by working the system, by being smart.

Biden showed us that taking the word of a friendly political face is meaningless. When it comes down to the critical and most important moment, you want to be in a position to have influence and not be an outsider through your own choice of conflict.

Arab Americans who care about Palestine will work the system regardless of who is in the White House. Those that do not and foment an emotional response really only care about themselves.

• Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist. He can be reached on his personal website at www.Hanania.com. X: @RayHanania