WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump will be named on Sunday Massad BoulosA Lebanese-American businessman who is the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, as a senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.
Boulos managed the Trump campaign efforts to participate the Arab American community in Michigan, which is organizing dozens of rallies in areas with large Arab American populations angry about Democratic President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s offensives in Gaza and Lebanon. Trump won the majority of the Arab-American city Dearborn Heights heading to vast Michigan and other swing states.
“He has been a long-time supporter of Republican and Conservative values, an asset to my campaign, and was instrumental in building great new coalitions with the Arab American Community,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump and Boulos said the Republican president-elect would bring peace to the Middle East, but neither has publicly offered that concrete details about Trump’s plans for the region.
Boulos has previously sought office in Lebanon and has longstanding ties to political figures in the country. Other Trump picks for key national security positions include loyal supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a Trump ally.
Mike Huckabee, Trump’s chosen ambassador to Israel, has done so consistently rejected a Palestinian state in areas occupied by Israel. He has claimed that there “really is no such thing” as Palestinians, referring to the descendants of people who lived in Palestine before the creation of Israel.
Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, advocated reconstruction a biblical Jewish temple on the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.
Boulos helped capitalize on dissension within the Democratic base over support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza, where more than 44,000 people have been killed since Hamas’s attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory who did not doing. to separate civilians and combatants altogether.
Trump won Michigan in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes and Biden recaptured the state for Democrats in 2020 by about 154,000 votes. Trump carried Michigan in November over Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, with 49.7% of the vote.
“Massad is a dealmaker and a staunch supporter of PEACE in the Middle East,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump, who has long installed family members and their relatives in key positions, indicates he will lead his second administration in the same way. He has on Saturday announced his intention nominate real estate developer Charles Kushnerfather of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France.
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Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.