Trump appoints an American Middle East Advisory Board
AMCTTrump/October 15/16
This Monday the “Donald J. Trump for President” Campaign will form the American Middle East Advisory Committee, and its AMCT partner will announce its public endorsement of Republican nominee Donald Trump in Washington DC at an official event. The board is composed of Eblan Y. Farris John Hajjar, Paul Elhindi, William Youmaran, Vedat Gurtan, David William Lazar, Sal Saygin Semsek, Michael “Mike” Namur Korbey, Hossein Khorram, Gabriel Sawma, Tariq I. Ismail, Hooshang Nematzadeh, Nahid M. Hyde, Karim M. Hindi and Philip Abirached. The Trump American Middle East Advisory Committee is backed by the support coalition “American Middle East Coalition for Trump” chaired by Tom Harb. In parallel the Trump campaign rolled out a Michigan Middle East coalition for Trump including Sam Yono, Sheikh Mohammad Al Hajj Hassan and John Akouri. It is to note that Trump has appointed two mideast American advisors this year, Dr Walid Phares as a foreign policy advisor in March and Tom Barrack as a member of the National Security Board in October. The Trump Middle East American task forces have been mobilizing communities from Mideast, Arab, Kurdish, Coptic, Sunni, Shia, Maronite, Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac descent throughout the US to vote on November 8th.
Pro Erdogan-Qatar blogger attacks Mideast Americans for Trump
Thawrat Al Arz/October 15/16
In several pieces posted online, Hussain Abdel-Hussain, who works for Kuwait daily al Rai as a US based correspondent, and who had worked for Daily Star in Lebanon, attacked American Mideast Coalition for Trump claiming it does not represent the communities. His social media contacts used the posts to smear the AMCT and claim Muslims aren’t represented within Trump campaign. Abdel Hussain is known among Lebanese Americans and in Lebanon as a defender of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Erdogan-Qatar bloc. Though he doesn’t claim any representation but many sources and his writings show it clearly. Having worked at al Hurra TV in the past, sources from the US backed network claim he has always supported the position of Islamists, including in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and across North Africa. One source said “one of the reasons why he was removed from al Hurra was his constant defense of Sunni radicals against moderates and his constant attacks against the Shia.” Abdel Hussain maneuvers in the US as a “neutral” media blogger while in reality he wages smear attacks against the opposition to the Ikhwan and Qatar. Sources from Kuwait claimed he has been hired by al Rai at the recommendation of Salafi circles. He boast about being a historian and he often attacks Middle East Christians at every opportunity. Abdel Hussain often claim he is backing “civil society groups” such as Beirut Madinati, or claim he is close to Saad Hariri, but he writes more so in defense of the Islamist movement in the region. In past years he approached Lebanese Christians as a supporter of the “Syrian revolution” against Assad but he re emerged as a defender of Jihadists, and an embellisher of the image of the al Qaeda’s al Nusra. According to an observer in Washington “Abdel Hussain is like a chameleon who protects the Islamists while he wears a liberal coat. But he fools no one, he is known by most observer as a protector of the Salafi Islamists.” John Hajjar, co chair of AMCT dismissed Abdel Hussain postings as “sheer pro Islamist blogs and pro Clinton propaganda.” Hajjar added “we have been observing the activation of many Lebanese and Arab bloggers to strike at Donald Trump outreach to the Arab Muslim and Middle Eastern communities in the US. This has enraged the Clinton campaign and its surrogates online. Abdel Hussain attacks are just evidence of the success of Trump is mobilizing groups always intimidated by Muslim Brotherhood and Iran regime lobbies. But now it is over, a large segment of these communities is rejecting the radicals.”
