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Donald Trump and Mayor Amer Ghalib during the 2024 campaign.
Proposed ambassadorships usually sail through the Senate confirmation process with little fanfare.
However, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups fighting antisemitism hope the nomination of Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib for ambassador to Kuwait doesn't even get that far.
They're urging President Donald Trump to withdraw the nomination, The Detroit News reports.
"We strongly oppose the nomination of Amer Ghalib to be the next U.S. ambassador to Kuwait," the ADL wrote on X. "Ghalib routinely traffics in antisemitism, actively supports the antisemitic BDS movement, attempted to justify the 10/7 massacre, and refused to take disciplinary action against an appointee who attempted to justify the Holocaust.
"As ADL’s recent Global 100 poll revealed, Kuwait has the second-highest level of antisemitic attitudes in the world at 97%, and having Ghalib represent U.S. interests in Kuwait could further fuel antisemitic beliefs in the country and across the region. We urge President Trump to withdraw Ghalib’s nomination."
The American Jewish Committee echoed those sentiments on X:
"Tapping Hamtramck, MI, Mayor Amer Ghalib—a vocal proponent of BDS and denier of October 7 sexual violence, who has said ‘the only ethical option for Israel is to admit defeat and leave the land’—to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait sends a message that contradicts the administration's strong support for Israel against Hamas terrorism."
In 2021, Democrat Amer Ghalib, a native of Yemen, was elected mayor in the once Polish enclave of Hamtramck that is now Muslim majority. Since then, he's found himself in the middle of some controversies.
In 2023, he backed a controversial resolution that banned the display of Gay Pride flags on city property. As a result, he faced a backlash from progressives including Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. At the same time, he was embraced by conservatives like Republican Michael Flynn, who worked in the Obama and Trump administrations.
Then last year, during the presidential campaign, he took it to a new level, endorsing Donald Trump, the same guy who backed a Muslim travel ban in his first term. Then in support of Palestinians in Gaza, the city renamed Holbrook Avenue, Palestine Avenue.
Recently, he found himself on Facebook defending his support of Trump in wake of the president's proposal to evict Palestinians from Gaza.
"I made it clear from day one, that President Trump and I have some differences and we do not agree on everything," Ghalib posted on Facebook. "This was the first sentence of my endorsement and he posted it on his truth social page."
"Yes, I disagree with the president on the idea of evacuating the indigenous people of Gaza from their homeland, but this idea was on the table during the 15 months war, now it’s still there but minus the war, which Biden failed to stop, but President Trump did stop and delivered his promise of ceasefire."
