Disillusioned by Biden and Harris, he backed Trump in the presidential election and helped PA President Mahmoud Abbas draft a congratulatory message while still publicly criticizing Trump’s Gaza plan; Bahbah, who came to the US as an immigrant in the 1970s, now serves as a backchannel between Hamas and Washington while bypassing Israel; ‘My children were born in the U.S., but I registered them with UNRWA’
Like many Arab Americans, Bishara Bahbah was once a loyal Democratic voter who never considered backing the Republican Party — until October 7. Or more accurately, in the wake of what followed. In Bahbah’s eyes, President Joe Biden’s unwavering support for Israel’s war in Gaza pushed him to a turning point: “I became a Republican,” he declared as early as June 2024, even before Biden withdrew from the presidential race. “We’re sick of Joe Biden and his involvement in the genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
He didn’t expect that, less than a year later, he’d become a key, though largely unknown, player in the painful negotiations for a hostage deal and a potential end to the war.
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Bahbah, a Palestinian-American academic, journalist and political activist, was born in 1958 in East Jerusalem. Most of his family had relocated to Jordan after the 1948 war, later settling in the U.S. in the 1970s. He earned his undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University and went on to receive a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He later taught at Harvard and served as associate director at the university’s Middle East Institute before embarking on a career that blended finance, politics and pro-Palestinian activism.
In the 1990s, Bahbah was a member of the Palestinian delegation to the multilateral peace talks and remained a vocal supporter of a two-state solution. He later served as editor-in-chief of the Palestinian newspaper Al-Fajr and was active in numerous humanitarian organizations.
He also published extensively on Middle Eastern political and social issues. Though he built his life in the U.S., his connection to Palestine never wavered. “It will always be my home, no matter where I live,” he told Arab News in 2018. “My children were born in the U.S., but I registered them with UNRWA. When I die, I want them to say I was Palestinian. That’s our eternal right.”
A voice for peace — and Trump
Until recently, Bahbah had no ties to Donald Trump. But the war in Gaza caused a dramatic political shift among Arab Americans, traditionally one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituencies. An October 2024 survey by the Arab American Institute (AAI) showed support in the community was nearly split: 42% backed Trump, 41% supported Vice President Kamala Harris, and 12% favored other candidates. According to Arab News/YouGov, Trump led Harris among Arab-American voters 45% to 43%, with 29% of respondents citing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as their top concern.
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Bahbah played a central role in that shift. Frustrated by what he saw as empty promises from Biden and Harris, he joined Trump’s campaign in May 2024, hoping that a Trump victory would force Israel to end the war in Gaza. The Trump team invited him to help establish a political action committee called “Arab Americans for a Better America.”
He later founded and led “Arab Americans for Trump,” a platform that helped boost Republican turnout in Arab-majority areas of Michigan, one of the key swing states in Trump’s path to reelection. Bahbah worked closely with Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell and Lebanese-American businessman Massad Boulos, Trump’s son-in-law and a key liaison to Arab-American communities.
After Trump’s victory, Bahbah helped draft a congratulatory letter from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, which led to the first direct phone call between the two leaders.
Still pro-Trump, but not uncritical
Despite his continued support for Trump, Bahbah hasn’t hesitated to criticize him publicly. He sharply opposed Trump’s February 5 comment suggesting Gaza could become a “Middle Eastern Riviera” if its population were expelled. “The president’s ideas are completely unacceptable,” Bahbah wrote onX.X. “Gaza belongs to the Palestinians—it’s not real estate to be bought or sold.” Soon after, he rebranded his organization from “Arab Americans for Trump” to “Arab Americans for Peace.”
That shift marked his quiet entry into backchannel diplomacy. Bahbah said that in April, he received a call from senior Hamas figure Ghazi Hamad, after Suha Arafat—the widow of Yasser Arafat—connected the two. Hamad asked Bahbah to relay a message to the U.S., which eventually helped secure the release of hostage Edan Alexander. Since then, Bahbah has served as an unofficial communication channel between Hamas and the U.S. administration—bypassing Israel—in efforts to broker a ceasefire.
It was revealed Monday that Bahbah was behind the latest ceasefire proposal submitted to Israel and rejected. The plan reportedly includes a 70-day truce, the release of five living hostages on the first day and another five on the final day, and the daily entry of 1,000 aid trucks. The U.S. did not coordinate the plan with Israel in advance. One senior Israeli official called the offer “effectively a surrender to Hamas,” noting that it was drafted in coordination with the group and thus aligned with its positions. The proposal diverged sharply from the “Witkoff framework” that Israel has clung to since fighting resumed in March.
As reported by Ynetnews