At a Thursday night iftar dinner at the White House, President Donald Trump praised Muslim Americans for supporting him in the November election and heaped praise on Amer Ghalib, mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., and Trump’s controversial nominee for ambassador to Kuwait. 

“He’s done a great job as mayor, and he’s done a great job with his support of us,” Trump said of Ghalib. “You’re going to have a great time with Kuwait, wonderful people, and it’s a great place, so congratulations.”

Ghalib, who was born in Yemen and became the first Muslim mayor of Hamtramck as a Democrat, was one of a handful of prominent Michigan Muslim leaders to endorse Trump in the 2024 election, tapping into many Muslims’ frustration with the Biden administration’s support of Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. 

“I also want to extend a very special thanks to the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Americans who supported us in record numbers in the 2024 presidential election,” Trump said at the iftar dinner, a traditional break-fast meal at the end of each day of Ramadan. 

Ghalib’s views on the Middle East came under scrutiny after Trump appointed him envoy to Kuwait earlier this month. In May 2024, he supported a city council measure in Hamtramck proclaiming support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which pledged that the city would “refrain investment in the State of Israel and all Israeli and international companies that sustain Israeli apartheid.” 

Shortly after the Hamas attacks, in December 2023, Ghalib supported another city council measure to rename a main Hamtramck street to Palestine Avenue. The resolution stated that “the Mayor and City Council acknowledge the profound impact of the recent and ongoing events,” quoting a death toll touted by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry “compris[ed] mostly of completely innocent women and children.” Ghalib has also cast doubt on the stories of rape that occurred by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7. 

The Anti-Defamation League called for Trump to withdraw Ghalib’s nomination. “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,” the ADL said in a post on X this month. 

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Also at the dinner were ambassadors or senior diplomats from several Muslim-majority nations, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, Oman, Indonesia and more.

Speaking to these diplomats, Trump pledged to expand the Abraham Accords, telling attendees his administration is engaged in “relentless diplomacy” to achieve that goal.

“We’re keeping our promises to the Muslim community. My administration is engaged in relentless diplomacy to forge a lasting peace in the Middle East, building on the historic Abraham Accords, which everybody said would be impossible, and now we’re going to start filling them out,” said Trump. “I have a feeling it’s going to fill out very quickly.”