It was a rough day on Capitol Hill for Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib Thursday.
He appeared before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee during a hearing on his nomination as the next U.S. ambassador to Kuwait.
Democratic and Republican U.S. Senators took turns grilling Ghalib about some of his social media activity — in particular, around posts that deal with Israel and Jewish people, and that have been described as antisemitic.
This exchange between Ghalib and Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz was typical:
“My question is, does the statement 'all Jews are monkeys,' does that qualify as antisemitism?” asked Cruz.
“I don’t agree with it, Senator,” responded Ghalib, “It’s definitely antisemitism. But clicking on it doesn’t mean I endorse it.”
“Well, actually ‘Like’ means exactly that,” said Cruz.
Ghalib tried repeatedly to defend himself from allegations that he supports antisemitic rhetoric.
“At the end I’m a Semite. The Arabs are Semites. We read history. How could we be antisemitic?” said Ghalib, “Judge my actions, not my intention.”
President Donald Trump nominated Ghalib to the ambassador’s post in March, after Ghalib, a Democrat, endorsed Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee, in last year’s election.
Several Republican U.S. senators said they could not support his nomination as ambassador to a key U.S. ally in the middle east, leaving Ghalib’s nomination somewhat in doubt.
