A tense Senate confirmation hearing erupted Thursday as Sen. Ted Cruz confronted Hamtramck, Michigan Mayor Amer Ghalib, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, over a series of inflammatory past statements about Jews, Saddam Hussein, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Cruz said he would not support Ghalib’s nomination, telling the Democratic mayor that his record “stands in direct contradiction” to the Trump administration’s Middle East policy. “It appears you have a deep-felt and passionate view about the Middle East,” Cruz said. “But it is a view that is in direct conflict with the policy positions of President Trump and this administration.”

Throughout the nearly hour-long exchange, Cruz grilled Ghalib on multiple social media posts and public statements that have resurfaced in recent weeks — including one in which he referred to Saddam Hussein as a “martyr,” another praising the Muslim Brotherhood as “inspirational,” and a third in which he appeared to endorse an antisemitic comment describing Jews as “monkeys for their own benefit.”

When pressed by Cruz to clarify his view of Saddam Hussein, Ghalib initially said his 2020 comments were made “in a moment of anger” following an Iranian missile strike on U.S. bases in Iraq. “It was the day of January 7, 2020, when our military bases were attacked by Iran,” Ghalib said. “And in a moment of anger because we didn’t respond.”

But Cruz continued: “Do you continue to believe Saddam Hussein was a martyr?”

“Senator, I don’t think that. No doubt Saddam was a dictator,” Ghalib replied. “If this offended anybody who suffered from Saddam or lost a loved one, I apologize.” Pressed again for a direct answer, Ghalib added, “It wouldn’t matter — he’s in God’s hand. He will get the treatment he deserves.”

Cruz then turned to Ghalib’s post lauding the Muslim Brotherhood — a group the Texas senator has sought to designate as a terrorist organization. “How would you be able to serve as an ambassador if President Trump designates the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization?” Cruz asked.

“I would trust the president,” Ghalib replied. “If it’s designated, I will be committed to implement President Trump’s policies.”

Ghalib defended his past social media activity, attributing some of the controversy to what he described as “bad habits” and “mistranslations” from Arabic. “Before I became mayor, I used to have a bad habit of acknowledging every post, every comment under my post,” he said. “Doesn’t mean I agree with it.”

He claimed one of the antisemitic posts Cruz cited had been misinterpreted. “There was a response under that [post] that was not translated, which said, ‘You can say this in your country, but not in this country,’ meaning I didn’t agree with that post,” Ghalib said. “I know it was a bad habit, but let me be clear: I don’t agree with that statement, and I treat everybody with respect in my official capacity.”

Ghalib, who became Hamtramck’s first Muslim mayor in 2021, has faced scrutiny for years over comments sympathetic to extremist ideologies. His nomination by President Trump earlier this fall drew bipartisan skepticism, but Thursday’s hearing marked the most direct confrontation to date.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)