• Pete Hegseth, president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defence chief, has called for the re-establishment of the temple mount on the Al-Aqsa mosque site.
• Donald Trump’s cabinet angers Muslims who voted for him.
For the first time in all the years president Trump has been in the White House, never before has he been expected to received full control of the presidency, the senate, and the House of Representatives until now.
In what was expected to be a close election with results expected weeks later before a winner could be declared, it became an election with Trump overwhelming his opponent Kamala Harris in all of the key swing states with his victory confirmed within a day.
In states like Michigan, where the Muslim vote was pivotal in punishing the Biden-led democratic party while getting Trump elected, it was expected that the foreign policy of the incoming Trump administration would be for peace, isolationism, and not war.
Unfortunately, the expectation seems to have fallen short with Trump picking a cabinet that is extremely pro-Israel, anti-Iran, and disreputable, to say the least.
Trump’s pick for defence chief is Pete Hegseth, an individual who has called for the re-establishment of the temple mount on the Al-Aqsa site.
In a conference in 2018 in Jerusalem, he said:
“There’s no reason why the miracle of the re-establishment of the temple on the Temple Mount is not possible.”
When referring to the illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank and the construction of the temple where the Al Aqsa mosque is situated, he said: “Do what needs to be done”.
Hegseth also said in November of last year that the Israeli government should take ‘action’ against Iran, something a lot of Trump’s voters would assume the incoming administration would avoid due to Trump’s isolationist policies and calls for peace during his election campaign.
Hegseth is not a rogue figure in the incoming inner circle of Trump’s upcoming government; Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump’s co-lead pick for the new Department of Government Efficiency, has called the two-state solution a ‘myth’.
The person in charge of the country’s justice
Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick for Attorney General who leads the Justice Department, has been accused of sex trafficking in the past and recently has been accused of having sex with a 17-year-old.
According to CNN, the committee investigating Matt Gaetz believes he may have engaged in “illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct”.
Regret from the Muslim community
Many Muslims and Muslim organisations have had regrets about supporting Trump for this year’s election.
Rexhinaldo Nazarko, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), said Muslim voters had hoped Trump would choose cabinet officials who work toward peace, and there was no sign of that.
“We are very disappointed,” he said.
“It seems like this administration has been packed entirely with neoconservatives and extremely pro-Israel, pro-war people, which is a failure on the side of President Trump to the pro-peace and anti-war movement.”
Hassan Abdel Salam, a former professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and co-founder of the Abandon Harris campaign, said:
“It’s like he’s going on Zionist overdrive!”
“We were always extremely skeptical … Obviously we’re still waiting to see where the administration will go, but it does look like our community has been played.”
Although it is still early stages with the administration not yet in the white house with the president having power to override his cabinet if need be, it is very possible that the appointments of the current cabinet members will influence the foreign policy of the US towards the side of further injustice.
