American Muslim leaders who supported Republican Donald Trump to protest the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon were deeply disappointed by his cabinet choices, they told Reuters .

“Trump won because of us and we are not happy with the choice of his secretary of state and others,” said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump.

Muslim support for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have factored into other victories in other key states, strategists say.

Trump chose Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a strong supporter of Israel, as secretary of state.

Earlier this year, Rubio said he would not call for a ceasefire in Gaza and that he believed Israel should destroy “every element” of Hamas. “These people are vicious animals,” he added.

Trump also named Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and staunch pro-Israel conservative who supports Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and has called a two-state solution in Palestine “unworkable,” as the next ambassador to Israel.

He chose Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who called the U.N. a “cesspool of anti-Semitism” for her condemnation of the deaths in Gaza, to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Rexhinaldo Nazarko, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), said Muslim voters hoped Trump would choose cabinet officials who work toward peace, but there was no sign of this.

“We are very disappointed,” he said.

“It appears that this administration is made up entirely of neoconservatives and people who are extremely pro-Israel and pro-war, which is a failure on the part of President Trump, the pro-peace and anti-war movement. »

Nazarko said the community would continue to press for its voice to end the war in Gaza. “At least we’re on the map.”

Hassan Abdel Salam, a former professor at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities and co-founder of the Abandon Harris campaign, which supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein, said Trump’s recruitment plans were not surprising , but that they had turned out to be even more extreme than he had done. feared.

“It’s like he’s moving into Zionist gear,” he said. “We’ve always been extremely skeptical… Obviously we’re still waiting to see where the administration will go, but it seems like our community has been played.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Several Muslim and Arab Trump supporters said they hoped Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, would play a key role after conducting months of outreach to Muslim and Arab American communities, and having even been touted as a potential next secretary of state. during events.

Another key Trump ally, Massad Boulos, the Lebanese father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, has met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders.

Both promised Arab American and Muslim voters that Trump was a candidate for peace and would act quickly to end wars in the Middle East and beyond. Neither were immediately reachable.

Trump has made several visits to cities with large Arab-American and Muslim populations, including Dearborn, a majority-Arab city, where he said he likes Muslims, and Pittsburgh, where he called Muslims for Trump “beautiful movement “. They want peace. They want stability.

Bill Bazzi, mayor of nearby Dearborn Heights, who supported Trump, said he had met with the president-elect three times and remained confident he would work to end the war, despite the appointments in the office.

Rola Makki, Muslim and Lebanese American vice chair of outreach for the Republican Party of Michigan, agrees.

“I don’t think everyone will be happy with every appointment Trump makes, but the outcome is what matters,” she said.

“I know Trump wants peace, and what people need to understand is that there are 50,000 dead Palestinians and 3,000 dead Lebanese, and that happened under the current administration.”