'Lebanese Americans voted for Trump because of ceasefire promise made at cafe': parliament speaker

Lebanon's Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri claimed on Wednesday that Lebanese Americans voted for Donald Trump due to a promise made in a café in Michigan by the victorious Republican candidate to ensure a ceasefire in Lebanon.

In an interview with Mustaqbal Web, Berri was asked about the Trump’s alleged popularity among Lebanese Americans.

“He signed a written pledge for a ceasefire in Lebanon immediately upon his victory at Hassan Abbas's restaurant,” Berri claimed.

In an effort to reach out to disaffected Arab American and, in particular, Lebanese American voters in the key swing state of Michigan, Donald Trump visited a popular Lebanese American café/restaurant in Dearborn, owned by Hassan Abbas, also known as Albert Abbas.

Abbas said publicly that he only agreed to host Trump if he agreed to supporting a ceasefire in Lebanon. This is where Berri claims Trump signed a written agreement to end Israel’s war on Lebanon.

Following this visit, the Trump campaign issued a letter to Lebanese Americans, pledging to bring "peace" to the Middle East, with a particular focus on Lebanon, while putting the blame for the ongoing wars in the region on his Democratic opponents, who have held the White House since 2020.

However, nowhere in the letter did Trump even mention Israel, let alone criticise it for its brutal wars on Gaza and Lebanon.

However, Berri agreed with Trump about blaming Biden for the wars, which he said was also part of why Lebanese Americans turned out for Trump in Michigan, saying, "It's because of Joe Biden's policy, as he stood by watching the killing of children in Gaza and Lebanon."

Berri is one of Lebanon's most powerful political figures, holding his role as Speaker of the Lebanese parliament for 22 years. He is the leader of the Shia Amal Movement, which is a close ally of Hezbollah. 

Though there are no official statistics on the size of the Lebanese American vote for Trump in Dearborn and Michigan, unofficial results point to a significant wave of support for the Republican candidate.

Unofficial results released by the city of Dearborn show that Trump won 42 percent of the vote in Dearborn, compared with 36 percent for Kamala Harris and 18 percent for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, as reported by The New York Times.

Trump comfortably defeated Democratic contender and current Vice President Harris in Tuesday's presidential election, including winning Michigan by just under 90,000 votes.

As of 2023, Dearborn is the largest city with an Arab majority in the US, with 55 percent of its 110,000 population claiming Middle Eastern or North African roots in the latest census.