Trump’s pro-Hamas insider? Meet Bashara Behbeh, Palestinian Man of Mystery

Frustrated with his previous Middle East adviser, President Donald Trump has increasingly come to rely on a Palestinian-American millionaire named Bashara Behbeh, according to a report by i24 News.

According to the report, "Bashara Behbeh was born in Jerusalem in 1958 to a family that fled from the Old City to Jordan and later returned to live within the city walls. In the 1970s, he founded the newspaper "Al-Awda," which was also distributed in English in the US, together with Palestinian journalist Raymonda Tawil, the mother of Suha Arafat, Yasser Arafat's widow. The two women would play a crucial role in creating direct connections between Americans and Hamas later on.

"Behbeh is also a Harvard University graduate in Middle Eastern studies and international relations, and later became the deputy head of the Institute for Middle East Studies at the university. He began his political path supporting Democrats, but great anger over Barack Obama's Middle East policy led Behbeh to switch his support to Republicans."

According to Behbeh's associates: "Behbeh is the Palestinian who has gone the furthest in breaking Israel's exclusivity on connections to the White House and Republican corridors and has proven that Palestinians can also achieve significant influence."

Behbeh, who is reportedly responsible for a number of secret missions on behalf of the Trump administration, helped secure the release of Edan Alexander in exchange for aid and more Palestinian influence in the White House. Steve Witkoff has also played up Behbeh to Trump due to his success, increasing his and subsequently Hamas' influence with Trump.