The Republican Party: Right for Arab-Americans
GOP activists court community after ethnic discrimination by Democrats

Passaic County, NJ – The NJ Arab-American Republican Caucus, a group of Arab-American GOP political activists and elected officials, today launched an aggressive outreach campaign to recruit additional members of their community into the Republican Party, touting the warm reception that Arab-American voters have always received as well as the embrace and support of Arab-American candidates by the NJ GOP. Their move follows the Democratic Party rudely snubbing a long-time Arab-American Democratic activist on ethnic grounds, blocking him from running for office, which has ignited a political shift within the Arab-American community.

"This week the leadership of the Democratic Party in Passaic County pulled a John Kerry! They actually voted for Sami Merhi before they voted against him," said the Caucus Chairwoman Sherine El-Abd, a decades-long Republican activist who served on the NJ Steering Committee for Bush-Cheney 2004. "It is disturbing that the leadership arrives at its decisions based on which way the wind is blowing that day. What is even more disturbing is the bigoted anti-Arab sentiment that continues to be perpetrated by the Passaic County Democratic machine. The orchestrated second vote against Merhi is nothing short of lynching and plain prejudice" El-Abd Said. Rutherford Republican County Committeeman and Co-Chair of the AARC-NJ, Hesham Mahmoud, added, “The New Jersey Democrats have always talked the talk but never walked the walk. The majority of Arab-Americans are socially conservative. They are small business owners and hardworking people. They believe in lower taxes and a responsible government. By nature, they belong to the Republican Party. The sizeable and growing Arab American community in Passaic County and in New Jersey will never forget this.�

GOP activists pointed out that while the Democratic Party in Passaic County has been busy discriminating against candidates because of their Arab origin, the Republican Party has in fact embraced the community, fielding Countywide Arab-American candidates in each of the past 3 years. One of those GOP nominees, 2004 8th District Congressional Candidate George Ajjan, added, “Each ethnic community in the Republican Party is an important pillar holding up the ‘Big Tent’. The GOP unites because of our common goals as Americans, without creating futile divisions along ethnic or religious lines like the Democrats. In my campaign, I was fortunate to have Arab-Americans, people of Jewish faith, and many other ethnic communities all working together to advance our shared conservative principles.�

The Arab-American Republican Caucus also announced plans to host meet-and-greet events in counties with sizable Arab-American populations, in order to get the message out and enhance its registration drive.

To our Democratic friends we have a message: cross over to the other side of the isle. The GOP is truly the party of inclusion. Arab Americans have been elected and appointed by Republican leadership to numerous positions on local as well as statewide positions. The Arab American Republican Caucus welcomes its friends from the Democratic Party home to the GOP.
News Release
For Immediate Release – March 27, 2006

Contact Sherine El-Abd – selabd@aol.com – (973) 614-1454
George Ajjan – (201) 914-5882 – george@ajjan.com
Hesham Mahmoud – hesham@technochief.com - (201) 893-7662