Personal Info
- Country of residence: United States
Information
When Atallah Amash, a Palestinian immigrant from the city of Bethlehem, arrived in the United States in 1956, he did not imagine that one of his sons would one day seek the presidency of the United States.
Atallah married a Syrian woman named Mimi in 1974 and got married in Damascus. Years later, specifically in 1980, they had their son, Justin.
Justin grew up in the state of Michigan, graduated from its famous university with a higher degree in law, and worked for some time as a lawyer in a company founded by his father before changing his direction to work in politics.
Amash Jr. has represented Michigan's third district in the House of Representatives since 2011, when he was one of the hardline candidates who adopted the ideas of the right-wing Republican "Tea Party movement".
He was re-elected five times until he withdrew from the Republican Party in July 2019, after he voted for President Donald Trump's trial and demanded his removal from office, then joined the Libertarian Party a few days ago. Two days ago, he announced the formation of a committee to discuss his candidacy for the presidential elections on the ticket of this party.
Despite the lack of chances for any third candidate in the presidential elections, Amash can influence the election results, especially through the swinging Michigan votes between the Democratic candidates, Joe Biden and Trump, and the latter had won Michigan by a narrow margin of less than twenty thousand votes in the 2016 elections.
It is worth noting that former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson ran on the Libertarian Party ticket in the 2016 elections, obtaining 4.5 million votes, or 3.28% of the vote.
Ammash began his career by joining the Republican Party, which is consistent with his religious and social convictions, whether with regard to abortion, the right to bear arms, or same-sex marriage.
The issue of assets
Ammash did not rely on or highlight his Palestinian origins in his political journey, but he always proudly refers to his family's Palestinian and Syrian origins.
And he was forced to correct a tweet launched by Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar last year when she mentioned that Representative Rashida Tlaib is "the first Palestinian-American to reach the position of a representative in Congress." Ammash replied that he precedes Rashida because "he is the first Palestinian-American to reach Congress."
Amash voted to convict President Trump of committing crimes that would result in his impeachment trial. He also criticized the president when he stated a few days ago that he had "absolute powers" with regard to reopening the economy.
The deputy calls on politicians to be free from subordination to parties and to determine their political choices based on their agreement with the constitution, and the extent to which the people of their constituency benefit from this or that policy, away from the party's positions.
But he adopts hardline positions on social policies, and is a staunch opponent of abortion and supports the right to life, and this prompted him to support legislation aimed at abolishing the death penalty at the federal level. And at the beginning of his political path, he opposed same-sex marriage, before changing his position later.
Ammash does not know clear positions on the Arab-Israeli conflict, but his political upbringing and closeness to Ron Paul (a former congressman from his state known for his sharp stances on Israel) leads some to believe that he advocates for Palestinian rights, but he does not express that because of the election calculations.
With regard to Middle East issues, Ammash's name has emerged among a number of members of the House of Representatives who oppose Trump's decision to use emergency power to proceed with arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He also submitted a draft resolution rejecting 22 arms sales deals to both Abu Dhabi and Riyadh in their ongoing war on Yemen.
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