When Abe Hamadeh traveled to Lebanon in 2018 to attend a family wedding, he was turned back at the airport in Beirut and denied entry into the country. His passport had an entry sticker from Israel, the result of a trip there when he was in law school, where he saw firsthand its multicultural and multiethnic society, visiting Jerusalem, a Druze village and a Bedouin group.

Now a freshman Republican congressman from Arizona, Hamadeh reflected on the whiplash of that experience, especially for someone of his ethnic background, in a recent interview with Jewish Insider. “I just thought it was so foolish,” he said. “Israel lets me into their country. I have ancestral ties to the Levant, like Lebanon, like Syria, and they kicked me out,” he said.

That background — he is the child of Syrian immigrants with Druze, Kurdish and Muslim heritage, along with his experience as a former U.S. servicemember deployed to Saudi Arabia — gives the 33-year-old a unique perspective among members of Congress on the conflicts ongoing in the Middle East. It’s a wide-lens viewpoint he’ll put to use as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, a post he garnered after beating Blake Masters in a bitter primary race last year.

Speaking to Jewish Insider last week, Hamadeh expressed strong support for Israel and its recent military moves inside Syria, which Israel has said aims to protect the Druze population in southern Syria.

“I think it’s a really good path to protect not just the Druze in Syria, but also Israel’s security as well,” Hamadeh said. “I think Israel right now has a prime opportunity to be seen as protecting the minorities of the Middle East, like the Kurds, the Druze, and I think it establishes a lot of stability within that region.”

Speaking to JI prior to the recent outbreak of violence that has killed hundreds of civilians, particularly from the Alawite minority community, Hamadeh said he wants the U.S. to keep an open line of communication with each of the actors in Syria, including the Kurds, the Druze and the new government led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former leader of the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham paramilitary group.

“If we’re not talking, somebody else is. We have to at least have a line of communication” with al-Sharaa and others, Hamadeh said.

The freshman congressman said that al-Sharaa has been “saying a lot of the right things” but “not necessarily doing the right things — if he was, the Druze wouldn’t have to have Israel come in and protect [them].” He suggested that it’s not clear how much control al-Sharaa actually has in the government.

Al-Sharaa has called for peace and unity amid the violent clashes.

Hamadeh said he’s spoken to Kurds in Syria and that they’ve expressed that, in the short term, they need continued U.S. help and support, but said that the ultimate goal should be to move to a point where they no longer need U.S. assistance and can wind down U.S. troop presence in the country, as President Donald Trump has said is his intention.

But Hamadeh emphasized that the Kurds have long been the U.S.’ primary ally in Syria in the war against ISIS and said that the U.S. can “never abandon our friends like that.” He said he has a “lot of optimism” about what the future could hold for the Syrian Kurdish population.

He also noted the complex role that Turkey plays in the region, describing it as having “competing interests” with the U.S. inside Syria, despite being a NATO ally.

“You have the Turks, you have the Persians, all trying to influence the Arab world, and yet they’re not Arab. And I think that’s important,” Hamadeh said. “So many Israelis speak Arabic, right? They have more of a connection to the Arabs than Turks and the Persians do.”

He said it’s a “big concern” for him that Turkey is trying to play the “religious card.” But he said that he’s hopeful that Trump can broker a positive relationship with Turkey in which Ankara commits to supporting a prosperous and deradicalized Syria where the Kurds are protected.

Hamadeh served in Saudi Arabia as a military intelligence officer while the Gulf country was targeted by missile attacks from the Houthis. He blasted the Biden administration’s policies toward the terrorist group and urged strong action to counter its strikes on Israel, U.S. forces, shipping lanes and Arab states.

“They should not have these missiles … They are not sophisticated operators but they have sophisticated capabilities,” he said. “Whatever we could do to disrupt that is really important and critical.”

He noted that his first bill as a member of Congress was to place sanctions on the Houthis, which he said could add further force to the Trump administration executive order re-implementing the Houthis’ terrorist designation. 

The freshman lawmaker said the U.S. also needs to be “very cognizant of … China’s role behind” the Houthis’ disruption of trade. He suggested that the administration should allow and encourage Saudi Arabia to restart its bombing campaign against the Houthis, which the previous administration pressured it to stop, or step up U.S. bombings if the Saudis are hesitant to do so.

“[Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman] is a lot more sophisticated and he understands the country and the state of the region a lot better than people think,” Hamadeh said. “I think that’s why you’re starting to see him clamp down on the more radical elements of the Wahhabists.”

“We were still getting missile fire from them even after they were delisted as a terrorist organization. None of it made sense,” Hamadeh said. “It’s amazing to see how Joe Biden wanted to tell the Saudis how they should conduct affairs in their own backyard. The amount of hubris was shocking.”

During his time in Saudi Arabia, Hamadeh said he heard from senior Saudi military leaders that they wanted peace with Israel, and said he’s hopeful that the country can spearhead a second phase of normalization agreements with Israel. 

“[Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman] is a lot more sophisticated and he understands the country and the state of the region a lot better than people think,” Hamadeh said. “I think that’s why you’re starting to see him clamp down on the more radical elements of the Wahhabists.”

He said that the U.S. has to ensure that the Saudis are now a “partner for peace” and no longer spread such extremism.

The Arizona congressman said he believes that the Trump administration’s policies have put Iran “on notice,” adding that Israel’s military operations against Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups have made the Iranian regime vulnerable.

“We want these countries to understand that the lies that were espoused for so many years because of the ideology of Wahhabism and Islamism [are] really no longer valid,” Hamadeh said. “They have to understand that they can have more say in their future, that Israel is not their enemy. The enemy, oftentimes, comes from within their own country … they were held hostage for so long by Hezbollah.

“I hope the Iranian people one day truly do uprise, because these Iranians are held hostage by this Islamist regime in Iran,” Hamadeh said. “But for now, I know what President Trump, what Bibi Netanyahu are doing has put the whole region on notice that Israel is here to stay, now and forever.”

He said he’s hopeful that, with Israel’s operations to degrade Hezbollah and the selection of a new president, Lebanon can move toward more stability and prosperity with a government that works for the Lebanese people.

“We want these countries to understand that the lies that were espoused for so many years because of the ideology of Wahhabism and Islamism [are] really no longer valid,” Hamadeh said. “They have to understand that they can have more say in their future, that Israel is not their enemy. The enemy, oftentimes, comes from within their own country … they were held hostage for so long by Hezbollah.”

Since joining Congress, Hamadeh has met with freed hostages and their families, describing the conversations as “very emotional” and “absolutely so disheartening” to see them have to relive their traumas on a daily basis.

“It’s a testament to the character of Israelis,” Hamadeh said, of Israel’s dedication to repatriating the bodies of deceased hostages. “I think we can learn a lot from the Israelis.”

“It really shows you the depravity of humans, what Hamas was capable of doing,” Hamadeh said, adding that freeing the remaining hostages in Gaza is his primary concern, and that the U.S. must apply pressure on Hamas as well as its partners in Qatar and elsewhere to ensure that Hamas complies with a deal. 

“We’re dealing with a terrorist organization. They’re suicidal. Hamas is the one who destroyed the Gaza Strip,” he said, contrasting Hamas’ cruelty with Israel’s willingness, before Oct. 7, 2023, to grant work visas to Palestinians in Gaza and its dedication to returning all of the hostages, including the deceased.

“It’s a testament to the character of Israelis,” he said, of Israel’s dedication to repatriating the bodies of deceased hostages. “I think we can learn a lot from the Israelis.”

On the House Armed Services Committee, Hamadeh said that he wants to work to improve U.S. foreign military sale procedures, explaining that he saw through his military experience that arms sales move much too slowly, which leads allies and partners to turn to other nations, undermining U.S. military production and U.S. influence.

Hamadeh was critical of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, describing him as disrespectful to the United States and Trump in their contentious Oval Office meeting last week. He said he doesn’t think Zelensky can repair his relationship with the U.S. or remain in power. 

“That was a very disrespectful way that he handled that meeting,” Hamadeh said. “Compare that to the Bibi Netanyahu meeting with President Trump. That couldn’t have gone better. And that’s diplomacy and foreign relations work. Zelensky needs to have a little bit more humility.”