by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

Thanks to a tip from a Health Impact News reader, I was able to do some research today on the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who is a Palestinian and former member of the Communist Party in El Salvador, but is now an Evangelical Zionist Christian with strong ties to Israel.

No wonder why Trump’s Zionist Administration likes this guy so much!

Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, made a deal with Bukele to confine criminals from the U.S., including U.S. Citizens, back on February 4, 2025, just days after Trump’s inauguration.

El Salvador’s offer to take in US deportees and violent criminals is unlike any other migrant deal

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador has offered to take in people deported from the U.S. for entering the country illegally and to house some of the country’s violent criminals — even if they’re American citizens.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after a meeting Monday with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, proclaimed it the most “unprecedented, extraordinary” offer the country has yet received during the ongoing wave of global migration.

Details on the deal are scant, and immigration and constitutional experts question its legality. (Source.)

What is largely not being reported in the media about Bukele is his Palestinian family heritage. His paternal grandfather was born in Jerusalem and his grandmother was from Bethlehem, and were Palestinian Christians who migrated to El Salvador

The young Salvadoran leader is descended from Palestinian Christians on his father’s side. According to the Times of Israel, his paternal grandfather was born in Jerusalem and his grandmother was from Bethlehem; the two migrated to El Salvador amid a wave of Palestinian immigration to Latin America.

His father, born in El Salvador, converted to Islam in adulthood and became a well-known imam, one whom Nayib has claimed had warm relationships with Jews and Israel. (Source.)

He entered politics in 2011, joining the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a left-wing Salvadoran political party. He was elected as mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán in March 2012, and went on to be elected as mayor of San Salvador in the 2015 elections under the Communist FMLN party. While serving as mayor of San Salvador, he fell out of favor with the FMLN. (Source.)

He was only 37 years old when he became President of El Salvador, which was the youngest head of state in the world at that time, and he developed a Zionist Pro-Israel policy after he became President.

Here is a profile written about him in 2023 from the Jewish publication, Mishpacha.

THE NAYIB BUKELE PHENOMENON

Pro-Israel and Muslim, Nayib Bukele is a new breed of Latin American strongman

Nayib Bukele, the brash young president of El Salvador, offers a study in intriguing contrasts.

He is descended from Palestinian Arabs, yet embraces a staunchly pro-Israel foreign policy. He entered politics under the banner of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a Communist group that waged a guerilla war during the 1970s and ’80s; but now governs with a right-wing populist style that has drawn support from former US president Donald Trump.

Now 41, he was the world’s youngest head of state when he became president at 37, and, according to local opinion polls, is still the most popular. It almost seems a wonder that the tiny Republic of El Salvador — a country of 6.5 million, about the same size as New Jersey, on the isthmus of Central America, bordered by Guatemala and Honduras — can contain his gargantuan contradictions.

Nayib Bukele currently draws an approval rating of over 80 percent, and according to some pollsters, possibly as high as 90 percent. Feeding that popularity, however, is a harsh crackdown on the maras, the fearsome criminal gangs that have terrorized the country over the last two decades.

While the influence of the gangs has been pernicious, contributing to a per capita murder rate that for a time was the world’s highest, Bukele has drawn criticism for the ruthlessness of his policies.

The development of Bukele’s ideology has not followed a traditional trajectory. He began his career in the FMLN, an ultra-leftist party, but has gradually shifted toward the center-right.

Unlike other regional leaders who have been aligned with leftist movements, Bukele has been a staunch supporter of Israel.

In fact, a photo of his visit to the Western Wall while he served as mayor of the capital of San Salvador has traveled the world.

And although his ethnic background would suggest his sympathies lie with the Palestinians in their conflict with the Jewish state, that is not in fact the case.

Senator Marco Rubio paid an official visit to El Salvador, and took to Twitter to express his frustration with Washington’s condemnation of Bukele’s policies: “Biden appeases our enemies & ostracizes our friends. Seeking deals with Iran & lifting sanctions on Cuba & Venezuela while criticizing & sanctioning willing partners like El Salvador under Nayib Bukele.”

Bukele has wasted no time reciprocating Republican accolades. Throughout his tenure, he has vocally criticized President Biden and shunned bilateral meetings, boldly asserting at one point, “The Biden administration is losing all the credibility it has left.”

Moreover, Bukele has made no secret of his affinity for former president Donald Trump.

When Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized the US government’s support for El Salvador’s efforts to combat gang proliferation but urged the country to safeguard civil liberties, including freedom of the press, Bukele promptly fired back on Twitter: “Really? Yes, we received support from the U.S. government to fight crime, but that was UNDER THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. Now you’re merely backing the gangs and their so-called ‘civil liberties.’ ” (Source.)

Perhaps the best article articulating Bukele’s Evangelical Zionist views and his support of Israel was written in October of 2024, by The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), titled “Christian Zionism in Bukele’s El Salvador“.

Christian Zionism in Bukele’s El Salvador

President Nayib Bukele’s framing of security as a spiritual battle between good and evil helps to explain his popularity and his support for Israel.

Excerpts:

On October 8 of last year, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele published a post on X outlining his position on Palestine.

“As a Salvadoran of Palestinian ancestry, I’m sure the best thing that could happen to the Palestinian people is for Hamas to completely disappear. Those savage beasts do not represent the Palestinians,” he wrote.

Drawing parallels between Hamas and gangs in El Salvador, Bukele continued:

“It would be like if Salvadorans would have sided with MS13 terrorists, just because we share ancestors or nationality. The best thing that happened to us as a nation was to get rid of those rapists and murderers and let the good people thrive.”

Bukele closed his post with a word of advice, drawing from his nearly 30-month long—and counting—assault against gangs. “Palestinians should do the same: get rid of those animals and let the good people thrive.”

The parallel drawn by Bukele between Hamas and MS13 derives from an evangelical Christian understanding of “terrorist” security threats as a spiritual contest between good and evil.

Bukele uses biblical allegories, religious narratives, declarations of devotion, and visual propaganda leveraging sacred symbols to justify the country’s security policies, in addition to asserting the Salvadoran government’s unwavering support for Israel during its genocide of Palestinians.

Christian Zionism and “Spirit-Filled Geopolitics”

In 2018, prior to becoming president, Bukele arrived in Jerusalem at the invitation of deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely and Jack Rosen, the president of the American Jewish Congress, to attend an urban policy conference.

At such conferences, policymakers, consultants, and tech industry representatives broker deals for security initiatives.

Indeed, shortly after his election, Bukele announced a $3 million donation from the nonprofit Jerusalem Foundation for police and military medical supplies. Since assuming the presidency, Bukele has also extensively used Israeli spyware to track the activities of independent journalists, human rights defenders, and members of opposition parties.

Israeli exports to El Salvador have grown at an annual rate of 21.1 percent from 2017 to 2022, with the top products being firearms and military weapons.

These connections highlight the material influence of the Israeli military-industrial complex and continuing Salvadoran security dependence on Israel, which began with the bloody military regimes of the 1970s.

Israel provided 83 percent of Salvadoran military imports between 1975 and 1979, and these agreements continued throughout the Salvadoran civil war (1980-1992) with deals for napalm, arms, and military technology and training.

Bukele’s attendance at the conference also provided an opportunity to generate images that demonstrate his commitment to Judeo-Christian values.

Approval by and affirmation from key Jewish and evangelical Christian leaders provides powerful legitimation in Salvadoran politics, reinforcing Bukele’s cult of personality among Salvadoran evangelicals who believe him to be chosen by God to “clean” their country of the scourge of gangs.

His campaign and presidential press releases demonstrate how Christian Zionism generates not just support for Israel but symbolic and ideological power for his right-wing populist leadership.

Regardless of Bukele’s faith, evangelical Christianity is essential for understanding both El Salvador’s support for Israel and Salvadoran security policies at home.

Christian Zionist ideology and identity help explain Bukele’s rise to power.

During his campaign, Bukele carefully courted the support of the Salvadoran leadership of evangelical Churches, who publicly prayed for his victory.

A smear campaign that cast doubt on his Christian bonafides forced then-candidate Bukele—who was raised in a Muslim household—to explicitly defend his religious identity, declaring himself to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and sharing photos of himself at multiple religious sites as a sign of his tolerance and devotion. (Full article.)