By Daoud Kuttab

My mother Froscina Nesheiwat was born in the Jordanian town of As Salt. Now my mother’s family name is all over the news.  Jannet Nesheiwat has been selected as the next Surgeon General while the husband of her sister, Julia, an accomplished academic and former member of the Trump 2026 Administration Mike Waltz has just been chosen as the next National Security Advisor. Aother sister, Jaclyn Nesheiwat Stapp, a fashion model was Miss New York USA 2004 and Mrs. Florida America 2008.

The Nesheiwat largely emigrated to the United States in the early parts of the twentieth century. Like all emigrants, higher education was a must and as a result many have made well in professional life, doctors, lawyers and engineers. Business was also a big attraction as many Nesheiwats made well in whatever business they put their heads into.

My aunt Farida Nesheiwat and her husband Suleiman arranged in 1970 to help us emigrate to New Jersey as part of family reunification process.

Whenever I hear the Nesheiwat name, I remember my uncle Yacob, who was the family patriarch. But despite the masculine tint in the Nesheiwat family, it has been the women that have made the headlines.

I remember when Jaclyn won the Miss Florida pageant, I was asked by many about how close our family was to this beautiful woman of Jordanian origin.

Initially I did not equate our maternal family with politics, certainly not in their home country. But America being the land of the dreams seems to also offer ambitious Nesheiwat an opportunity to excel and make into the hardcore business of politics.

Some Nesheiwat have been active in the Democratic party for what it offered in terms of defending personal freedoms and support for the middle class, and the offer of a social safety net for the needy. In the Middle East both Presidents Carter and Clinton, democrats, were seen as more supporters of Palestinian and Arab rights.

But it was the Republican Party and its conservative ethos and family oriented anti-abortion opposition to same sex marriage that attracted Nesheiwats who felt that its social platform mirrored their own upbringing and mirrored the conservative culture that their parents and grandparents had originally came from.

While the Nesheiwat initially lived on the east coast of America in Poughkeepsie and Yonkers New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Florida with time many moved west to Los Angles and Bakersfield California. What attracted them to California was the Middle East weather and the opportunity of farming area that best resembled their hometown of As Salt.

 In our childhood years we remember fondly coming from Jerusalem spending the summer in the farming area, slouching under the olive trees, sleeping in a tent and enjoying my Aunt Julia’s shraq thin bread and wholesome food and enjoying  the sweet grapes in the kroom of Ein Side just outside the city.

Family and friends of Jannet and Julia Nesheiwat are rooting for the new Surgeon General and for their in law, the Trump-designated National Security Advisor to be confirmed by the US Senate. They are frustrated by media attention of a freak accident when Jannet was 13 years old. They tell me the story is not about the accident but how this young child, Jannete, was able to deal with the trauma, overcome it and become Surgeon General designate.

Marwan Nesheiwat a businessman from the New York state town of Poughkeepsie is planning to hold a big hafleh (party) with lots of lamb meat and hot yogurt (mansaf) is being planned once the new Nesheiwat Surgeon General is confirmed. Nothing less would be acceptable by persons of Jordanian descent known for their hospitality and kindness.