This is like calling Spanish people Arabs, because Arabs used to be there at some point, or calling English people French, because French used to be there at some point.
The ethnicity knowledge of the Americans is no better than their geographical knowledge.
You were doing so well with your warning about sweeping generalizations..
FWIW his father seemed to identify as Arab
> In the 2007 issue of “Campus gate”, a magazine published by the American University of Beirut, Jandali featured as one of the Arab nationalism activists in Beirut who quickly rose to prominence and was appointed as the director of “Al Urwa Al Wuthka” journal (The trustworthy Guide), a journal that embraced the symbols of the Arab nationalist movement like George Habash, Constantin Zureiq, Shafik al-Hout and many others.
He didn't warn against sweeping generalizations. He warned against MISTAKEN sweeping generalization. This one looks pretty spot on, and has even been tested on survey like questions.
Well that depends on your definition of Arabs, Some people claim that Arabs are the sons of Ismael, and they were in Saudi Arabia, but the word Arab was first used to describe the Bedouins in Syria. So you could say that Syrians are the original Arabs.